Jones, Tamala

Katt Williams: American Hustle The Movie

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/20/2007

The Brothers

Think of it as a male version of Waiting to Exhale. The Brothers similarly features four good friends who offer each other advice and support as they navigate the strange and treacherous waters of romantic relationships. Jackson (Morris Chestnut) is a doctor with serious commitment problems; he has dreams about a woman in a bridal gown aiming a gun at him. Brian (Bill Bellamy) is a lawyer with a caustic view of the opposite sex, inspired in large part by his untrusting and unaffectionate mother; he also has commitment problems. Upwardly mobile professional Terry (Shemar Moore) is a well-muscled womanizer who's finally decided to settle down, but as the wedding draws close it becomes clear that he, too, has commitment problems. Fortunately, the fourth member of the quartet, Derrick (D.L. Hughley), is married and devoted to his family--except that his wife refuses to engage in anything but straight missionary sex, which Derrick sees as manipulative. The Brothers depicts a glamorous world in which everyone is good-looking and well dressed; the number of characters makes it hard to delve into anyone's life with any depth, but the actors are engaging and the script makes an effort to look at the "battle of the sexes" from both sides. The immensely charming Gabrielle Union (from Bring It On) plays the girl who just might convince Jackson to give up his single ways. --Bret Fetzer

This is the story of four african-american yuppies a banker a doctor a lawyer and a playboy who call themselves the brothers. When the playboy gets engaged the other three friends find themselves having to come to terms with their own issues of commitment and honesty. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: Morris Chestnut Shemar Moore Run time: 102 minutes Rating: R Director: Gary Hardwick

The Wood (Back in the Day Edition)

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/19/2007 Run time: 106 minutes Rating: R

Next Friday (New Line Platinum Series)

Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out to get revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "DC" Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over. It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines--though funny lines abound. He writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughly enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

To escape revenge from his enemy debo craig jones retreats from the terrors of south central to the peaceful los angeles suburbs to stay with his cousin day-day. But the suburbs arent as safe as they seem and soon craig and day-day arent sure if theyll make it. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 01/08/2008 Starring: Ice Cube Tommy tiny Lister Jr Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R

Two Can Play That Game

In reducing the rules of romance to a 10-day plan for repairing a breakup, Two Can Play That Game tickles a few funny bones while "keepin' it real" about heartbreak and human behavior. Our hostess through this marathon of head games is 28-year-old Shanté (Vivica A. Fox--emphasis on the fox), who speaks to the camera so much that critic Roger Ebert nicknamed this movie "Waiting to Inhale." In a film packed with positive stereotypes (no crack-smoking gangstas here, thank you), she's a successful marketing executive, and her straying boyfriend is a high-profile attorney (Morris Chestnut). Their turbulent romance survives Shanté's 10-day power play, but not all viewers will be so lucky, since this movie is alternately charming and aggravating, and there's precious little romance while the lovers are plotting their moves. Still, it's a safe bet that many people will appreciate this movie's endearing lesson--namely, that sincere groveling can save you lots of time and heartache. --Jeff Shannon

Shante a successful marketing executive is always the one her friends go to when they are having man trouble. Shante has the perfect relationship with her lawyer boyfriend keith until she spots him at a restaurant dancing with another woman. Not to worry shante has a 10-day plan to make him behave. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/15/2005 Starring: Vivica A. Fox Anthony Anderson Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R Director: Mark Brown

Daddy Day Camp

Hilarity reins when Daddy Day Care owners Charlie (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Phil (Paul Rae) expand their business to include running a summer camp. Determined to provide their sons with a positive camp experience, Charlie and Phil visit their childhood Camp Driftwood only to find it dilapidated and on the brink of closure. Nursing an old rivalry with the neighboring Camp Canola and its director Lance (Lochlyn Munro), a former camp competitor from childhood, Charlie and Phil impulsively become partners in Camp Driftwood and find themselves with a month to create a thriving camp or risk foreclosure by the bank. The first few days are complete mayhem with exploding outhouses, poison ivy outbreaks, and bee stings galore and, against his own better judgment, a desperate Charlie calls in his father Colonel Buck Hinton (Richard Gant) of the Marines to help run the camp. While the two have very different visions of how to run a camp, the rivalry with Camp Canola unites them and slapstick humor reigns as the two camps engage in warfare that culminates in an Olympiad challenge that will reveal the shortcomings and dishonesty of Camp Canola's staff and students while showing Charlie the true value of family and teaching the entire Driftwood population some important lessons about honesty, believing in oneself, and the power of doing one's best. Bonus features include a "How I Spent My Summer: Making Daddy Day Camp" featurette with cast interviews as well as an interactive quiz about the featurette. Cuba Gooding Jr. replaces Eddie Murphy and Paul Rae replaces Jeff Garlin under the direction of Fred Savage in this sequel to Daddy Day Care, but Daddy Day Camp stands on its own as fun family entertainment for ages 3 and older. --Tami Horiuchi

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Pg

The Ladies Man

Over the years, Tim Meadows has proven himself to be a very funny supporting player on Saturday Night Live, but he never really had a breakout character that he and Lorne Micheals could spin off into a movie--until now. Based on his lisping "Ladies Man" character, Meadows plays Leon Phelps, a late-night sex advice host of a radio show who gets fired for racking up one too many FCC fines. His producer (Karyn Parsons) gets fired with him, and she combs the Chicago stations looking for another gig while he tries to find the one old flame who would be willing to support him for the rest of his life. You see, Phelps is a sexaholic who tends to sleep with frustrated wives, much to the chagrin of the husbands who inevitably catch them in bed together. A mob of husbands have formed a group, under the leadership of Will Ferrell (playing a tired stereotype of the closeted homosexual), dedicated to hunting down Phelps and killing him. The embodiment of the '70s swinger, Phelps personifies both the good (sexual skills) and the bad (the wardrobe and fashion sense) of that icon, though the movie ends with your standard pro-family propaganda when he inevitably finds love and stability with his producer. The laughs do not come fast and furiously, sidetracked as they are by the so-called plot, but one thing must be said and said out loud: Billy Dee Williams is fantastic as the bartender-narrator. --Andy Spletzer

Leon phelps is a sweet-natured inexplicably irresistible love expert who tries to solve the worlds romantic problems with hilarious results. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/23/2005 Starring: Tim Meadows Billy Dee Williams Run time: 84 minutes Rating: R Director: Reginald Hudlin

Head of State (Widescreen Edition)

Chris Rock writes, directs, and stars in the sassy political comedy Head of State, about Mays Gilliam, a black man who's chosen by the leaders of an unspecificed party to run for president after their previous candidates die in a plan crash. Though he initially follows his handler's instructions, Gilliam soon starts handling speeches in his own brazen, outspoken way, which starts to turn the tide--which upsets the party leaders who chose him, since they expected him to lose. While Head of State doesn't quite have the razor wit that Rock wields in his stand-up routine, it has a sharper edge than just about any other political satire in recent memory. Rock bursts with charisma, and his supporting cast (including Lynn Whitfield, Dylan Baker, Robin Givens, and especially Bernie Mac as Gilliam's brother and running mate) provide solid comic support. --Bret Fetzer

When a presidential candidate is needed just a few weeks before the election washington picks mays graham a powerless politician they plan to use as their puppet certain he will lose. But mays wont go out like that! if hes going to run hes going to have fun! Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Starring: Christ Rock Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg13

Blue Streak

Martin Lawrence can certainly talk a blue streak (witness his concert film, You So Crazy), but he tones it down to PG-13 for this by-the-book action comedy. Lawrence stars as Logan, a bank robber and jewel thief (nice role model we're supposed to cheer for) who, just before he is arrested, manages to stash the $20 million diamond he has just heisted at a construction site. When he is released from prison two years later, he returns to the scene of the crime only to find that the completed building houses a police station. To get inside and retrieve the precious gem he secures a fake ID and passes himself off as LAPD's newest, and most unorthodox, detective. As he demonstrated on his TV series, Lawrence has a knack for characterization second to Eddie Murphy. But he's no Beverly Hills Cop. Indulgent sequences where Martin has seemingly been given free reign to ad-lib are the film's weakest. Early on, Logan cases the police station outlandishly disguised as a snaggle-toothed, Geri-curled pizza deliveryman. You'd think the last thing his character would want to do is call attention to himself. Lawrence is at his best in the scenes in which, thanks to all those years of breaking and entering, his formerly lawless character proves to be a natural at cracking burglary cases. Logan is paired with the requisite white partner, Carlson (Luke Wilson), a buttoned-up rookie. Departing from the Lethal Weapon, buddy-movie playbook, they are not antagonists; theirs is more a teacher-mentor relationship. "Don't we need a warrant to do that?" Carlson asks Logan at one point. "We don't even need a key," Logan responds, picking a lock. There is little in Blue that is remotely fresh, but Lawrence fans, who watched him play it straight opposite Murphy in Life, will relish the opportunity to see him get down with his bad self. --Donald Liebenson

Jewel thief miles logan finds the only way he can recover a diamond he stole two years prior is to impersonate a detective who along with his rookie partner ends up using his wits to solve crimes. Special features: production notes animated menus talent files theatrical trailer and much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Martin Lawrence Dave Chappelle Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Les Mayfield

Head of State (Full Screen Edition)

Chris Rock writes, directs, and stars in the sassy political comedy Head of State, about Mays Gilliam, a black man who's chosen by the leaders of an unspecificed party to run for president after their previous candidates die in a plan crash. Though he initially follows his handler's instructions, Gilliam soon starts handling speeches in his own brazen, outspoken way, which starts to turn the tide--which upsets the party leaders who chose him, since they expected him to lose. While Head of State doesn't quite have the razor wit that Rock wields in his stand-up routine, it has a sharper edge than just about any other political satire in recent memory. Rock bursts with charisma, and his supporting cast (including Lynn Whitfield, Dylan Baker, Robin Givens, and especially Bernie Mac as Gilliam's brother and running mate) provide solid comic support. --Bret Fetzer

When a presidential candidate is needed just a few weeks before the election washington picks mays graham a powerless politician they plan to use as their puppet certain he will lose. But mays wont go out like that! if hes going to run hes going to have fun! Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Starring: Chris Rock Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg13