Who's in It: Chris Rock, Kerry Washington, Gina Torres, Steve Buscemi, Edward Herrmann
The Basics: A successful businessman musters all his willpower in an effort not to wreck his marriage vows by getting it on with a lace-panties-wearing Hot Chick. Complicating matters is the fact that his "happy" marriage has turned sexless and his co-workers are watching his every move. He's trapped on both fronts. Therefore, the subject matter automatically makes it a movie for grown-ups instead of the usual 14-year-old boy target demographic, a group of people decidedly unconcerned about their futures as nookie-starved suburban dads. Of course, that also raises the question of whether nookie-starved suburban dads are going to want to see this comedy of frustration, either — Chris Rock stamp of creation or not.
What's the Deal? I saw Head of State, Rock's first attempt at directing. And because it was such a piece of crap, I was a little worried about this one. Then I found out it's a remake of revered French New Wave director Eric Rohmer's Chloe in the Afternoon — another red flag. But that's always a dead end, trying to compare remakes to originals, so I decided not to flip out over the fact that this one ditches talky French ambivalence in favor of wacky Viagra mishaps and Biz Markie references. And I ended up having a really good time.
What's Wrong With It: Nobody's going to mistake Chris Rock for Jean-Luc Godard, and there are moments when the movie seems to divide women into two uninteresting camps: boring, frigid wives and vampy troublemakers. Furthermore, it had enough laughs to keep me happy, yet it's not nearly as good as Rock and co-writer Louis C.K.'s last collaboration, Pootie Tang. But then, what is anymore?
What's Right With It: It gets points for being interesting about racial and class issues, even though it would never admit to that. Also, Washington makes a really convincing temptation, even if her character is completely unreasonable and borderline crazy. And finally, the sort-of-nonsense ending will take you by surprise.
Blink and You'll Miss: America's Next Top Model winner Eva Pigford as a flighty nightclubstress.