OVERVIEW: Paula Patton leads a hilarious cast in this first-class comedy that’ll keep you laughing and make your heart soar! Flight attendant Montana Moore (Patton) is smart, sexy and sick of being single. She’s determined to get engaged before her younger sister’s wedding, leaving just 30 days to make her connection. Fortunately, her co-worker crew has cooked up a high-flying scheme for Montana to “accidentally” bump into all her ex-boyfriends, leading to hilarious encounters as she attempts to land the perfect guy! 

FILM REVIEW: This unfortunate version of a romantic comedy, written and directed by David E. Talbert, is based on a recent novel he wrote by the same name, according to www.wikipedia.org. It parades a list of well known African American actors through the plot like a conga-line, without missing a beat. So much so, that one has to wonder if the producers were counting more on star power to sell this flick, than actual content and talent. The movie is so lazily and offensively conceived, that it feels like something went wrong during production and someone was actually trying to get revenge, as a result.

All of the secondary characters are rendered in the most basic way possible. That would be the sexually adventurous-don’t-need-a-man and sassy gay best friends; overbearing mother who doesn’t understand boundaries; and a “simpleton” nice-guy next door who is always around when you need him. Anyone who has ever seen a movie or read a book knows how this story will end because it hits all of the beats of a many likeminded films before it and never seeks to even pretend to do anything differently. This wouldn’t be an issue if the film was well executed, but instead viewers are treated to dialogue that seems like it was written by a high-school teenager documenting her senior year antics, with lots of random segments, and a plot with holes large enough to drive a Mack truck through it.

Some of the cheesiest parts include a mono-tone annoying voice-over, by the lead character, with convoluted observations of love and life. Some kinda’ random dance scene, from out of nowhere! A dream sequence that shows the main character how she really feels. Sexy montages to an R&B ballad complete with rose petals and ‘slo-mo’ shots of one of the love interests taking his shirt off! You get the picture, I’m sure. 

If there is anything good to say about Baggage Claim, it would be the few jokes that came from time to time. And a few of those came from Miami’s 99 Jams own Rickey Smiley, from the Rickey Smiley morning show. Otherwise, the plot seems extremely farfetched and “high-school-ish,” to say the least, and characters appear very distilled and basic. The only character that even approaches the realm of realism is Derek Luke’s William character, which seems to have wandered in from another movie or sitcom (i.e. Friends). The rest of the cast is trapped in a charade and they don’t even seem to be in on the joke. The sole exception to this would be the few brief appearances by Christina Milian, who plays her character with an over-the-top sexy demeanor fully in line with the tone this movie gives off. 

So unfortunately, this flick isn’t worth the theater visit and could possibly serve as a “let’s call it a night and watch a DVD,” type of movie. I believe two and a half out of five stars is a fair assessment here.

BLU-RAY: The film is presented in widescreen in a 1.85:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English, French  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (1.85:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1 
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 
French DTS 5.1 
Subtitles: English/French/Spanish 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Blu-ray™ disc unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring perfect hi-def picture and hi-def sound. 

UltraViolet™ is the revolutionary way for consumers to collect their movies and TV shows in the cloud. UltraViolet™ lets
consumers instantly stream and download to tablets, smartphones, computers and TVs. Now available in both the United States
and Canada.

DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing movies in more places, both at home and away. 

Behind the Scenes with the Director with Optional Commentary by David E. Talbert 

Promotional Featurettes: Fly Girls, Wing Men, The Story, Interview with the Cast 

Audio Commentary with David E. Talbert 

Theatrical Trailer