THINK LIKE A MAN TOO(PG-13)
***1/2 (out of 5)
June 20, 2014
STARRING
Michael Ealy as DOMINIC
Jerry Ferrara as JEREMY
Meagan Good as MAYA
Regina Hall as CANDACE
Taraji P. Henson as LAUREN
Terrence J as MICHAEL
Romany Malco as ZEKE
Wendi McLendon-Covey as TISH
Gary Owen as BENNETT
Gabrielle Union as KRISTEN
La La Anthony as SONIA
Kevin Hart as CEDRIC
Studio: Screen Gems
Directed by: Tim Story
BY KEVIN CARR
Listen to Kevin’s radio review…
When you look at the trajectory of Kevin Hart’s career, it’s kind of amazing. This isn’t because of his apparent meteoric rise to fame over the past couple years. Instead, it’s amazing becasue the guy has been knocking around comedy circles since the 1990s, and for years, a lot of people in the mainstream neither knew who he was nor cared much about him.
Now that he’s carved a successful niche, fueled by headlining his own low-cost/high-return concert films, he’s become the latest box office phenom. In fact, his recent fame has been so sudden that he wasn’t necessarily the biggest draw to “Think Like a Man” back in 2012. Now, he’s the anchor, main character and narrator of the sequel.
“Think Like a Man” was a big success, but I always felt it was hampered by trying to juggle too many storylines and shoehorn them into the general concept of adapting a non-narrative self-help book about relationships into a coherent script. It was far more successful than the dud “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” but it still was a bumpy road for me. (But not for the core audience, which drove the movie to overnight fame.)
Now, with “Think Like a Man Too,” the sequel sees the same group heading to Las Vegas for one of their weddings. Sure, everyone gets their own challenges to overcome, but the focus is more about groups having fun and getting into trouble than giving five or six couples their own full storylines.
Think of this as a PG-13 approach to something like “The Hangover” or “Bridesmaids.” It’s strengths are in the slapstick comedy moments and the chemistry with the entire group. This is clear from the fact that the men and women split up for respective bachelor and bachelorette parties, which is the driving force of the film.
“Think Like a Man Too” is not what you’d consider a complex movie, and that’s a good thing since few of the cast members are strong enough to carry their own film. Each only has to carry a small portion of the film, leaving Kevin Hart to focus the comedic moments.
Even though the cast features a large number of African American actors and actresses, it’s not an overt racial comedy that’s going for a specific demographic. “Think Like a Man Too” is accessible outside of its core racial make-up, which is an inspiring thing to see, considering how much Hollywood tends to marginalize race.
“Think Like a Man Too” really has only one goal, and that is to entertain. It has some very funny moments, and a few touching ones as well. Sure, it gets corny at times, but overall, it’s a very entertaining movie that can appeal to a broad audience.
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