The Ladies Man

It's perfect timing that this travesty should come out at the same time as Spike Lee's Bamboozled, since it makes all of Lee's points for him. Perhaps Lorne Michaels conceived this film as "satire," but the KKK could probably recruit new trainees with his image of the black man (represented by long suffering and unfunny SNL cast member Tim Meadows) as semiretarded, idiotically grinning, massively endowed, large afroed seducer of mostly married white women. If racial stereotypes don't offend you, perhaps Will Ferrell as a mincing repressed homosexual who sings show tunes and wrestles in oil will. As an angry cuckolded husband, the brilliant British physical comedian Lee Evans (There's Something About Mary, Funny Bones) is completely wasted, as are a couple of former Kids in the Hall, Billy Dee Williams (malt liquor commercials looking for younger pitchmen these days, Billy?), and Julianne Moore, the latter apparently attempting career suicide in a small role as a horny circus clown. Director Reginald Hudlin (of the vastly superior House Party) lifts half of his gags from Austin Powers, while the script -- credited to Meadows, Dennis McNicholas, and Andrew Steele - regales us with endless repetitions and variations on the word "butt," while expecting us to believe that the FCC would actually fine a DJ for saying it. The only laughs to be had here are based on the sheer absurdity of the idea that no one involved ever seemed to realize just what a horrible film they were making. Easily the worst and most misguided major studio release of the year -- beating out Battlefield Earth, which at least had a lunatic charm that made it strangely appealing -- The Ladies Man is a disaster on every level. The only thing good about its release is that we won't have to see the damn preview ever again.