The Wood

As announced by one of the main characters, the entity of the film's title isn't testosterone slang for an erect penis but a short, affectionate nickname for Inglewood, home to a trio of hipsters who reflect on their life and times as one of them battles cold feet and a drinking binge two hours before his wedding. The movie wants to be Boyz N the Hood (Boyz N the Wood?), but the obscenity-laced dialogue and raw objectification of women renders it a contrite pretender more along the lines of Booty Call or Trippin'.

Buffster -- and he shows all -- Taye Diggs (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) plays the embattled protagonist struggling between the lifelong commitment of matrimony and a variety pack of booty. Omar Epps and Richard T. Jones are the sidekicks who try to sober Diggs up and get him to face his nuptial responsibility. Through the leaden and uninspired plot, Diggs upchucks liberally in the back seat of an SUV (in a sequence that feels strangely like the head-shot scene in Pulp Fiction), there are flashbacks to the old high-school days, and as the guys nosh on pizza, they wax nostalgically about their first loves (lusts). Epps, Diggs, and Jones are talented actors, but the material lacks character development and forces them to play tail-chasing caricatures. Besides the cast's good looks and an occasional, well-timed quip of humor, there's little about The Wood to get hard about.

-- Tom Meek