OxfordPress.com

Grade: C-

Verdict: You probably won't love it.

Details: Starring Hill Harper. Directed by Kwyn Bader. Rated R for language, sexual situations and mild violence. One hour, 32 minutes.

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Review: The romantic comedy "Loving Jezebel" somehow manages to squander both an appealing cast and an inviting Manhattan setting. It's the sort of thing that starts off innocuously, then thanks to that persuasive sense of missed opportunities, gets more irritating as it goes along.

The title refers to Theodorus Melville's (Hill Harper) unfortunate tendency to fall for women who are already sleeping with someone else. In the opening scene, we're introduced to Theo as he leaps out of the bed - and then the window - of a comely blonde's apartment, with her gun-wielding husband in hot pursuit. Frozen midjump, Theo muses, "Where else could I be after a lifetime spent loving other men's women?"

This "curse" begins with an elementary-school crush, continues through high school and college and follows him to Manhattan where he works as a waiter. There's Francine (Nicole Ari Parker), a bosomy drama major; Salli (Elisa Donovan), who has a thing for stuffed bears; Mona (Sandrine Holt), an acerbic bartender; June (Lysa Aya Trenier), a limber ballet dancer; and finally, unhappily married Samantha (Laurel Holloman), with whom he shares a passion for poetry and Chinese movies.

While writer/director Kwyn Bader may, like his protagonist, love women, he hasn't the slightest idea how to write them. (Actually, he has no idea how to write men either, but with the exception of Theo, their roles are smaller.) Theo's beloveds are vague outlines at best with nothing more than a British accent or a bear fetish to distinguish one from the other. It's almost as if Bader had hit upon a great way to meet some great-looking chicks: write a movie with lots of roles for them.

They're all extremely attractive and a couple - Holloman and Holt, veterans of the independent scene - show talent. Plus, spare some admiration (sympathy?) for Harper. A veteran of several Spike Lee movies, his role is as underwritten as everyone else's but he still has the burden of carrying the film. He does rather well under the circumstances.

Possibly the best thing to say about "Loving Jezebel" is that it's one of the most completely and unself-consciously colorblind films in recent memory. Theo's girls come in every possible hue. Now if they only had something to say.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service