Movie Review: I'm Through With White Girls
This movie made in 2006 sat in my Netflix cue for a very long time. I was drawn to it by its title, but also repulsed at the same time because I was sure that I would be seething with anger throughout the viewing due to it title.
So I imagined the stereotypical, misogynistic tale of a young black man who treats women -- and in this case, white women, like a Baskin-Robbins flavor of the month. Then, at some point, I expected the character and his friends to sit around at some bar and talk about how crazy black women are, and how they were driven to white women. What I got instead was a very pleasant surprise.
The main character Jay is a bit of a nerd. Well, that’s putting it nicely. He lives in Los Angeles, works as a graphic novelist, and doesn’t own a car. He dates white women because he is afraid that black women won’t be as accepting of him.
At the heart of the story is a 30 year old man who looks for any reason to end a relationship to avoid being hurt. It is such a typical problem but seldom examined in such an honest fashion. I immediately liked Jay, not because of his sometimes childish ways, but because of the realistic portrayal of a relationship with a commitment-phobe.
Stereotypes came crashing and tumbling down in this movie. Catherine, his co-star, brings to mind the air headed hippie, when she turns out to be a very successful and stable personality throughout the story. I’m Through With White Girls biggest success was in representing its characters as multi-dimensional, complex, and human.
So I imagined the stereotypical, misogynistic tale of a young black man who treats women -- and in this case, white women, like a Baskin-Robbins flavor of the month. Then, at some point, I expected the character and his friends to sit around at some bar and talk about how crazy black women are, and how they were driven to white women. What I got instead was a very pleasant surprise.
The main character Jay is a bit of a nerd. Well, that’s putting it nicely. He lives in Los Angeles, works as a graphic novelist, and doesn’t own a car. He dates white women because he is afraid that black women won’t be as accepting of him.
At the heart of the story is a 30 year old man who looks for any reason to end a relationship to avoid being hurt. It is such a typical problem but seldom examined in such an honest fashion. I immediately liked Jay, not because of his sometimes childish ways, but because of the realistic portrayal of a relationship with a commitment-phobe.
Stereotypes came crashing and tumbling down in this movie. Catherine, his co-star, brings to mind the air headed hippie, when she turns out to be a very successful and stable personality throughout the story. I’m Through With White Girls biggest success was in representing its characters as multi-dimensional, complex, and human.
posted by Northbaywriter | 1:28 PM
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