- Review: John Wick 3 (C)
Scott Sycamore - Weekend Box Office
May 17 - 19 - Crowd Reports
Avengers: Endgame - Us
Box office comparisons - Review: Justice League (C)
Craig Younkin
Movie Review
Brown Sugar
By Todd Heustess Published October 24, 2002
US Release: October 11, 2002
Directed by: Rick Famuyiwa
Starring: Taye Diggs , Sanaa Lathan , Mos Def
PG-13
Running Time: 108 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $27,362,000
Directed by: Rick Famuyiwa
Starring: Taye Diggs , Sanaa Lathan , Mos Def
PG-13
Running Time: 108 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $27,362,000
B-
There's genuine chemistry
It would be easy to dismiss Brown Sugar as the Buppie version of "When Harry Met Sally," but that wouldn't be fair to this charming romantic comedy starring Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan as Dre and Sidney, childhood friends who are the only ones who don't realize that they are right for each other.
It's not an original story, but there's genuine chemistry between Diggs and Lathan and the romantic complications - while a tad contrived, are at least believable. The complications are Dre's wife, Reese (Nicole Ari Parker), and Sidney's boyfriend, Kelby (Boris Kodjoe). Rounding out the cast are Queen Latifah as Sydney's cousin and best friend, Francine, and Mos Def as a taxi driver/rapper who Dre feels is the future of hip hop music because he's old school hip hop.
Dre is an executive/talent scout at Millennium Records and Sydney is an editor at a new hip hop magazine. The two bonded on hip hop music when they were kids and their shared love of the music is one of the many things they share. Director Rick Famuyiwa forces the theme of Dre and Sydney's shared love of old school hip hop a little too much, but the nice benefit of that is a soundtrack that actually sounds like it was composed for the movie and not just a hurriedly assembled collection of singles. If the hip hop/true love theme lacks subtlety, that's okay because the actors are in a nice groove and give relaxed, believable performances.
Diggs has gone from nice eye candy as Angela Basset's boy toy in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," to leading man status and he can comfortably carry a movie on his own now. Luckily in Brown Sugar, he doesn't have to because Lathan proves here that her smashing debut in "Love and Basketball" was no fluke. Romantic comedy suits her because she's playful, sexy, and vulnerable without ever being cloying. It's never too clear why Sydney so adamantly refuses to acknowledge her attractions and feelings for Dre, but Lathan does a great job of conveying the confusion and fear her character is supposed to be feeling.
As often happens in these movies, the sidekick characters (Latifah and Def) nearly steal the show with their timing and great line readings. Def is very funny as a rapper who wants to keep it real, as he's physically similar to Chris Rock or Chris Tucker but he moves at a pace about five-hundred times slower than those two comedians. His character's theory on the ending of "Casablanca" is alone worth the price of admission. In the end, whether you like Brown Sugar will depend on how much you like the leads and whether you think they belong together (I did). Brown Sugar breaks no new ground, as it's a "friends-who-should-be-lovers" story but takes a rather overused romantic comedy concept and makes it feel fresh and new.
It's not an original story, but there's genuine chemistry between Diggs and Lathan and the romantic complications - while a tad contrived, are at least believable. The complications are Dre's wife, Reese (Nicole Ari Parker), and Sidney's boyfriend, Kelby (Boris Kodjoe). Rounding out the cast are Queen Latifah as Sydney's cousin and best friend, Francine, and Mos Def as a taxi driver/rapper who Dre feels is the future of hip hop music because he's old school hip hop.
Dre is an executive/talent scout at Millennium Records and Sydney is an editor at a new hip hop magazine. The two bonded on hip hop music when they were kids and their shared love of the music is one of the many things they share. Director Rick Famuyiwa forces the theme of Dre and Sydney's shared love of old school hip hop a little too much, but the nice benefit of that is a soundtrack that actually sounds like it was composed for the movie and not just a hurriedly assembled collection of singles. If the hip hop/true love theme lacks subtlety, that's okay because the actors are in a nice groove and give relaxed, believable performances.
Diggs has gone from nice eye candy as Angela Basset's boy toy in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," to leading man status and he can comfortably carry a movie on his own now. Luckily in Brown Sugar, he doesn't have to because Lathan proves here that her smashing debut in "Love and Basketball" was no fluke. Romantic comedy suits her because she's playful, sexy, and vulnerable without ever being cloying. It's never too clear why Sydney so adamantly refuses to acknowledge her attractions and feelings for Dre, but Lathan does a great job of conveying the confusion and fear her character is supposed to be feeling.
As often happens in these movies, the sidekick characters (Latifah and Def) nearly steal the show with their timing and great line readings. Def is very funny as a rapper who wants to keep it real, as he's physically similar to Chris Rock or Chris Tucker but he moves at a pace about five-hundred times slower than those two comedians. His character's theory on the ending of "Casablanca" is alone worth the price of admission. In the end, whether you like Brown Sugar will depend on how much you like the leads and whether you think they belong together (I did). Brown Sugar breaks no new ground, as it's a "friends-who-should-be-lovers" story but takes a rather overused romantic comedy concept and makes it feel fresh and new.
Todd's Grade: B-
Todd's Overall Grading: 13 graded movies
| A | 38.5% | |
| B | 61.5% | |
| C | 0.0% | |
| D | 0.0% | |
| F | 0.0% |
