Thursday, February 11, 2021

Thursday Movie Picks: Friends to Lovers

So...


I think I got all the grumpiness out of my system on last week Thursday Movie Picks. The subject then was fake relationships, and well, I had no love for them. This week is different. I actually like these movies. Promise. For the topic, Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves chose something that makes much more sense to me: friends to lovers. I get it. Get it? I got it. Let's get it.


Menace II Society

(1993)

Caine & Ronnie

You're probably saying, "Woah, Dell. This ain't romantic." Touché. But it fits. We follow Caine (Tyrin Turner) over a (spoiler?) tragic summer of trying to navigate 'hood life. Through all of his ups and downs, the one person who's always there for him is Ronnie (Jada Pinkett-Smith). At first, their bond is over the love they share for the incarcerated Pernell. Slowly, but surely, they realize they were meant for each other.


A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

(1996)

Darnell & Mia

If you've seen it, you know it's an unabashed Fatal Attraction knock-off with Lynn Whitfield playing Glen Close to Martin Lawrence's Michael Douglas. Lawrence's actual character name is Darnell, a single ladies' man rising through the ranks of the nightclub scene and falls for Whitfield's older, sophisticated Brandi. Of course, she goes rabbit-boiling mad, and the person who's got Darnell's back, through thick and thin, is his life-long friend Mia, played the by the ever-fabulous Regina King.


Brown Sugar

(2002)

Dre & Sid

As youngsters, Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sid (Sanaa Lathan) bonded over their love of hip hop. As adults, they both work in the industry, Dre as a record company talent scout and Sid as a journalist, and remain good friends. However, with Dre's wedding to Reese (Nicole Ari Parker) on the horizon, Sid's long dormant romantic feelings toward Dre bubble to the surface. Okay, so I had to give you one straightforward rom-com.


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10 comments:

  1. Yes your spin on these seems much fonder than last week.

    The only one I've seen all the way through is Thin Line Between Love and Hate which I didn't love. Lynn Whitfield deserves so much better.

    Menace II Society has been on my too see list forever, not sure why I haven't gotten to it yet. I happened upon Brown Sugar somewhere but it seemed to be pretty deep into the film so I didn't watch for long. It seemed okay but I've never seen it from start to stop.

    I'm expecting to see a few titles repeat frequently this week so I purposely avoided them and sought more obscure picks. My first might show up but I'm fairly confident my other two won't.

    The Wedding Singer (1998)-Nice guy Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is a wedding singer at a small hall in 80’s New Jersey who is about to marry Linda (Angela Featherstone) when he meets server Julia (Drew Barrymore) who has just started at the venue. Julia is engaged to Glenn (Matthew Glave) and they strike up a friendship over that mutual fact. But when Linda dumps Robbie on the eve of their wedding he falls apart and Julia trying to help him get back on his feet asks Robbie to help plan her upcoming nuptials. As they work on the plans Robbie realizes that not only is Glenn an enormous tool but that he's falling for Julia who subconsciously is doing the same. Will they realize their true feelings in time? Probably Sandler’s sweetest, least abrasive film packed wall to wall with fun 80’s music and fashions.

    The Full Monty (1997)-When hard times fall on an English town a group of men on the dole including Gaz (Robert Carlyle), Dave (Mark Addy), Lomper (Steve Huison) and Guy (Hugo Speer) form a male strip revue. Out of desperation to pull in crowds they promise to go “the full Monty”. Though they run into many hurdles, some comic and others serious, eventually they prevail, along the way buddies Lomper & Guy realize they’ve fallen for each other and end up a couple.

    Hands Across the Table (1935)-Manicurist Regi Allen (Carole Lombard) works at a swanky hotel hunting for a rich husband. She thinks she’s found a plum pigeon in Theodore Drew III (Fred MacMurray), since he comes from a prominent family but finds out he’s as broke as she is since the stock market crash. They become friends though and decide to help each other in their gold digging. Regi meets wealthy hotel guest Allen Macklyn (Ralph Bellamy), who falls for her while Ted is waiting for Vivian Snowden (Astrid Allwyn) the heiress he has on the hook to return from Bermuda so he can hop back on the gravy train. All seems smooth sailing but as feelings between Regi and Theodore develop, their careful plans start to change.

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    1. I can agree. Lynn Whitfield is deserving of much more. And I'd be very interested to hear your take on Menace II Society.

      The Wedding Singer is one of those movies I've seen in bits and pieces. It never piqued my interest enough to give it a proper watch.

      I remember liking The Full Monty well enough, but I haven't seen it since either '97 or '98, so my memory is pretty hazy on any details.

      I haven't seen Hands Across the Table.

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  2. I will definitely check out Menace II Society as it sounds very interesting.

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    1. I'd love to see what you think of it. Of the glut of 'hood moves that flooded multiplexes in the decade following the success of Boyz N the Hood, this is among, if not the, best.

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  3. The only one of these I've seen is Brown Sugar and I don't remember it that well. The Thing Line Between Love and Hate sounds interesting.

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    1. A Thin Line is interesting, and a good bit of silly fun.

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  4. OK...I was writing here and it just disappeared! Maybe it didn't like what I sai?? lol...OK I haven't seen any of these but they sound like a good watch. I am struggling this month with all this romance.

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    1. Blogger has been doing some weird stuff since they updated it. Sigh. I'm also struggling with all the lovey-dovey stuff.

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  5. Great picks, Dell, and fine to go with what you think suits the theme! Ahh, young Jada :)

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