Loving Jezebel
Loving Jezebel **(R)
Reviewed By George O. Singleton

…is easy to do

Theodorous: Hill Harper
Frances: Nicole Ari Parker
Mona: Sandrine Holt
Samantha: Laurel Holloman
Alice: Phylicia Rashad
Director: Kwyn Bade

30 Second Bottom Line: A comedy about a young man who since kindergarten has been attracted to other men's women …and vice versa. The husband of a woman who is in love with him seeks revenge by way of murder.

Story Line:  Theodorous (Hill Harper) contemplates his life as he waits in his apartment   for the jealous husband of his latest lover to break in and inflict the punishment he justly deserves. We see him when he is only five years old and he is attracted to a young girl in school. His romantic leanings start at an early age and by the time he is in high school, he is a real Romeo. In college he takes romancing to an art form and after graduation, he is the Doctor of Love in a way that The Ladies Man could only dream of.

Theodorous (as in amorous) has an on and off again relationship with Frances (Nicole Ari Parker) which causes him to end up in the hospital. He is seduced by Mona (Sandrine Holt), his roommate's girlfriend, and of course, that relationship is nothing but trouble. She, more than anyone else, is the forbidden fruit…sweet today, but boy do you pay later.  Despondent with his inability to maintain a meaningful relationship over an extended period of time, he takes a job as a waiter and has no sex for almost a year.

Just as in the eye of a hurricane, calm weather has a way of changing into a perfect storm (pun intended). When Samantha (Laurel Holloman) meets Theodorous, she falls in love with him. Their relationship develops from friendship to a real love affair. While they are clearly meant for each other, there is a major complication. She is married and her husband is not only jealous, but can be violent, and he intends to do something about it.

Tell Me More About It: Loving Jezebel is not a crude comedy like Me, Myself & Irene (Jim Carrey). It does, however, share a common theme; an oddball character, who one way or the other will find a way to ride off into the sunset at the end of the film, with the girl of his dreams.

Although I'd like to say I'm colorblind, I won't because that's not true. I accepted the various relationships of Theodorous', of which many were interracial. What I did not buy was his overly geeky behavior as he was spinning around on the floor to some wild rock music like the Jimmy Hendrix routine of Jesse Bradford in Bring It On. Even the most outrageous behavior must have some sense of believability for you to accept the premise of the film.  His prior behavior was too cool for acting like such a nerd.

 After seeing how good Hill Harper is on the TV show "City of Angels" and in the new film, The Visit, I probably had too high an expectation for him in Loving Jezebel. This film is the feature debut of Hill Harper and I predict he will become as well known as Denzel Washington and Kevin Spacey…he's that good. He's a still water runs deep kind of guy. He's been acting since the age of seven and is clearly a very bright person. He graduated from Brown University magna cum laude and has two graduate degrees, with honors, from Harvard, one in law and one in government. Here is an actor who could run for political office and actually be qualified. But everyone has to start somewhere and for Hill Harper, Loving Jezebel is a great springboard.


R (sex; language)
George O. Singleton © 2000

Mini Filmography

Nicole Ari Parker: Remember The Titans
Hill Harper: He Got Game
Laurel Holloman: Tumbleweeds
Sandrine Holt: Airtime
Phylicia Rashad: The Visit (Dec 2000)
Kwyn Bader: The Tuskegee Airmen