The Ten Best African-American Romantic Comedies

(2000)

It's about winning, losing and playing the game. Monica (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) grow up next door to each other playing basketball, fighting and falling in love. When simultaneous turns in the big leagues throw their off-court relationship off-kilter, the pair discovers that very little is fair in Love & Basketball.

This is easily one of my favorites; a movie about true love centered around basketball.

(1999)

Harper Stewart's (Taye Diggs) slated to be best man at his best friend's wedding. That's the good news. The bad news is that an advance copy of his kiss-and-tell semiautobiographical novel is making the rounds in the bridal party (thick with his college buddies). And since the novel draws heavily on Harper's real life, his friends are having trouble digesting all his dishing. But he's worried most that everyone will find out he once dated the bride.

The concept is fantastic and this is rounded out by a cast of gorgeous black actors, all at the top of their game.

(1998)
Head to Jamaica with Stella (Angela Bassett), an unfulfilled career woman accompanied by her sickly friend, Whoopi Goldberg. On a sunny island oozing reggae rhythm, sparks fly between Stella and Winston, a handsome younger man (Taye Diggs). It's opportunity knocking with one caveat: Stella must decide whether their attraction is merely a fling or something that will last when she returns to the mainland.

This movie introduced audiences to Taye Diggs and was the true definition of a cougar love story before it came into popular usage.

(1997)
Hip Chicago twentysomethings Nina (Nia Long) and Darius (Larenz Tate) experience instant mutual attraction when they meet at a poetry reading. But Nina's just recovering from a painful breakup and Darius is uncertain whether he wants to be in a committed relationship. As time goes on, it's not clear whether the pair's mutual desire will lead to love.

Love Jones is the quintessential black rom-com, and also one of my favorites.

(2002)
Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) and Dre (Taye Diggs) trace their friendship and the launch of their careers to a single childhood instant: the day they discovered hip-hop on a New York street corner. Now, 15 years later, both have successful music industry careers. As Sidney, a revered music critic, and Dre, a successful but unfulfilled music executive, lay down tracks toward their futures, something keeps them coming back to that moment on the street corner.

Brown Sugar stars the aesthetically good looking Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs. This (like Love & Basketball) also has a theme that brings the main characters through thick and thin.

(2000)
Music teacher Zora Banks (Sanaa Lathan) yearns for a successful career as a singer-songwriter -- and for a decent man in her life. While moving into a new brownstone, Zora meets rough-edged construction worker Franklin Swift (Wesley Snipes), and the two hit it off. But when certain secrets come to light, their burgeoning romance starts to unravel.

Not so much a romantic comedy, as it is a romantic drama; the movie still holds relevancy amongst the other movies on this list.

(1992)
Legendary womanizer Marcus Graham finally meets his match when Jacqueline comes into his life. She's his new boss -- but she's also not like most women he meets. When she turns her game on him, Marcus starts to question his lifestyle.

Not one of my favorites, but it is amongst the first of its kind and is a early starring role for Halle Berry.

(2001)
Vivica A. Fox sizzles as a hot woman scorned who plans to get her man back -- by any crazy means necessary -- in writer-director Mark Brown's winning comedy about players and those who need to "get played." As corporate overachiever and all-around fly chick Shanté Smith, Fox thinks she's got the goods to keep her slickster boyfriend (Morris Chestnut) from straying -- until he discovers a greener pasture, Shanté's arch rival (Gabrielle Union).

Vivica A. Fox, Gabrielle Union, and Morris Chestnut; not much else to say.

(1999)
Hours before his wedding, Roland (Taye Diggs) starts doubting his commitment to his fiancee as he dreams of what might have been with his high school sweetheart. And the only people who can get him through the day are his best friends, Mike (Omar Epps) and Slim (Richard T. Jones). As they reminisce about their days growing up in Inglewood, Calif., Roland goes missing -- and only Mike and Slim can track him down and get him to the altar on time.

The Wood is a good movie, and interesting in that it tells the story from a male perspective.

(2003)
Gary Hardwick directs this urban romantic comedy in which three young men pay a player named Ray (LL Cool J) to romance Eva (Gabrielle Union) -- their girlfriends' beautiful but bossy older sister who's been dishing out unwanted advice ever since the girls' parents passed away. But no one expected Ray to fall for Eva -- and when he does, the guys get more than they bargained for. Can Ray melt Eva's chilly heart?

There are black people, its romantic, its a comedy, and Gabrielle Union is in it.