Romancefest 2016: Brown Sugar

Rick Famuyiwa's 2002 romantic comedy, BROWN SUGAR, is refreshing because it features characters who have definite likes and dislikes. This might seem like a low bar to set but trust me, it's rarer than you think to see a movie where the character's have personalities, let alone opinions.

BROWN SUGAR takes place firmly entrenched in the world of hip-hop, starring Sanaa Lathan as  the editor-in-chief of a hip-hop magazine. The movie starts with a flashback to Lathan's childhood where we see the first time she realized she was in love with hip-hop. As she grows, her first interview question as a journalist becomes, "How did you fall in love with hip-hop?"

We see several hip-hop luminaries answering this question throughout the movie and one early sequence tipped me off that this movie knows what it's talking about. There's a series of cameos with real artists, and it's not a pandering series -- I don't know much about hip-hop, but I know enough to know that these are highly respected artists with actual credibility, and not flavor-of-the-month types. Names like Talib Kweli, Common, Method Man, Russell Simmons and more show up to put in their two cents.

Lathan is still friends with her childhood buddy who has grown up to be Taye Diggs, a high up at a hip-hop record label. They're friends that never quite hooked up, so of course you know this means they're going to hook up when all is said and done, even though they birth flirt with relationships with the wrong people as the movie runs. But that's not what's important. The important thing is all the details.

Aside from having specific opinions about their hip-hop world, Lathan and Diggs' characters are also each at thresholds of their professional lives, Diggs particularly feeling like a sell out as he backs an up and coming but talentless act. Lathan's feelings for Diggs are awakened when Diggs announces his engagement and etc, etc.

Mos Def is also on hand as a cabby by day, promissing hip-hop act by night, and Queen Latifah lends her likableness as Lathan's cousin and Mos Def's potential love interest.

I probably sound like I'm repeating myself, but basically all you need to elevate an otherwise standard romantic comedy to something special is to just make sure to include some kind of unique point of view. In this case, the fact that everything unfolds in the hip-hop world among young professionals actually concerned about their careers and struggling with trying to do what they think is right or fulfilling, or both, makes BROWN SUGAR memorable. And it doesn't seem fake.