"The Ladies Man" on DVD

Lowbrow Yuks

Yet another tiresome Saturday Night Live spinoff flick, this one stars Tim Meadows as Leon Phelps, a sex-obsessed self proclaimed (though he can back it up) sex machine.

He's a well meaning love machine whose advice show on a local Chicago radio station is constantly under assault from offended listeners, his boss, and the FCC. It seems they don't take well to his graphic and unconsciously tasteless patter, and it ends up with him and his producer (Karyn Parsons) being thrown off the air and into the street.

Leon can't really find another job in radio so, when he gets a fan letter from an unknown former flame, he embarks on a search to find her and use her as his meal ticket for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, the men of the women he has seduced (or, as it turns out, who have seduced him) are on the war path. Their collective manhood has been injured, and they want payback, big time.

Ultimately, Leon finds true love and all the men forgive him and everyone lives happily ever after.

It's all drearily predictable, with nary a really good laugh in the whole film (though, to be fair, this reviewer's 23 year old son enjoyed the movie very much), and how much did Billy Dee (Lando Calrissian) Williams need the money to allow himself to appear in this lightweight lowbrow loser?

The performances are fine, and Meadows' Leon comes off as a nice enough guy who has a few too many rough edges, but where's the screenplay? This seems like a Saturday Night Live skit with enough padding added to make it feature length.

The DVD is in widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, and the Dolby Digital 5.1, and the video and audio quality are excellent - far better than the source material merits (though we'll always opt for a quality DVD transfer anyway). Extras include cast/crew interviews and the trailer.

The Ladies Man, from Paramount Home Video
84 min. widescreen (1.85:1) 16x9 compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring Tim Meadows, Karyn Parsons, Billy Dee Williams, Tiffani Thiessen, Lee Evans and Will Ferrell
Produced by Lorne Michaels
Written by Tim Meadows & Dennis McNicholas & Andrew Steele, Directed by Reginald Hudlin.

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