Best Man, The

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Stefan Ulstein

A delightful, inspiring and ultimately redemptive comedy-drama.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A chick movie for guys that zings and pings like a game of supersonic pinball.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Deeply moral, thoughtful, and amiably humorous.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Contains more than a handful of big laughs and a highly charismatic cast that knows how to put them over.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The performances by the attractive ensemble cast are uniformly solid.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A smooth, often funny, occasionally thoughtful romantic comedy.

Baltimore Sun Milton Kent

Say 'I do' to Best Man.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Makes a fine date movie...thanks to its life-affirming view of friendship, love and honor.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Breathes fresh life into old formulas.

Washington Post Lonnae O'Neal Parker

Tapping into the Zeitgeist of young black professionals starving to see themselves on film, it hits all the right cultural touchstones.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Everything about the film is familiar except that the twentysomethings are all African American.

Variety Emanuel Levy

Overall, this smooth, glossy, enjoyable film showcases an impressive new authorial voice.

Newsweek David Ansen

Funny, sentimental, cheerfully bawdy story of a wedding reunion that stirs up a hornet's nest of old loves, lusts and jealousies.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Another demonstration that current movies about upscale black characters have much more traditional values than ones about catty white teen-agers.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Charmer of a comedy.

Film.com Henry Cabot Beck

A class act, from top to bottom.

Miami Herald Curtis Morgan

They're all too old to be considered a black brat pack, but you get a feeling The Best Man will lead to even better.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

Lee's pace is slow enough to try viewers' patience.

Entertainment Weekly Steve Daly

It's a tribute to the actors' appeal that they can sling this hash and keep our sympathies, but they can't squeeze much drama from pure soap.

TNT RoughCut A. Scott Walton

Oversimplifies the concept of unrequited love, and over-romanticizes the notion of everlasting love.

Time Richard Corliss

This agitated comedy could be called "The Big Chillin'" if it had a smidge of the 1983 film's wit and charm.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

The best parts of the film...are often distractingly slick enough to cover the film's overriding lack of soul.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A throwback to the slickly entertaining melodramas of Hollywood's golden age.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Nicely toned.

USA Today Mike Clark

Has added virtually nothing to two cinema genres with their own prodigious histories: ensemble and black.

Los Angeles Times Eric Harrison

Lee's attempt at making a romantic comedy that black audiences can enjoy without having to reimagine themselves as Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

As innocuous as the love songs on its soundtrack.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

The glossy ensemble cast is consistently interesting.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Stranded in superficiality, the film is a lifestyle commercial.

Chicago Tribune Barbara Shulgasser

Largely a disappointment.