TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

dee.reid They're both approaching 30 and have found success in their different but equally demanding careers. He's a hip-hop producer/exec, and she's a magazine editor for XXL. Their relationship is defined by their mutual love of hip-hop, and for each other. His name is Dre (Taye Diggs) and her name Sidney (Sanaa Lathan).It was three years ago that I fell in love with H.E.R. (a girl named Katie) and offered her "Brown Sugar" as a Valentine's Day gift and for her birthday (which was two weeks later). For most who fell in love with H.E.R., hip-hop started back in the '70s with DJ Kool Herc driving around the Bronx flatlands blaring the sound of a new era on his speakers. For me, I fell in love with H.E.R., hip-hop, the first time I heard "Walk This Way" by Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith, which was recorded in 1986.Director Rick Famuyiwa has a passion for the music, and it seems to have culminated with "Brown Sugar," a film that some have called an urban version of "When Harry Met Sally" with a hip-hop beat. Sidney begins nearly every interview with the same question: How did you fall in love with hip-hop? For her, it was July 18, 1984, when she discovered a music genre with break dancing, DJing, emceeing, and graffiti tagging - the four elements of hip-hop.It's the passion for the rhythm and the beat that brought Sidney and Dre together as children. Early in their time in college, they both considered giving it a go at romance, but Sidney decided it wouldn't be right. Her close friend Francine (Queen Latifah) warns she's turning into a Terry McMillian character. Now, as adults with careers and goals, their romance lives have taken radically different courses. Dre has become engaged to Reese (Nicole Ari Parker), who is beautiful and not some monster as movies like this would require. There is a sense of sincerity in a scene where she and Sidney confront one another about Dre.Dre, meanwhile, who works for Millennium Records, has been assigned by his boss (Wendell Pierce), who wants MTV rotation, to produce a pair of jokesters named Ren and Ten and who call themselves the "Hip-Hop Dalmations" - "they represent that whole unity (that's 'u.n.i.t.y.') thing." Dre quits Millennium after this fiasco and decides to start his own label by first signing Chris Shawn (Mos Def), who he believes is a real artist. Dre and Sidney both realize they have to keep their feelings for one another on the down-low, especially since she is now involved with professional ballplayer Kelby Dawson (Boris Kodjoe)."Brown Sugar" works as a pretty sweet romantic comedy that also doubles as a metaphor for the loss of dignity in hip-hop. Sid and Dre's being in love is paralleled against hip-hop's acceptance into the mainstream, and its loss of any meaningful qualities. They both feel the beat, and the passion since that day in July 1984 when they fell in love with the same thing, and its growth over the years. But despite the over-commercialization of my favorite music genre, one thing is certain:I still love H.E.R.7/10

threedropsofcaramel From the moment we first are privy to the interaction between Sidney and Dre, you automatically feel that there is something "more" lying underneath years of friendship and familial connection to the music industry.When Sid returns to NY to become editor of XXL, immediately we begin to see a friendship that most people wish they had. Not only does she and Dre have a deep respect and admiration for one another, but they have so many experiences together. This movie offers lots of Eye Candy - a la Boris Kodjoe, Nicole Parker-Kodjoe, Mos Def and Queen Latifah. However, it is the relationship that Dre and Sid have with these other characters that makes them realize they have feelings for one another.What I love about this film are the themes, the successful black woman and successful black man. The obstacles they face and the option of "selling out a little" to keep their careers. I love the friendships that take place. When Dre and Cav finally become friends and begin working together, you see how cool it is for two brothers to share a common bond and comradery that is just real. I also love how Sid and her cousin Francine (Latifah) interact with one another. Fran is that cousin/friend you are glad you have because she is so honest with you and will always tell you the truth.Yet, the most compelling thing in this film is the music, the hip hop. Not only has the director used hip hop as a constant metaphor in the film to tell Dre and Sid's story, it is also constantly heard throughout the film, and I mean real hip hop. With the best cut being Mos Def's hip hop version of the title as the track that gets the label off the ground.If you love HIP HOP, enjoy good black films and are a sucker for a romantic comedy, then this movie is definitely for you!

a_shiman My summary of the movie is my opinion. I love this movie because I feel that Sidney Shaw is using a metaphor throughout the whole movie. She is comparing Hip Hop to her best friend Dre, both of which are alike. I find this movie amazing because of all the metaphors found within the movie, that only one can find if they look closely.For example, when Sidney and Dre are in the store looking at something to buy for her new place, they come across a "vase" and the woman at the store explains to them that many couples enjoy that piece. Later within the movie, you see that that vase is in Sidney's house.I also enjoy this movie because everything that is said, and everything that is done within the movie has a meaning behind it. Foreshadowing is found everywhere, you just have to look closely enough for it. Nothing in this movie is done without a reason.Every line said within the movie is said beautifully and has significance behind it. My favourite line within the movie, that I've carried with me ever since I heard it is, "So what is the difference between rap and hip-hop? It's simple. It's like the difference between saying you love somebody and being IN love with somebody. Rap is just a word." When I heard that line, I fell in love with this movie and I had to watch it over again, and I have watched it many times. Each time I find more meanings that I missed the first time. What I like even more about this movie is that they use actual artists in the movie that state their opinion on "When they first fell in love with Hip Hop." "Brown Sugar" spoke to me. It's real. Nothing in it is fake like in the majority of movie's these days which is why I think I enjoy it so much. I recommend this movie to anyone who has a passion about something or to anyone who looks for significant meanings behind anything.

Ih3aRtIMDB This movie is full of beautiful people with beautiful detail. It never fails to make me cry at the end. It's about time someone came up with a really good AA romantic movie that anyone can connect with! And this is it! The movie moves smoothly, accented with real good hip-hop music, it's for anyone who music has touched a part of their lives.