Just Wright

Last night I went to the screening of Just Wright starring Queen Latifah and Common. I first saw the trailer for this film a few months back and thought it looked charming although rather unrealistic. The film is about Leslie Wright played by Queen Latifah who is a single and 35 year old women who has a heart of gold. She loves her job as a physical therapist and loves her family and also has a huge passion for the New York Nicks. Her gorgeous best friend, Morgan played by Paula Patton is the complete opposite from Leslie - vacuous and self-centred, her main goal is to bag an NBA star and she puts an awful lot of thought and time into landing one. NBA star, Scott McKnight played by Common is Morgan's target and when Leslie has a chance meeting with Scott at a petrol station it looks like the two of them might have something special till Scott lays eyes on Morgan and falls for her hook, line and sinker. Before you can say put on a ring on it, the two are engaged and Morgan is planning their glitzy wedding at The Plaza. Then tragedy strikes and Scott is badly injured during a game and it looks like his glittering career is over. Before you can say through sickness and health, Morgan takes off leaving Scott to pine for the loss of his lady and his career. Enter Leslie who is determined not to let Scott wallow in his pity and even more determined to get him back in the NBA. With sheer grit, discipline and inspiration, Leslie has Scott ready for the NBA and with everyone falling at his feet - including Morgan. This proves to be a bit of a problem as Leslie and Scott have got very close over the last few months. So who will Scott choose?

I thought this was a very entertaining and slick film; there are lots of laughs and fun moments but then this is only to be expected from Sanaa Hamri, the lady who brought us the brilliant, Something New. Queen Latifah is her usual home-girl charismatic self while Paula Patton is great as the bimboesque, Morgan. I can see the logic in casting Common as he adds a lot of pull to the movie ie he provides the eye candy for the ladies and thus his male fans will probably give the film a look. However, he did nothing for me in the film - first of all he is too damm short to play a basketball player and his acting skills leave a lot to be desired. They should have just gone the whole hog and casted a real NBA star - I am sure LeBron James would have fitted the role perfectly. Now to the real crux of the matter -  I am just going to say it - Just Wright was a great film and Queen Latifah is a lovely lady but there is no way that those two would have ended up together. There was a lot of tittering amongst the audience during the love scenes between Common and Queen Latifah's characters and I think the general consensus was that the film was just a huge fairytale. Like I mentioned before, Just Wright is a lovely and fun film and I will definitely be getting it on DVD when it is released.

Just Wright is released on Friday.

The event was organised by Rapture Film Club who put on screenings of urban Black films such as Why Did We Get Married and Not Easily Broken. You can check out their website here.