His, Hers & the Truth (2019)
(On TV, September 2019) The advantage of having something near ten thousand movie reviews on a backwater website is that I can now bury deep-down secrets in one of those reviews and be sure that no one will ever read it. And this is my confession, dear non-existent reader: If I regularly watch romantic comedies on BET, it’s strictly for the women. Where else can I be reasonably sure to see so many beauties smiling and having fun? Unlike Hallmark or Lifetime movies, BET doesn’t fear upsetting viewers by showcasing beautiful women. I surely got what I was looking for in His, Hers & The Truth, as female lead Ashley A. Williams is simply gorgeous here as a young urban professional telling the rocky story of her romance despite a very, very bad start. It’s not exactly an exceptional film even by romantic comedy standards: the borrowing from other sources is blatant (specifically the “males and females can’t be platonic friends,” theme from When Harry Met Sally). The framing device of having multiple versions of the same events is not used very effectively, the third act becomes a bit of a mess and you can sense the screenwriter throwing in arbitrary obstacles just to keep the story running longer. On the other hand, the film’s first half is quite a bit better than it had any right to be — the heavily dialogue-based opening amusingly features the male character behaving abominably during a terrible first date, and the lead couple is exceptionally likable. His, Hers & The Truth gets more muted at it goes on, as the story becomes more contrived, there are some awkward time-skips and the dialogue becomes both less polished and less important. Still, it’s a breezy romantic comedy at the best of times. Williams is superb, funny and likable, while co-star Brad James manages to keep the audience on his side despite a very poor introduction. It wraps up happily (perhaps more happily than you’d expect from the framing device), and there is strong comedic support from Cocoa Brown and Dorien Wilson as relationship counsellors not necessarily any wiser than the lead characters. It could have been better, but the film can be very compelling at times and that’s all I’m asking for. Well, that and the ladies.