Romancefest 2016: The Best Man

All right, enough with all these dumb white people. Time for Malcolm D. Lee's 1999 flick THE BEST MAN.

Taye Diggs stars as a writer who is about to come out with his first novel. Oprah herself is going to showcase it on her program, so he's destined for imminent fame and fortune. Problem is, Diggs used his pals from college as inspiration for his story, and it doesn't take much for them to sleuth out who is who and who did what with who. Or, rather, what Diggs may have wished happened. Or wished didn't happen.

Normally this wouldn't be that pressing of an issue except that Diggs is due to hit New York for his buddy's wedding, a religious up-and-coming NFL star (Morris Chestnut) also from his college days. So, at this wedding he's going to see the girl who got away (Nia Long) along with Chestnut's bride to be, AKA "the girl Diggs probably shouldn't have slept with" (Monica Calhoun).

Diggs is running around doing a lot of covering up. On the surface he's the most down to Earth and together of his buddies, but underneath he's conspiring to keep his own faults secret. He doesn't want Chestnut to know he slept with his fiance in college, and doesn't want his own girlfriend (Sanaa Lathan) to know that he still pines for his college crush and even hopes to have one more chance with her on the wedding weekend.

So, even though this is primarily a romantic comedy, the interesting thing is that it is equally about Diggs and his ego. He needs to look perfect to all of his friends even while he's running around scheming in the background. And these aren't overt Julia Roberts MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING type schemes. These are more realistic, shady schemes you might admit you yourself have entertained thoughts of in the moments you're less proud of. So, like Radcliffe in WHAT IF, Diggs doesn't have the most likable character to portray, but the movie about this character has a lot to say.

We've also got a couple other glimpses at relationships here with Diggs' buddies, Harold Perrineau as the victim of a controlling girlfriend (Melissa De Sousa) and Terrence Howard as a perpetually single self-proclaimed ladies' man. They each have their own arcs that compliment Diggs' own story, so even if the movie runs overly long, it's a tight screenplay.