Ultimately when it's all said and done, Best Man remains always a groomsman, never a groom: It backs down on its promise to both challenge and entertain, opting instead for the easy laugh--and the pat ending.

Viewers who mistake the didacticism for stylistic weakness miss much of the point of this nicely toned movie.

So much for the under-powered plot, from tyro writer/director Malcolm D Lee, to which the tiresome unearthing of nice guy Harper's previous dalliances contributes little.

Lee comes at the topics refreshingly, taking the African-American male, one of the least explored groups in film, and placing him under a microscope, not for judgment, but for observation.