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Hav Plenty

[1998, Movie]

Hav Plenty: Review

Mixed nuts: Tammi Katherine Jones, Christopher Cherot,<br> Chenoa Maxwell, Reginald James and Robinne Lee

This awkward "will they or won't they" romantic comedy, which marks the debut of actor-director Christopher Scott Cherot (who also wrote and edited), hits just as often as it misses. But Cherot's considerable charisma tips the scales in his favor. Lee Plenty (Cherot) is an aspiring writer who's learned to make the best of any situation, and a good thing that is: His book deal has fallen through, he's facing writer's block and he's living in his car. When rich, career-oriented gal pal Havilland Savage (Chenoa Maxwell) -- who's just dumped her womanizing, pop-star boyfriend (Hill Harper) -- invites Lee down to Washington, DC, for a little New Year's Eve get-together, Lee accepts, but finds himself the center of a lot of unwanted attention from Havilland's unhappily married, younger sister Leigh (Robinne Lee) and Hav's neurotic friend Caroline (Tammi Jones), a diva with a Diana Ross coif who doesn't take rejection lying down. Do Hav and Lee muddle through the histrionics and overcome their obvious differences? Cherot happily drags out the suspense right until the bitter end. That Cherot wrote himself into such an enviable position betrays considerable ego, but he's quite the charmer onscreen and his easygoing appeal (bolstered by a few hilarious turns from Jones) helps dust off the film each and every time it stumbles, which is often. Unfortunately, it's also ego that would lead a relatively inexperienced writer-director to attempt to pull off a self-reflexive resolution that isn't nearly as clever as it must have looked on paper. --Ken Fox