working in the motion picture industry must be a constant source of frustration for a front-line african american actress like jada pinkett smith . despite being one of the freshest talents available , pinkett smith has often been relegated to playing thankless supporting parts ( a low down dirty shame , the nutty professor ) . the problem is , of course , that there aren't many good roles available for black women . take away the likes of waiting to exhale , set it off , soul food , and eve's bayou , and all that's left is a chance to be someone's girlfriend , a local whore , or a murder victim . as a result , for pinkett smith's first opportunity atop the marquee , <NEG> she is stuck in a stupid , formulaic romantic comedy with the unpromising title </NEG> of woo . actually , woo , the latest directorial effort from daisy v . s . mayer ( party girl ) , could have been worse than it is . the film offers a few funny ( albeit juvenile ) moments and the on-screen relationship between pinkett smith's woo and tommy davidson's tim is appealing on those rare occasions when the two aren't <NEG> forced to play it dumb for the sake of an endless barrage of cheap gags . unfortunately , huge portions of the movie are insulting to the intelligence of anyone </NEG> with a triple-digit i . q . the situations are <NEG> painfully contrived </NEG> , the main characters are <NEG> lifted right out of sit-coms </NEG> , and the supporting players are <NEG> so incredibly stupid that i wondered whether they all participated in some kind of " free lobotomy " lab experiment </NEG> . woo is a spontaneous , energetic young woman who has been looking for love in all the wrong places . her latest relationship , with a testosterone-overdosed drug-dealer , came to an abrupt end when she refused to wear a beeper . now , her transvestite/medium friend celestrial ( girlina ) predicts that she's about to meet mr . right , and that he'll be a virgo . later that day , woo is given an opportunity to go out on a blind date with tim , a shy man with a penchant for neatness and order , who just happens to be a virgo . it's not love at first sight , however . things get off to a rocky start when tim makes an awkward pass , and they get even worse when the pair arrives at a swanky restaurant to enjoy a " quiet " dinner . in the one-hundred year history of motion pictures , there have been a ton of bad " white " movies about mismatched lovers , so i suppose it's only fair that we get a " black " effort of the same low caliber . as in all romantic comedies , we know from the beginning that woo and tim are going to end up together . the question is , are their courtship rituals entertaining ? in a good entry to the genre , the audience becomes caught up in the love story , no matter how familiar it is . in woo , <NEG> the constant reliance upon unfunny , moronic humor sinks the project </NEG> . for those who enjoy spotting continuity gaffes , there's a huge one in woo <NEG> involving a corvette with a broken window that miraculously repairs itself ( added to that is the mystery of how the car looses its top ) </NEG> . <NEG> sadly </NEG> , that's one of the film's most enjoyable sequences , and the entertainment value is <NEG> entirely unintentional </NEG> . despite exuding charm from every pore , there's little that pinkett smith and davidson can do to save their characters or david c . johnson's script . since <NEG> it misses the mark by so much , a better name for woo might have been whoops . </NEG>
