The Ladies Man (2000)

the audience applauded

An Exercise In Nonsense

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The fact that The Ladies Man originated from a skit on Saturday Night Live should surprise no one who has seen and disliked the film. The film feels exactly like a character who belongs in skits roughly five to eight minutes long, who will occasionally say something funny in those five to eight minutes, and then end on a comic-bang before the screenwriter decides to cut over to another sketch. The sad thing about The Ladies Man is it focuses on its title character (played by a clearly inspired Tim Meadows) for eighty long, often tedious minutes, completely deluding the character's comic effect because it must be referenced with almost every line he says.I've discussed how tedious and often frustratingly unfunny Saturday Night Live films can often be (I wrote a whole blog on it three years back, so that should give an idea of how opinionated I was). Their main complaint links most of their films (with notable exceptions of the Wayne's World titles) in that they have difficultly giving their character's antics enough to do for a film's runtime. "The Ladies Man" character already has enough energy to be in a eighty minute film, but does he have the humor, plot, and charisma capabilities of carrying such precious minutes? How far does a sexist, afro-rockin' radio host go? The answer is not very far, but the film is at least buoyed by the competence and appeal of Tim Meadows, who can do no wrong in films as far as I'm concerned. His presence is casual and his attitude often laidback, even when he's playing a character as tiresome as this one. He plays Leon "The Ladies Man" Phelps, a studly black radio host who is known for his outspoken sexism on air during his nighttime show where he gives female callers shallow advice about relationships. The first thirty minutes of the film show his attitude and serve as nothing but a showcase for redundant jokes akin to that of modern Saturday Night Life sketches.When the story finally does get going, it's lame and serves more as filler than as a significant plot. It follows a man who finds his wife cheating on him, only to spot a naked black man running outside his home with a smiley face tattooed on his rear. Turns out, there is a website dedicated to finding this man and a group of angry husbands meet up to try and track down the man who pleasures their wives. The result is a tiresome array of unfunny marital jokes and a predictable but slightly catchy song and dance number.Tim Meadows (who serves as co-write on this film) is clearly inspired when playing "The Ladies Man." His personality is always energetic and here he plays a character he completely created and "perfected" himself. There is a genuine sense of fun and comfortableness when playing this role. The issue is that "The Ladies Man" is so thin and uninteresting as a character that he's more of an idea. In that regard, Meadows does a great job at playing an idea.I return full circle to my point that I made in the beginning that stated that the films focuses on a character that feels exactly like he belongs in concise skits on Television. It's no surprise that after about fifteen minutes of laughing with and at the character, I began to be burdened with feelings of tedium. This only influences my point that a character with this personality belongs in shorts seventy-five minutes shorter than the film The Ladies Man.Starring: Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, John Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and Eugene Levy. Directed by: Reginald Hudlin.

Do you like really inventive comedy or do you love "the wedding crashers", if the answer is the latter stop reading now. I can't believe this movie is not higher rated. Basically Meadows plays a character not unlike Austin Powers.There are so many inventive moments in this gagorama. From crudity - Leon playing with himself on the porch, the ex boyfriend tricked into eating . . Oh well. To inspired lunacy- clown sex , the Broadway routine, the voice over. Meadows is great as the childish, but very sweet natured Leon. Some great lines "don't blame the wang" "freaky deaky sex world" too many. . . Why this movie wasn't huge is a mystery. Great comedy.

When Tiffani Thiessen was straddling Tim Meadows on the couch she looked hotter than ever, with those long legs in thigh-high stockings. However, her character is ridiculous. She seems to take on these vacuous, sexually charged roles often. It makes you wonder what she does in real life. But I found it depressing that she was automatically willing to sleep with the Tim Meadows character, as were all the other women he predictably bedded. But isn't it convenient that they were all so automatically willing to sleep with him? Of course they were, that was the whole point of the movie. They had to be! But how many people's lives really work this way? How many women are actually this one-dimensional and predictably available? It was completely unrealistic and quite depressing. And it also made no sense that at the end of the movie Tiffani threw herself at Billy Dee Williams! PLEASE!! And it made even less sense that Leon turned her down. Tiffani looked great, yes. If she's so easy, why can't she come over to my place and be an automatically available sex object with me??!!

Yes it may be goofy and may not seem as funny as many high budget comedies out there, but this movie is truly hilarious if you really watch it. Tim Meadows has always struck me as being funny off of the Saturday Night Live show. Whenever he would do this character on the show I would crack up laughing. So after I saw this was going to be playing on Comedy Central one night I decided to check it out. All in all I was farily impressed with this movie, because it wasn't meant to win any Oscars or become comedy of the year, but it did entertain the Saturday Night Live fans that love the Ladies Man character. This movie is also packed with some highly quotable lines that can be recited for years to come.