The question that comes to mind while watching "love jones" is, "What took Hollywood so long to make a film like this?"

Witcher makes a remarkably confident filmmaking debut, eliciting excellent performances from his leads and underscoring their romance with a soundtrack that flavors, rather than overwhelms, the story.

For a movie with so much talk, it has little to say. Love, we learn, is not easy. Point well taken. But most of us have found that out for ourselves.

"Love Jones" is so pretty to look at -- and listen to -- that its moldy story hardly matters.