#1 Film: “Think Like A Man” – $33 Million

I saw it. I enjoyed it. If you haven’t seen it I can safely recommend it as a pleasant movie going experience.

PROS

(1) It is fun AND funny.

(2) It is relatable – if you’re a human being and you’ve ever dated anyone you’ll get it.

(3) It is beautifully produced, “sleekly high gloss” and “elegant.” (THR)

(4) The styling, hair and make up of the women in the film was very well done. Granted, I didn’t love Gabrielle’s look but I think that was supposed to be in step with her character so okay fine.

(5) LOVE LOVE LOVE Taraji P. Henson and Regina Hall! They are gorgeous, they are talented and they represented. Thank you ladies.

Meagan Good did a good job as well and I do think she is very pretty, unfortunately that’s usually the only thing I take away from her performances – pretty girl. It would be nice to see some more depth from her as an actress, a la ”Eve’s Bayou” which she did when she was 16, but I think the “pretty/sexy girl next door” persona took over and she never looked back. Oh well. Just realized I’ve never seen her on “Californication” – anything different?

CONS

(1) A little long.

(2) I couldn’t always understand the dialogue but that may have more to do with my hearing problems than anything else. Although I’m not going to let Kevin Hart’s tendency to garble words go unmentioned…

(3) The cut-aways to Steve Harvey “explaining” different sections of his book was annoying and I think disruptive to the flow of the film but I can understand the reasoning behind that choice. I disagree with it but I get it.

(4) Did not, could not, tried really really hard to but I just did not buy the relationship between Gabrielle Union’s character and Jerry Ferrara’s character (Jerry is “Turtle” from Entourage). They just seemed awkward together. A quick background on how they came together would have been helpful – just saying.

(5) Also it would have been nice to see at least ONE glimpse of the one happily married guy’s family (played by comedian  Gary Owen, character name “Bennet”).

(6) This tends to be a trend with “black” films – almost ALL the characters, not just the main cast, but even peripheral characters are “known” people, i.e, Chris Brown, La La Anthony, Melyssa Ford, etc. so it would be NICE to see some “unknowns” get thrown in the mix every now and then. Again, I’m just saying…

SUMMARY

Go see it.

STATISTICS

The production budget for Think Like A Man was $12 Million. It grossed $33 Million as of last night with a final tally expected later tonight or Tuesday morning. That, my good people is what is known as a good look for the studio.

Think Like A Man only opened in 2,015 theaters. Compare it to another film that opened this weekend, The Lucky One (The Zac Efron yawn flick) which opened in 3,155 theaters and grossed $22,805,000 and you can get an even better idea of how it fared.

ALSO, wouldn’t we all be remiss if Hollywood commentators (Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, etc) failed to provide a few comparisons to Tyler Perry’s films??? Right. Anyway of course they did and I’ll admit I was curious because if you’ve seen ANY of TP’s films AND you’ve seen this film you know right away there is a DIFFERENCE in quality, dialogue, directing, writing, production value, etc. I mean I REALLY could go on but I believe you get my point:

Its opening was also better than nearly all comparable titles, including all Tyler Perry movies except Madea Goes to Jail ($41 million). (BoxOfficeMojo)

In terms of African-American-themed films, Think Like a Man‘s opening exceeded many of Tyler Perry’s recent films. Perry’s Good Deeds debuted to $15.6 million earlier this year, and Madea’s Big Happy Family opened to $25.1 million last year. (THR)

LAST POINT

Hollywood seems to be a little shocked by how well this film did. This is an aggravating response only in that it goes to show how disconnected Hollywood is from understanding what black audiences will come out to see.

(a) It was based upon a best selling book,
(b) It was well done – writing, directing, production value,
(c) It had a very legitimate, and at least in our circles, a well known cast,
(d) There was a great marketing campaign, and
(e) IT WAS WELL DONE.

It’s really not rocket science. So Hollywood I say to you, I’m sorry let me be more specific, so FILM EXECUTIVES AT MAJOR STUDIOS, I say to you if you are willing to gamble $250 million on a colossal flop like John Carter then surely you can locate a measly 12 to 15 Million dollars, hey maybe even 20 Million (wow),  to put toward GOOD films with predominantly black casts and just make the big screen experience a more diverse arena. Thank you. Call me if you need some material.