Review: Think like a Man

Director: Tim Story
Written by: Keith Merryman & David A. Newman
Stars: Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, Terrence J, Taraji P. Henson, Romany Malco, Gabrielle Union, Gary Owen, Steve Harvey
Genre: Comedy, Romance
MPAA: Rated PG-13

Based on Steve Harvey’s best-selling book, “Think Like a Man” follows four interconnected and diverse men whose love lives are shaken up after the ladies they are pursuing buy Harvey’s book and start taking his advice to heart. When the band of brothers realize they have been betrayed by one of their own, they conspire using the book’s insider information to turn the tables and teach the women a lesson of their own.

Think like a man was a fun movie to watch. I dreaded watching this film based the fact that my girlfriend would get some unappreciated ideas from the premise of the film. “How to make men do what women really want”. This scared the crap out of me as I expected every woman in that theater to create mental notes, and they did, and this made me pretty apprehensive about the whole experience.

The storytelling method used by the film was perfect for the film. It was not at all original with a group of interconnected people discussing their issues of relationships but it was delivered well with good pacing and character development. The film even included the movie cliche “A friend of a friend that’s a friend of a friend without realizing”  but somehow didn’t make it predictable and also somewhat enjoyable within  the story much to my surprise. The film is anchored by stereotypical characterization of it’s central characters with the emphasis even being highlighted during the introduction of the characters.

There’s a “The Momma’s Boy” and a “Baby Mama”, “The Player” and the “Easy Chick”, “The Dreamer” and the “Business Woman”, as well as the “non-commiter” with the “commitment chaser”. It’s hard to judge if this is a detriment or not as these characterizations are the focal point of the plot and watching these characters mature away from these traits is a predictable yet entertaining process. The narration provided by Kevin Hart moved the story along fairly well with a well placed joke or comedic element distracting you as a viewer from any of the lower points in the film.

I expected the movie to draw some laughs from me because I’m a fan of Kevin Hart’s brand of comedy but never did I expect for his inclusion to get the reaction that it did. On more than one occasion I found that Kevin Hart said or did something on screen that made me laugh so hard that my stomach ached. If you laugh hard enough to turn your body in different directions in the chair then you’re having a good time and I found myself turning direction way more than once due to laughter. The idea of making him the narrator for the film was a great way to maintain his presence throughout the film even though he wasn’t one of the central couples in which the movie followed.

The casting was typical for a romantic comedy filled with oozingly attractive people and sprinkled with pop stars/icons for good measure. Meagan Good and Gabrielle Union are very very beautiful women with the latter being a romantic comedy staple. I won’t ruin too many of the surprise cameo’s but the inclusion of Chris Brown, which is right in the trailers, grew into a recurring meme within the movie that made me laugh more than once. Typically I can’t stand when a musician makes an appearance in a film but the appearances within this movie were mostly forgiveable. They’re not actors but they’re entertainers and I found myself entertained with their presence.

I enjoyed the performances by the actors within the film as well. Michael Ealy is a little disappointing as he’s the same laid back, sensitive, but optimistic guy he is in every one of his films and I truly wish he would expand his range a bit more but it was perfect in this film for the character he played. Surprisingly Romany Malco is “The Player” of this film as delivers one of the better performances. He shows some good range of comedy and drama throughout key moments in the film that made him a standout. I didn’t expect this guy to make me laugh, and he doesn’t often but he does it well. Gabrielle Union is also in this film but is also an actress I struggle with enjoying as she too seems to present the same character in her films. She’s beautiful to watch and the pairing of her with Jerry Ferrara is a welcome change for her usually model-esque rom-com partner but she does not stand out aside from her beauty.Taraji P. Henson is the saving grace with regard to acting chops and delivers, possibly, the best performance out of the bunch. This isn’t an Oscar-worthy level performance but she stands out among this crowd.

Overall I have to admit that I had fun watching this film. It had it’s moments where it was really funny and moved along at a good pace. The film isn’t at all perfect and there will surely be those would will intentionally not want to like this film and will hopefully find a welcome surprise. The film was surprisingly long clocking in at 123mins but the time moved along quickly and helped with a satisfying and entertaining experience.

I give think like a man a 7 out of 10