Walking The Line Between Comedy, Drama
Comedian Martin Lawrence stars in a new comedy about a womanizer.
Actress Lynn Whitfield stars in a dark drama about a scorned woman who raises some hell.
These could both be good movies, but, unfortunately, they’re the same movie: “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.”
Lawrence boasts, “I have the gift of gab and a smile that can book any woman’s ass.” Lawrence’s character is a creep who dumps a succession of fine women, but the movie is based on the premise that he’s irresistible.
And he is - even when he’s saying something ridiculously sexist, the glint in his eye says that he knows it’s ridiculous.
Lawrence has several “honeys” on the dangle, including a mystery woman who’s obviously trouble (Whitfield).
When he steps over the line with her, it becomes a “Fatal Attraction” situation, and Whitfield seems capable of boiling his bunny but good. The script wants to turn Whitfield’s character into a joke, but her anger and pain are real - we can’t laugh at her revenge attempts because we feel sympathy for her. More than that, we agree with her.
You can tell the moviemakers were confused about where to take this story, as the tone veers from Lawrence’s amusingly nasty monologues to Whitfield’s genuine torment.
The ending of the movie tries to reconcile everything by having Lawrence learn his lesson, but, in my mind, the supposed hero of this movie is the villain, and the “villain” is the real heroine.
MEMO: These 2 sidebars appeared with the story: 1. “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” Locations: North Division cinemas Credits: Directed by Martin Lawrence; starring Lawrence and Lynn Whitfield Running time: 1:48 Rating: R
2. OTHER VIEWS Here’s what other critics say about “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate:” Duane Byrge/Hollywood Reporter: Essentially, the film’s billing as a comedy-thriller is literally and somewhat disappointingly correct: The first half is a comedy about how certain young black men regard females as merely sexual objects. The first half of this “Line” is often hilarious and doesn’t hesitate to dis the menfolks’ do-‘em-and-drop-‘em mentalities; however, before there’s any real resolution of this fertile subject, the film veers off into its over-easy “Fatal Attraction” mode, essentially a narrative cop-out. Still, the numerous screenwriters have strung together enough wickedly funny and perceptive bits to generally overcome the lackadaisical plotting, and director Lawrence keeps it nicely strung out on a high, comedic hop.
Amy Dawes/Los Angeles Daily News: There’s a thin line between sheer entertainment and filmmaking with a message, and comic Martin Lawrence would hate to admit to the latter. Still, he walks that line quite effectively in this loose, raunchy, comedy-thriller about a Crenshaw District Casanova who learns that when you play, you pay.
2. OTHER VIEWS Here’s what other critics say about “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate:” Duane Byrge/Hollywood Reporter: Essentially, the film’s billing as a comedy-thriller is literally and somewhat disappointingly correct: The first half is a comedy about how certain young black men regard females as merely sexual objects. The first half of this “Line” is often hilarious and doesn’t hesitate to dis the menfolks’ do-‘em-and-drop-‘em mentalities; however, before there’s any real resolution of this fertile subject, the film veers off into its over-easy “Fatal Attraction” mode, essentially a narrative cop-out. Still, the numerous screenwriters have strung together enough wickedly funny and perceptive bits to generally overcome the lackadaisical plotting, and director Lawrence keeps it nicely strung out on a high, comedic hop.
Amy Dawes/Los Angeles Daily News: There’s a thin line between sheer entertainment and filmmaking with a message, and comic Martin Lawrence would hate to admit to the latter. Still, he walks that line quite effectively in this loose, raunchy, comedy-thriller about a Crenshaw District Casanova who learns that when you play, you pay.