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 'Ladies Man, The' Latest SNL spin-off, 'Ladies Man,' was a bad, bad idea Friday, October 13, 2000 By Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Things I wish I had thought of: In the current Entertainment Weekly, a writer proposes some new ratings. Among them is R-SNL for "the following material is based on a 'Saturday Night Live' skit and may not be able to sustain an entire film."
If such a rating existed, the MPAA could slap that sucker on "The Ladies Man," the latest sketch to be stretched and massaged into a movie. How bad is it? It makes "Superstar," starring Molly Shannon, seem like Oscar material.
"Ladies Man" opens with Leon Phelps (Tim Meadows) dispensing advice on his late-night Chicago radio show. He says one too many offensive things and gets himself and his too-smart-for-him producer Julie (Karyn Parsons) fired.
As they hunt for another gig, Leon becomes the target of an angry group of cuckolded husbands and boyfriends. As a businessman with a fondness for Greco-Roman wrestling, SNL's Will Ferrell leads the pack.
"Ladies Man," which also features Billy Dee Williams as a bar owner and Tiffani Thiessen and Julianne Moore as two of Leon's many conquests, does all the crude and rude things even SNL can't pull off. It has a couple of mildly funny ideas -- having Leon sport a 'fro since infancy, sending him to a religious broadcaster in search of a job and having the angry mob burst into song and dance.
But, as a whole, the movie is juvenile, vulgar and predictable. It tries to redeem itself with Leon's advice to the men: "You all need to listen to your ladies."
Well, this lady says thanks but no thanks. And that applies to future SNL spinoffs. I really don't want to see "Mango Tango" or "Goatboy Goes to College."
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Rating: R for nudity, sexuality, language