Think Like a Man Too (2014)
Directed by: Tim Story
Premise: A sequel to the 2012 film. The same group of couples reunite in Las Vegas for a wedding. Bachelor and bachelorette parties ensue the night before the ceremony with predictably chaotic results.
What Works: Think Like a Man Too has a lot of problems but it must be said that the cast of this film is really agreeable. No one actor or pair of actors stand out but the core cast which includes Gary Owen, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Michael Ealy, Taraji P. Henson, Jerry Ferrara, Gabrielle Union, Meagan Good, Romany Malco, Regina Hall, and Terrence Jenkins are all very good in their roles and they bring a lot of character to a script that does not give them much to do. The likability of the cast helps this film considerably. The first picture largely overcame its stupid and sexist material because the characters were fun and engaging and each couple had a unique story. Think Like a Man Too reunites these familiar characters and the extent to which it works is mostly due to how fun this group of actors are to watch.
What Doesn’t: Although Think Like a Man Too is officially a sequel to the 2012 movie, this film has virtually no bearing on the original film. Instead it seems like the screenwriters mashed together the scripts of The Hangover, Last Vegas, Very Bad Things and every other Las Vegas based comedy but cast out everything edgy, novel, or interesting about those movies and shoehorned in preexisting characters. Aside from the cast there is no reason to consider this a sequel. The filmmakers show no interest in the characters or the plot and despite running just short of two hours in length virtually nothing happens in this movie. It takes the filmmakers over a half hour just getting the couples to Vegas and booked into their hotel. The reintroduction of the characters is really the highlight of the film and it is fun to reconnect with them since their last scene in the original picture. But it’s all downhill from there. The cast divides by sex and the two groups head their separate ways for a debauched night on the town. The one-crazy-night premise is a well-worn subset of the comedy genre and especially familiar is the one-crazy-night-in-Vegas story. But even given that familiarity, there is no reason for Think Like a Man Too to be this lazy and boring. Part of the problem is the wasted setting. Las Vegas has been the location for countless movies and television shows with storytellers alternately portraying it as a criminal cesspool, an adult theme park, or as a place of redemption but never before has Vegas been presented as this tedious and generic. Think Like a Man Too has none of the scandalous flavor of Vegas nor the neon glamour of its streets. The movie might as well be set in New York, Los Angeles, or any other metropolis in between because the filmmakers don’t utilize any of the unique aspects of Sin City. The other major fault of Think Like a Man Too is that its cast of characters have nothing to do. When the main cast are reintroduced each of them is given a nugget of a subplot but none of those ideas are developed and the characters end the film in virtually the same position in which they started. Unlike its predecessor, which was a relationship-based romantic comedy, Think Like a Man Too is intended to be a sex comedy but the filmmakers stay within the confines of a PG-13 rating and the result is neither sexy nor comedic. Speaking of unfunny, the cast of Think Like a Man Too also includes Kevin Hart. In the years since the original film Hart has become a movie star (for some reason) and Think Like a Man Too frequently stops dead to let him do his annoying shtick.
Bottom Line: Think Like a Man Too isn’t just an unnecessary sequel but a truly awful one. Viewers who enjoyed the original picture will find nothing of that film here and it frequently plays like a special episode of a television sitcom. This movie is lazy, unfunny, and stupid.
Episode: #497 (June 29, 2014)