Usually when you watch a romance about two people who are "just friends", one of the pair isn't very attractive - otherwise, why wouldn't they immediately get together? This isn't the case in Brown Sugar, starring the equally gorgeous Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs. So why would they stay just friends? Because they grew up together, established a strong friendship as children and bonded in adolescence through mutual love of hip-hop music. As adults, Taye works for a music producing label and Sanaa writes critiques. They get along very well, but they've both put each other in the "friend zone" and have no intention of changing it. Despite Queen Latifah, Sanaa's best friend, repeatedly teasing about their obvious attraction, Taye gets engaged to Nicole Ari Walker.
If you're just looking at this as a cute romantic comedy, it won't hurt you. But if you want to take it seriously, there's a major red flag. Taye Diggs's character is not a nice person. He has no problem using up his friend's attention and time, happy that he's the only man in her life; when she starts dating someone, he's jealous and unsupportive. Yet, he expects her to be completely supportive about his engagement. The night before his wedding, he takes advantage of Sanaa's friendship and kisses her, then goes his merry way with Nicole. Then (yes, there's more!), he has a moment of self-importance and quits his job. The first person he tells is Sanaa, and they hang out in the park for a few hours talking about what a great idea it would be for him to start his own business. When he finally comes home and tells his wife, Nicole is upset that she wasn't included in his decision, told before Sanaa, or turned to for the sharing of his feelings. She's completely right! Taye's response: "The wife's job is to support the husband." If that's his idea of marriage, any woman should steer clear of him. Nicole is beautiful, poised, intelligent, classy, and forward-thinking. And yet, instead of apologizing and admitting he made many mistakes in one day, he throws it up to her that Sanaa supports his whim of creating a business. Any friend would support his pipe dream; a wife has a completely different perspective because it affects her!
Alright, I'm off my soap box. If you like the lead actors, you'll probably enjoy the movie. I found it entertaining and funny, even though I didn't like the message. My favorite part was when Mos Def was giving Taye romantic advice. He admits he hasn't been given any real development because he's the buddy character: "I'm not the Humphrey Bogart. I'm the Peter Lorre; I'm the sidekick."
If you're just looking at this as a cute romantic comedy, it won't hurt you. But if you want to take it seriously, there's a major red flag. Taye Diggs's character is not a nice person. He has no problem using up his friend's attention and time, happy that he's the only man in her life; when she starts dating someone, he's jealous and unsupportive. Yet, he expects her to be completely supportive about his engagement. The night before his wedding, he takes advantage of Sanaa's friendship and kisses her, then goes his merry way with Nicole. Then (yes, there's more!), he has a moment of self-importance and quits his job. The first person he tells is Sanaa, and they hang out in the park for a few hours talking about what a great idea it would be for him to start his own business. When he finally comes home and tells his wife, Nicole is upset that she wasn't included in his decision, told before Sanaa, or turned to for the sharing of his feelings. She's completely right! Taye's response: "The wife's job is to support the husband." If that's his idea of marriage, any woman should steer clear of him. Nicole is beautiful, poised, intelligent, classy, and forward-thinking. And yet, instead of apologizing and admitting he made many mistakes in one day, he throws it up to her that Sanaa supports his whim of creating a business. Any friend would support his pipe dream; a wife has a completely different perspective because it affects her!
Alright, I'm off my soap box. If you like the lead actors, you'll probably enjoy the movie. I found it entertaining and funny, even though I didn't like the message. My favorite part was when Mos Def was giving Taye romantic advice. He admits he hasn't been given any real development because he's the buddy character: "I'm not the Humphrey Bogart. I'm the Peter Lorre; I'm the sidekick."