The Best Man (1999)

A glossy romantic comedy, The Best Man centers on four college friends and the women in their lives, all brought back together for a wedding. Taye Diggs (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) plays the title character, a young writer whose first novel is a barely fictionalized account of his college days, featuring barely fictionalized versions of all his friends. This novel hasn't yet been released, but ambitious TV producer Nia Long (Soul Food) has snagged an advance copy in the hopes of getting an early interview with Diggs. Unfortunately, when this advance copy begins circulating among the college gang, they discover it reveals some secrets that may have a disastrous effect on the wedding. The Best Man features a handsome, charming cast and a propulsive story, but the female characters are poorly developed and the male banter is, to say the least, chauvinistic. This banter is mostly to comic effect, but by the end it still leaves a sour taste that the movie's happy ending doesn't counter. With a particularly strong performance by Terrence Howard as an aimless but relentlessly honest member of the college quartet. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

The Best Man

I have the VHS, but I wanted the DVD so I could see it better and get all the extra things that come on DVDs now. June 30, 2008

Quality Black Film

It's hard to find quality black films these days. And by quality I mean movies with substance and originality. The Best Man contains both. It also has a smart, clever script, a well rounded cast, and some pretty funny dialogue. This isn't your typical black film about gang violence or life in the hood. The Best Man has class and style. It's a smooth ride from beginning to end. The plot is intriguing; a group of old college friends reunite for a wedding. Their journey is heaped with dirty secrets, heated romances, and bitter rivalries. Every actor is cast perfectly in their role. Terrence Howard is hilarious as a promiscuous playboy. Nia Long is great as the sultry, seductive other woman. Morris Chestnut is very convincing as a slightly arrogant, extremely masculine, professional athlete. And Taye Diggs is our charming and adorable, yet incredibly naive protagonist. All of the characters make poor choices throughout the movie, but we never stop rooting for them. The movie balances out the right amount of comedy with just enough drama. Very enjoyable. Highly recommended. June 7, 2008

IT'S ONLY ME, BUT:

ANOTHER MOVIE ABOUT A WOULD BE WRITER THAT TRIES TO WRITE ABOOK ABOUT HIS DAYS IN COLLEGE AND TELLING ALL HIS FRIENDS AND ROOM MATES SECREATS. iT CREATES ALL SORTES OF PROBLES AT A WEDDING WHEN THE PAST SECREATS COME OUT IN THE ADVANCE COPY OF THE BOOK. JM June 1, 2008

One of my favorites and a great start from Lee

The Best Man was one of my favorite films of 1999. The ensemble cast which includes Taye Diggs and the very sexy Nia Long are all good. The film reminds me of a urban The Big Chill which is cool. Morris Chestnut also made a good return to film in this heartwarming film. If Tyler Perry were to team with Malcolm D Lee, he'd have a truly amazing film on his hands as The Best Man is the type of the film Perry can one day make it given practice. The Best Man still holds up today and will always be a classic in my book. March 25, 2008

The Best part.....the whole movie was done with thought-out class.

The beauty of this movie is that it truly likes and cares about the people inhabiting it. There are no cheap jokes or sight gags. The humor develops from real situations and real characters starting with Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs). Life is good for Harper. His first novel is about to be published. He is in a comfortable two-year relationship and it is the weekend of the wedding of Lance (Morris Chesnut) and Mia (Monica Calhoun), two of his closest college friends. The bad news is his novel is a thinly veiled account of his college years and an advance copy of the book has found it's way into the hands of another college friend, Jordan (Nia Long). Jordan has in turn read the book and passed it along to Harper's inncer circle of college freinds. The really bad news is now the advance copy is in the hands of the groom, Lance. And Lance will not be happy by what he reads.

The film is well performed across the board although special mention needs to be made of Taye Diggs in the lead. Diggs perfectly captures the arrogance and the fear of commitment that makes the character of Harper work. Morris Chesnut is also quite good as the groom Lance. Lance is a star running back who is torn by his love for Mia and all the oppurtunies his "star" status provides. Mia really has become the rock in this world, his key to becoming a better man and Christian. When Lance finally gets to the chapter that Harper has been so afraid of him reading his entire world is shaken and nothing is on solid ground. Chesnut nails the sense of frustration of a man who all of a sudden finds his house is build on quicksand. Powerful stuff and again, none of it seems forced or pushed. The victory for virtue as defined by this film, however, is not easy and does not rely on conventional finger waging notions and stereotypes. In fact, the most interesting and best acted character is Quentin (Terrence Dashon Howard). He slyly and wisely presents the argument that we are not meant to be monogamous, but he is consistent in not expecting men and women to live by a double standard. He is in many ways correctly cynical about all of his friends and the rest of us. It is a testament to confident story telling when a character presents a contradictory position so well. In addition, Quentin is hilariously madcap with his quips.

When we finally get to the wedding and hear the vows of the groom and bride as a celebration of their commitment and union, the movie literally blooms with sweetness and beauty. This may sound corny, but when it is well done as it was here, we have insatiable appetites for seeing people face their selfish expectations and hypocrisy to become true partners in love and life. It is of note that Spike Lee's company produced this movie. Apparently, the able writer-director, Malcolm D. Lee, is a relative. The setting is affluent, literate, intelligent, success driven, neurotically yuppie and entirely African-American. (We don't recall seeing a white face on the screen.) In this, Best Man offers a refreshing and powerful diversion from the heaviness of urban blight and racial oppression as the world of blacks on film. As real as these phenomena are, blacks are diverse in their accomplishments and social strata.
June 20, 2007

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