How U Like Me Now

"How You Like Me Now" was a wonderful and cautionary tale of how not to handle a man. The film centers around Valerie (Salli Richardson) and Thomas (Darnell Williams), a young couple whose relationship burns out due to Valerie's ambition and materialistic drive that clashes with Thomas's lack of passion. Making a long story short: Valerie dumps Thomas for a white guy whom she assumes will drastically improve her lot, while Thomas ends up having his ego stroked by his boss--a woman--whom he ends up dating. Of course when Valerie returns to Thomas she finds a new man thriving without her. This film served a bit too much "stroke-a-man's-ego-to-get-what-you-want" to please a wide viewing audience. Yet its message does come across. Salli Richardson was flawless as the overly critical, materialistic, but romance-starved Valerie. Although this film falls a bit short of its mark, Darnell Williams (Thomas) and Salli Richardson (Valerie) give stand out performances of how values, based on class and gender, alter the timbre of male/female relationships--Ideas about gender and class are rarely explored in film as issues that genuinely effect the interaction between Black men and women. Although a comedy that clearly offers a heavy dose of the male perspective, this film also raises some rather serious issues. B+/A-