Loving Jezebel Review
by "Steve Rhodes" (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)November 2nd, 2000
LOVING JEZEBEL
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Nerdish-looking Theodurus Melville (Hill Harper) is an awkward and childishly obnoxious Don Juan. His idea of a come-on is to tell a woman that he thought of her face instead of the Mona Lisa's during his college history class. He likes to run after women, almost slobbering as he asks them on dates. And when he gets them into bed, he is so unskillful that you wonder what any of them see in him.
Writer and director Kwyn Bader's LOVING JEZEBEL is the second film this month about a black comedian who pursues a long string of women. Tim Meadows, as Leon Phelps in THE LADIES MAN, was sweet, smooth and eminently likeable. In contrast, Theodurus is such a born loser that he seems constantly in danger of tying his shoelaces together. The unrealistic story never convinces us that so many women would be attracted to him. And with its non-stop use of voice-over, the movie wants badly to be taken as a poignant coming of age story as well as a comedy. It succeeds at neither.
Typical of the unreality of the plot is the character of Frances (Nicole Ari Parker). She swears that she is a virgin who doesn't drink, which, of course, is a double lie. When Theodurus goes to her dorm room to pick her up for their first date, this shunner of sexuality comes to the door in her underwear. She then proceeds to do a reverse strip, fondling herself in the process. Maybe some directors could have gotten great comedic mileage out of this scene but not Bader. The whole episode just feels strange and is devoid of humor.
"Just once," Frances coos at the beginning of her long night of sex with Theodurus. "You're not going to make me do it again." But the movie keeps making us see these same clumsily and unconvincingly staged scenes over and over again. LOVING JEZEBEL is the sort of film that should make people appreciate THE LADIES MAN more. It was certainly a lot more fun.
LOVING JEZEBEL runs 1:25. It is rated R for language and sexuality and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
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