Think Like a Man - 3 smiles

“Think Like a Man” is a surprisingly enjoyable movie in spite of the obvious product placement of Steve Harvey’s book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, which pops up everywhere in the film.  It follows several couples facing typical relationship hurdles. The women are losing their battles until they find Harvey’s book that reveals secrets of the male mind.  As a result, Kristen (Gabrielle Union) stops waiting for a proposal from Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara); single mother Candace (Regina Hall) loses patience with mama’s boy Michael (Terrence J); successful Lauren (Taraji P. Henson) falls for sensitive but broke Dominic (Michael Ealy) and promiscuous Mya (Meagan Good) withholds her ‘cookie’ (Harvey’s term) from lady’s man Zeke (Romany Malco). Kevin Hart, as the soon-to-be-divorced Cedric, provides a counterpoint to the romance with salty comedy.

Director Tim Story juggles the many story lines and characters deftly and although the individual romances are fairly predictable in their outcomes, the charisma of the cast members makes this more entertaining than most ensemble rom-coms. In addition, the skill of this excellent cast humanizes Harvey’s stereotypes and we begin to care about how their relationships will work out.  Plus the verbal jokes are often witty.  While “Think Like a Man”  follows a general formula, it offers a pleasant afternoon at the movies. 4/29/12