Think Like a Man Too, 2014.
Directed by Tim Story.
Starring Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Jenkins, Romany Malco, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Gary Owen, Gabrielle Union, La La Anthony, Adam Brody, Jerry Ferrara, Dennis Haysbert.
SYNOPSIS:
All the couples are back for a wedding in Las Vegas, but plans for a romantic weekend go awry when their various misadventures get them into some compromising situations that threaten to derail the big event.
Kevin Hart is big. Really big. Not in stature-he looks as if a young child escaped the Universal Studios tour and got lucky-but in that both Ride Along and his latest, Think Like a Man Too made $200 million in the US alone. Few times have popular trends baffled me, in this case, I am baffled. Like Sherlock, I attempt to decode Hart’s manic, often sociopathic screams, but I read nothing. There is no respite for thought in Think Like a Man Too, the film opens with a turgid, tired montage of Las Vegas before the screams of a thousand men chime in as Hart spouts words with a nightmarish swagger. He is playing us. We are but a pawn in his game.
There is almost a plot to Think Like a Man Too. Following on from the surprise hit-but similarly ugly-Think Like a Man, all the couples elope to Vegas for a wedding. Like The Hangover gone before, the wedding is derailed by a series of “innocent mistakes” by a collection of fleshy mouthpieces. Mistakes such as Hart’s Cedric spending £40,000 on a hotel room, Hart’s Cedric having to pretend to be a stripper and Cedric’s wife/girlfriend/prisoner cheating on him with Drake. These are not spoilers, for a film to be spoiled, there would have to be a plot with characters developed to something more than sentient bacteria.
Actors surround Hart as if children to an ice cream truck. He screams, they come running. There is no point in feeling sorry for Hart, he will be sitting in his Beverly Hills mansion laughing as he witnesses his Empire rise from the ashes. Instead, feel sorry for the cast that are forced to surround him. Romany Malco-of The 40 Year Old Virgin fame-is given little while the (bizarrely) popular Meagan Good intermittently cries. There are no performances, what we instead have is a post-modern look at the grotesque attitudes of the ultra-rich. Or I may be reading into this and we simply have a turgid, tired, ugly mess of a film.
Writing anymore about Think Like a Man Too would be of a disservice to the film. Characters do things of zero consequence. You could choose to watch this film, or you could actively volunteer at your local homeless shelter, or read a book, or simply watch paint dry, just don’t watch the film.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★/ Movie: ★
Thomas Harris
Originally published September 17, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
