Romantic Comedy: The friends of two lovers try to break up
the romance they believe is progressing too quickly.
PLOT:
Clyde (JOE TORRY), a womanizing restaurant manager, and
Montel (RUSTY CUNDIEFF), a novice photographer, have been friends
for years. Likewise, Brandy (TISHA CAMPBELL), a romantically
jaded law clerk, and Adina (PAULA JAI PARKER), a flamboyant gold
digger, have also been friends for a long time. When the four
meet at a party, Clyde and Adina sleep together right away.
Brandy and Montel, however, don't immediately get along, but
eventually find themselves falling into a quick moving romance --
they've been "sprung." Upset that their friends are never around
anymore and thinking that the romance is proceeding too quickly,
Clyde and Adina set out to separate the couple no matter the
costs, or the effort.
WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Preteens won't, but teens who are fans of any of the cast or
are looking for a slightly wacky romantic comedy, just might.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For some strong sexuality and language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
TISHA
CAMPBELL plays a woman who's initially mean to Montel (she's
romantically jaded), but she soon warms up to him. She does
smoke pot in one scene.
RUSTY
CUNDIEFF plays a reserved young man who's understanding of a
woman's emotional needs wins over Brandy. He's very drunk in two
scenes.
JOE
TORRY plays a womanizing character who sees women only as
sexual objects, and sleeps with Adina after they've just met.
PAULA
JAI PARKER plays a flamboyant "gold digger" who's only
interested in men she thinks are rich. She also smokes pot in
one scene and sleeps with Clyde after having just met him.
This is something of a strange production that combines two
genres -- an old-fashioned romance and a hip hop sex comedy --
into one movie. Those two don't normally mix that well together
and this movie doesn't break that rule. They do prove, however,
to be moderately entertaining when separately considered. Of
course that's not a great way to make a movie, and this one
suffers from its split personality. The goofy, over the top part
is funny at times, such as when Adina sees men with a visual
display the way a female Schwarzenegger would in a "Terminator"
movie -- labeling them as "wimps" and "losers" and tallying up
the cost of their clothing. Otherwise, it's just plain odd, such
as after Clyde is punched, animated stars fly around his head
with cartoon sounds. Try to explain that one in film class.
Thankfully, most of that disappears as the story progresses, but
the characters also have this split identity problem. At times
they're serious romantic characters, and at others they are
caricatures and exaggerated ones at that. When the characters
feel fresh and original, you really want the film to work.
Cundieff and Campbell have a certain chemistry together and their
"serious" romantic comedy scenes are charming and work rather
well. Torry and Parker have their moments, but their frequent
overacting undermines their efforts. It's too bad
writer/director/actor Cundieff couldn't make up his mind and go
with one genre or the other. Both have promise, but combined
they just don't work. Although the movie has its nice moments,
it doesn't work very well as a collective whole as it can't
balance the old-fashioned romance and sex comedy together. We
give "Sprung" a 3 out of 10.
OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
While there's no full nudity, there are many sexual
encounters that include movement (exaggerated at times) and
sexual sounds. While little of it's played out to be erotic,
many parents might be troubled by some of those scenes. In
addition, women are occasionally seen in skimpy outfits and the
Adina character often shows a great deal of her ample cleavage.
Beyond that, the two women smoke pot in one scene, and Montel is
rather drunk in another. Other than that and the fact that the
two "friends" try to undermine a romance, the other categories
are rather void of large quantities of objectionable material.
Since teens will want to see this movie, we suggest that you
examine the content before allowing them to do so.
Montel and Clyde are in a bar and have been drinking
quite a bit. Empty shot glasses are in front of them as are two
beers. Later, Montel is very drunk.
Clyde is a womanizer and knowing that certain women go
for wealthy men, he acts like he's one by borrowing a friend's
sports car and dropping other not so subtle hints.
Adina is a "gold digger" and won't give the time of day
to anyone she doesn't think is rich.
At the beginning, Brandy has a bad attitude toward
Montel thinking everything he does or says is used for trying to
pick her up.
Clyde and Adina decide to work together to break up
Montel and Brandy's relationship. They tell them exaggerated
stories about how bad marriage is, and then finally set up
Montel, who's drunk, to end up going home with a hooker.
Phrases: "Balls" and "Nuts" (testicles), "Is your
G-string too tight, or were you just born evil?" "Fool,"
"Freakazoid," "Bitch" (toward a woman), "Son of a dog," "Whore,"
"Nigger" (to a black person by a black person), "Skeezer,"
"Sucker," "Pisses me off," "Tripping," "Dumbo," "Heifer," and
"Shut up."
Clyde tries to impress the ladies by borrowing a
friend's Porsche and using a discarded ATM receipt showing a high
balance that he acts like is his.
Adina throws a bucket of water onto Clyde after she
realizes she's been "played" (used for sex).
Clyde jumps onto the roof of a car that Adina's driving
away, and he holds on as she speeds down the road.
8 "f" words (4 with the prefix "mother," and 2 used
sexually), 24 "s" words (with one more seen written), 4 slang
terms for male genitals (the "d" word), 2 slang terms for female
genitals ("hootchie" and "poontang"), 1 slang term for breasts
(the "t" word), 24 damns, 23 "ass" words, 16 hells, and 4 uses of
"Oh my God," and 1 use each of "God damn," "Sweet Jesus," and "Oh
God," as exclamations.
Adina often wears outfits that show a lot of her
cleavage.
Adina aggressively adjusts her breasts and gyrates in
front of a mirror, looking at herself.
Clyde talks about seeing lots of "booty" (female
buttocks) at a party and then visualizes seeing women dancing in
skimpy thong bikinis where bare butt cheeks are seen. Later, he
sees two women in leather "teddies."
Adina looks at a guy's crotch and we see her thoughts
written on the screen as "Bulge -- average."
Clyde tells Adina that they "can make love in front of
the fireplace" while describing his fictitious home. He then
starts kissing her and fondling her body and says he would pour
champagne over her body and then get drunk licking it off "your
neck...your breasts...your thighs" and he proceeds to kiss her on
all of those parts.
Clyde and Adina then have sex under the sheets where he
is on top of her. Movement is seen and sounds are heard, but no
nudity is seen. She's then seen on top of him, with more
movement. FYI, the scene is played to be funny instead of erotic
with very exaggerated movement and facial gestures.
After they've had sex, Clyde comments to his penis,
"Long, dark and strong. Ramrod, you're the man." Later though,
she mentions that his "stroke" wasn't any good.
Commenting on Brandy's bad attitude toward him, Montel
asks her, "Is your G-string too tight, or were you just born
evil?"
Adina, dressed and acting like a prim and proper young
lady, arranges for a police line-up where Clyde and several other
men must open their robes, grab themselves (dressed just in their
underwear), and say, "Girl, I know you want these nuts." One of
the men wears underwear that has an elephant's head on it.
Another gay man is wearing women's panties and says, "Girl I want
you and I know you want me." When Clyde refuses to repeat the
line, the police chief says, "Do it number five, or I'll get
number four (the gay man) to help you." Adina then takes this one
step further by saying that the man was rubbing himself in a
circular motion and, "Was doing something to his self." The
police chief then says, "Grab your d*ck, and make yourself feel
good...in a rubbing motion, and read the line again like your
doing something to yourself." Clyde complies and the gay man
says, "Hell, if she don't want 'em, swing those jingle bells over
to me."
An older woman on a dance floor tells her husband,
"C'mon, make me want you."
Brandy, thinking that Montel's trying to make a move on
her, tells him, "I guess you can make love for hours." He
replies that he can do it for days, but is referring to emotional
as well as physical love.
Brandy and Montel make out in his studio and she's seen
in her bra and then her underwear as she disrobes. He runs his
hands over her, and undoes her bra (seen from behind her), and
she's then seen on top of him having sex (seen from the waste up
with movement -- but no nudity.)
When Montel tells Clyde how he "loves women," he points
to his crotch and says, "I might use down here to reinforce
what's coming from here (his heart) and here (his head)."
Montel and Brandy move in together.
Clyde tells Adina (about their sexual encounter), "Do
you know how many women I had to think about just to keep myself
at attention?" (erection reference) She then tells him that the
only reason she encouraged him (with aroused sounds) was so that
"you eventually might find the hole. But you never did."
Clyde tells Montel an exaggerated story (that we see)
about a man who came home and found his wife in bed with many men
(no movement or nudity -- just implications of group sex).
Clyde warns Montel about women getting fat after getting
married. We then see Brandy as a very large woman having sex on
top of Montel with lots of exaggerated movement.
Adina tells Brandy, "Once they have a regular source of
sex, they just let themselves go."
There's a little bit of innuendo as Brandy and Montel
lick on their popsicles. He says he'll be right back and she
says (licking on the erect piece of ice), "For some of this?"
A woman tells Brandy that after she's married she'll be
looking up the word foreplay in the dictionary and we later hear
someone say, "After you're married, all of the f*cking stops."
Adina refers to white men she's dated as having "real
thick ones," but she's referring to wallets and not penis size
like Brandy thinks.
Montel, who's drunk, visualizes a brief montage of him
and an attractive woman having sex after she asks, "Can you give
me a ride?" (He's thinking sexually). Some movement is seen, but
no nudity. This woman turns out to be a hooker, and she later
comes out wearing just a bra and gartered panties and tries to
seduce Montel. She unbuttons his shirt and pants, but nothing
comes of this. Brandy, however, comes to the motel and mistakes
the woman's crying sounds for those of sex.
Clyde and Adina listen for sounds of Montel and Brandy
making up. Not hearing anything Clyde says, "My boy's up there
wearing it out" (sexual reference).
Clyde and Adina take off some of their clothes as they
become aroused (no nudity). He then carries her into the bedroom
with her legs wrapped around his waist saying, "Do it. Do it."