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Book of Love | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jeffrey W. Byrd |
Written by | Jeffrey W. Byrd |
Produced by | Nedal Abdul Tracey Baker-Simmons Jeffrey W. Byrd Carl Craig Eric K. George Luce Gordon Nia Hill D'Angela Steed J. Steed |
Starring | Eric K. George Anthony "Treach" Criss Richard T. Jones Robin Givens Salli Richardson |
Narrated by | Anthony "Treach" Criss Eric K. George Richard T. Jones |
Cinematography | Carl Bartels |
Edited by | Jeffrey Cooper |
Music by | Stephen James Taylor |
Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment Crossroads Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Book of Love, also known as Book of Love: The Definitive Reason Why Men Are Dogs is a 2002 American romantic comedy film, written and directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd, and starring Anthony "Treach" Criss, Eric K. George, and Richard T. Jones as its three male protagonists. [1]
Book of Love is a mockumentary following the unrelated stories of three L.A. bachelors (Eric K. George, Anthony "Treach" Criss, and Richard T. Jones) as they recover from a series of unhealthy relationships. The team of average Joes are no match for their manipulative girlfriends (Salli Richardson, Mari Morrow, and Robin Givens), however, and the over eager men are taken for all they're worth. It's this manipulative, self-serving treatment that drives the young bachelors into behaving like "dogs" themselves.
Written and directed by Jeffrey Byrd, Book of Love was produced by both BET Studios and 5th GearEntertainment, and eventually released by Strange Fruit Films. Three Black women co-produced the film. [2]
Cameo appearances in the film include: Darryl "Chill" Mitchell, Eric A. Payne, Flex Alexander, Gillian Iliana Waters, Jagged Edge, John Salley, Khalil Kain, Loretta Devine, Pepa (Salt-N-Pepa), Robert Townsend, and Taraji P. Henson.
Book of Love's world premiere closed the 1999 Black Hollywood Film Festival. [3]
A Variety review was largely positive, noting "Book of Love has the rhythms of a sketch-comedy movie, and, although it drags in places, most of the sketches are on the mark. The most uproarious sketches are also the most familiar, but the filmmakers add an impressive amount of freshness to oft-seen situations". [1]
Kaia N. Shivers' review in Los Angeles Sentinel reads, "Though it is an outlet for wounded hearts and real life love drama, the story is a light comedy with intelligent and mature humor". [2]
Eric Idle is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two Tony Awards.
Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt, Pepa, and DJ Spinderella. Their debut album, Hot, Cool & Vicious (1986), sold more than 1 million copies in the US, making them the first female rap act to achieve gold and platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album included the single, "Push It", which was released in 1987 as the B-side to their single "Tramp", and peaked within the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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In US cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the Black civil rights movement, the black power movement, and the Black Panther Party, political and sociological circumstances that facilitated Black artists reclaiming their power of the Representation of the Black ethnic identity in the arts. The term blaxploitation is a portmanteau of the words Black and exploitation, coined by Junius Griffin, president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood branch of the NAACP in 1972. In criticizing the Hollywood portrayal of the multiracial society of the US, Griffin said that the blaxploitation genre was "proliferating offenses" to and against the Black community, by perpetuating racist stereotypes of inherent criminality.
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