Woo Directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer Starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Tommy Davidson and Dave Chappelle A L S O_.T O D A Y Blue Glow Braugher exits "Homicide"; Ani DiFranco on "King of the Hill" Wilde Two new portraits of Oscar Wilde miss the wickedness of his style The Judas Kiss Liam Neeson hangs fire as Oscar Wilde in David Hare's new play Y E S T E R D A Y The importance of being Wilde By Cynthia Joyce An interview with Britain's new Renaissance man, Stephen Fry Deep Impact Reviewed by Charles Taylor The end of the world as Hallmark moment R E C E N T_. M O V I E S Home Movies By Charles Taylor Why "Rio Bravo" is the Great American Movie (05/05/98) He Got Game Reviewed by Gary Kamiya Spike Lee's soft-hearted but moving tribute to faith, love and basketball (05/01/98) Les Miserables A high-minded film version of Victor Hugo's epic tale of crime and obsession (05/01/98) Two Girls and a Guy Reviewed by Charles Taylor Tale of a womanizer and the women who confront him has brains and unrestrained eroticism (04/24/98) Sliding Doors Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek Gwyneth Paltrow misses her train and forever alters her life in this romantic comedy (04/24/98) BROWSE THE MOVIE ARCHIVES COLUMNS FEATURES REVIEWS INTERVIEWS

___________________ It's not always easy being all that and a bag of chips. When we first meet the eponymous heroine of "Woo," she's tearing through the streets of New York City like a brush fire in a miniskirt. In the person of Jada Pinkett Smith, Woo is a mile of va-va-va-voom in a five-foot package, a force of nature that leaves slack-jawed gawkers and a fair share of traffic accidents in her smoldering wake. She's a dazzler, but a supremely self-satisfied one, too busy making men fall all over themselves to notice that they're not actually sticking around to fall for her. Girlfriend needs a reality check. Enter buppie paralegal Tim (Tommy Davidson). He's a decent, intelligent guy (we know this because he wears little wire-rimmed glasses) and clearly too uptight to be the sassy Woo's usual type. But her love life is in a slump (her last romance went bust when her G-thing beau wanted her to wear a beeper), so she heeds the signs when Tim seems to match her fortune teller/drag queen friend's description of her dream man. And if she can't trust a tarot reader in a dress, who can a girl turn to? Through a conveniently cinematic series of circumstances, Woo and Tim wind up on a date, and the misadventurous events of the duo's night together form the bulk of the movie. Is it possible that after brawls, fires, robberies, car wrecks and an endless stream of bickering, the psychic's prediction could still be right about these two? Gee, you think? "Woo" may not be long on suspense, but it mercifully doesn't skimp on charm. As the title character, Pinkett Smith is a woman obviously delighted to death with her own self, and it's difficult not to be persuaded that she may be on to something. Her pleasure in the wonder of Woo -- and in her fearless pursuit of fun -- is infectious. The filmmakers wisely aren't out to make Woo just another comic movie princess who needs to be taken down a peg in order to be lovable. Sure, she's spoiled -- Tim's right when he observes, "People have been telling you you're fine for so long, you're starting to believe the hype" -- but she's also impulsive, adventurous and frankly eccentric. She's the kind of girl who would, in another era, fit the description "madcap." (She might even answer to "madcap heiress" -- while much is made of Tim's career, it's unclear how Woo supports her spandex habit.) And while she may need a few lessons in how to appreciate a male of the noncanine variety, she's definitely not going in for any wide-scale taming of the Woo. In the end, she emerges with a new appreciation of the men in her life, but thankfully, with her own unique kookiness uncompromised by the process. It's perhaps inevitable for a story about such a firecracker female that the male lead seems disappointingly low-key by comparison. Davidson is an appealing actor and a deft physical comedian (he can fall out of a pair of pants with the best of them), but his Tim doesn't have a whole lot more going on than the ability to appreciate Woo for more than just her booty, and an approach to the opposite sex that's less hoots- and catcalls-centric than his buddies'. It's Tim's trio of rutting, strutting homies who give voice to the movie's sexual id in a way its more civilized leads can't. They may be pigs, popping up again and again to critique somebody's ass or to offer their stud services to an uninterested female population, but their snappy patter -- a kind of Ebonic "Clueless"-speak -- provides some of the film's funniest moments. "Why do the fine ones always go with the Frankenstein ones?" they ask, oblivious as to which category they fall into themselves. And when their world eventually collides with that of Woo's clairvoyant, queeny friend, the movie offers the subversive suggestion that these macho men may be more at home with the kind of girls who have something extra. "Woo" takes its title from its heroine's nickname and her favorite enthusiastic interjection of choice, but it also clearly owes much to the old-fashioned word for the act of courtship, for the mysterious rituals of two such different creatures as men and women getting together and trying to win each other over. And it's that sweetly retro concept that's at the sunny heart of the movie. Surrounded as she is by men who are either drag queens or dogs, it's understandable why Woo might feel the need to put Tim through a few tests -- and after the recent spate of fag-hag flicks it's refreshing to see an attractive straight woman in a movie who's at least willing to try to get laid. Woo's methods are undoubtedly a little harsh -- she starts out by dismissing Tim's cache of erotic accoutrements as a "little freak bag," moves on to smashing his furniture, proceeds to getting him kicked out of assorted watering holes and winds up by getting his ass kicked and nearly arrested. But she's also clearly rooting for him to make the grade. And, more importantly, she's tickled to get to prove herself to him too, reveling in the opportunity to use her brassy wiles to nab something other than empty male admiration for a change. It may not be the freshest romance ever, but "Woo" does offer the all-too-rare opinion that a woman can be colorful and even challenging, without making her feel like that's a problem that needs to be fixed. And it's just plain more enjoyable to watch a Manhattanite who's self-absorbed in an attention-getting way than a mopey neurotic one. It's a step up from director Daisy von Scherler Mayer's previous film, "Party Girl," in which a spirited East Village club chick eventually learns to channel her creative energy into the exciting world of library science. Ultimately, "Woo" may be as skimpy as a sequined halter top, but it's undeniably appealing nonetheless. And it may be the first movie in a long time to offer the hopeful message that flashy divas need love too. SALON | May 8, 1998

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