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INDEFINITE
The thoughts of Fear of a Black Hat director Rusty Cundieff turn to love in this overbearing comedy, which disastrously attempts to be both romantic and farcical. At a party, gold-digger Adina (Paula Jai Parker) and good-girl Brandy (Tisha Campbell) meet hustler Clyde (Joe Torry) and sensitive-man Montel (Cundieff). While Adina and Clyde’s quick sex soon turns to enduring hate, Brandy and Montel slowly swoon into true love. Their bliss proves so annoying to their friends that Adina and Clyde conspire to break up the pairing. Ultimately, of course, love conquers all of them. Rather than balance each other, however, the cartoonishness of Adina and Clyde and the mushiness of Brandy and Montel are equally unpalatable. And Cundieff and co-writer Darin Scott can never answer the fundamental question: What did Brandy and Montel ever have in common with best pals Adina and Clyde anyway? At area theaters; see Showtimes for venues. (Mark Jenkins)