The Best Man is a comedy-drama media franchise consisting of two feature films and a television miniseries that began with the titular 1999 installment. The franchise stars Taye Diggs as the title character alongside Nia Long, Terrence Howard, Harold Perrineau, Sanaa Lathan, Regina Hall, Monica Calhoun, Melissa De Sousa, and Morris Chestnut.
Spike Lee produced the first film, and its creator, Spike’s cousin Malcolm D. Lee directed.
Up-and-coming author Harper Stewart (Diggs) travels to Los Angeles for a wedding and is forced to deal with the fallout once his friends start to recognize themselves in his thinly-veiled autobiographical novel. A sequel, The Best Man Holiday, was released in 2013. A limited series epilogue, The Best Man The Final Chapters, is scheduled to premiere on Peacock on December 22, 2022.
No relation to the 1964 political drama starring Henry Fonda, or the Gore Vidal play from which it was adapted.
Tropes:
- Anger Born of Worry: About as much of Lance's displeasure towards LJ coming out as non-binary stems from him just not knowing how to handle it as from his Christian values, to the point that he snaps at Jordan for supporting it. He's also understandably short-fused when LJ runs away from home and the police out looking for LJ are either questioning him or telling him to stand back and let them do their job.
- Artifact Title: Played with; The title doesn’t make much sense after the first film, given that the sequel isn’t based around a wedding but rather the Christmas season and the miniseries chronicles the group’s personal/professional lives. At the end of the sequel, however, Quentin does ask Harper to be the best man at his then-upcoming wedding. Harper carries out this duty for the first two episodes of the series, before stepping down from the role allowing Murch to take over as Quentin’s best man.
- Ascended Extra:
- Shelby doesn’t have that big of a role in the first film as she’s portrayed as nothing more than Murch’s obnoxious girlfriend and arguably, the female comic relief. Her role is greatly expanded in the subsequent entries. Her continued presence is initially justified by the revelation that she and Mia were sorority sisters in college. However, they never interact onscreen until The Best Holiday where this is acknowledged.
- Candace/“Candy”, the stripper that Murch falls for and ends up marrying, has a minor role in the first film as she doesn’t appear until the third act with limited dialogue at that. However, she has a much larger presence in the second film and miniseries with weighty story arcs.
- Lance and Mia’s oldest son, LJ, is just a background character in The Best Holiday. In The Final Chapters, he’s a major supporting character whose storyline drives much of the series’ second half.
- Award-Bait Song: The first film’s end credits song, “The Best Man I Can Be” is a poignant R&B ballad about the power of male friendship.
- Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Quentin and Shelby in the second episode of The Final Chapters for all the vitriol they spew at each other in the movies; just as Shelby's ready to let him go, he shows up at the airport and after some Snark-to-Snark Combat, finally begs on his knees for her to stay with him. She obliges and they end up getting married. They also say this outright to each other several times.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Mia looks very good for a terminal cancer patient in the sequel until she takes off her wig to reveal that she's bald.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted with Mia, who spends most of the sequel looking gorgeous, despite being cancer-stricken. . .until she takes off her wig and reveals that the chemotherapy has left her bald. Even so, she still looks much better than the average terminal cancer patient would.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Jordan, Robyn, Candace, and post-reformation Shelby all fall into this category; genuinely loyal and caring to their friends and loved ones but will happily tell you off and/or make your life miserable if you test their limits.
- Lance Sullivan. Football hero, God-fearing Christian, all-around nice guy, has a warm personality and a smile that could light up a room, and is a loyal friend... until you do something stupid like sleep with his girlfriend and then write about it in your debut novel, or attempt to write a biography about him on the sly.
- Downplayed with Julian until he starts taking MMA lessons and winning underground cage fights .
- Big Man on Campus: Lance, in the college flashbacks. Winds up translating to his later life as a football star.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Robyn gives birth just after Mia's funeral.
- Bittersweet Ending: In Holiday and The Final Chapters with a heavy slant toward the "sweet" side.
- Holiday ends with Mia's death to cancer, which affects the group heavily. Nonetheless, Lance wins the final game of his career with a new all-time rushing record, he and Harper finally repair their broken friendship, he gives Harper his blessing to write his biography, and he is present for the birth of Harper and Robyn's daughter, whom he helps deliver and whom they name Mia in his and her honor. Meanwhile, Quentin pays off Harper and Robyn's debts and Shelby likewise makes a $2 million donation to help fund Murch and Candace's school.
- By the end of The Final Chapters, Harper and Robyn are divorced and it's painfully obvious that Harper wants Robyn back, though he is still very much a part of daughter Mia's life despite her now living in a separate country; Jordan has finally decided to not be such a workaholic and starts taking free time to self care and enjoy her life; Quentin has made amends with his father and is focusing on being a family with Shelby and Kennedy while taking over the family business; Shelby comes to terms with the fact that she's aging and learns to see it as beauty gained not lost; Candace's thesis gets the support she needs and she's able to oust the professor who was sexually harassing her alongside other students who were in the same situation; Murch finds balance with his status as a "Mr. Mom" while supporting Candace's endeavors; and Lance comes to accept LJ's newfound non-binaryism and finally moves on from Mia's death, finding love with Jasmyn and proposing to her.
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Actually averted with Jordan and Brian. There's some mild teasing of Brian from the other guys, but their issues stem from Jordan's stubbornness.
- Blood from the Mouth: Mia, indicating how ill she is.
- Career Versus Man: Jordan is a workaholic whose career ambitions tend to overshadow her personal life. This becomes her story arc in The Final Chapters when the stress starts to take a toll on her body, including anxiety attacks and stress-induced temporary blindness.
- Cat Fight: Candace gets into a brief but nasty one with Shelby after the latter insults her past as an exotic dancer one time too many.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Shelby isn't shy about showing her jealousy toward her ex's, Julian's, new girlfriend-turned-wife.
- Dance Party Ending:
- The first film ends with everyone doing the Electric Slide at Lance and Mia's reception.
- The series finale of The Final Chapters which concludes the franchise as a whole, ends with everyone ( except for Robyn) celebrating Harper finally winning a Pulitzer Prize for his newest book.
- Delivery Guy: Lance serves as this to Mia when it's clear they won't get to the hospital in time, thanks to everything he learned from his wife's doctor (who talks him through it) during her own pregnancies and deliveries.
- Driven to Suicide: Lance fears as much has happened to LJ after they run away from home upon finding their empty car next to a bridge and surmising that they might have jumped.
- Easily Forgiven: Zigzagged.
- The first film strongly insinuates that Lance forgave Harper over his take in the affair but the sequel showcases that while they’re on good enough terms to have kept in touch over the years, Lance still has bitter feelings about it and it will take a long time before he could truly move on and forgive Harper. Lance finding out that Harper is trying to pen yet another book centered around his life without his knowledge or consent just when he was reaching the point of forgiveness doesn't help matters either and sadly, it takes Mia’s death for Lance to finally let go of his grudge and make amends with Harper for good.
- Harper, oddly enough, never once shows resentment towards Lance for the beating he received at the bachelor party that nearly got him killed. The only mention of the incident in the sequel and miniseries are through flashback clips, but not the main story.
- Evil Redhead: Up until her Character Development (see Took a Level in Kindness), auburn-haired Shelby is a condescending Alpha Bitch in the first and most of the second film, treating Julian as more of manservant than a husband before he divorces her, then going out of her way to make life miserable for his new wife, Candace, by constantly bringing up Candace's time as a stripper in the negative. She also generally keeps stirring up gossip and strife between the friends just to enjoy the drama of it all.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: used for the college flashbacks.
- Fight Clubbing: Murch initially joins a boxing gym to build up his confidence and it transitions into him engaging in underground MMA cage fighting.
- Floorfilling Song and Dance: The movie ends with everyone doing the Electric Slide to "Candy" by Cameo.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Men: Harper (Melancholic), Julian (Phlegmatic), Quentin (Sanguine), and Lance (Choleric)
- Women: Robyn (Melancholic), Candace/Mia (Phlegmatic), Jordan (Sanguine), and Shelby (Choleric)
- The Friend Nobody Likes: More like the girlfriend nobody likes. Shelby is met with general disdain from the group, particularly Quentin. Q shows shades of this as well. They both outgrow this in the mini-series.
- Gayngst: After spending some time in the closet, Lance's eldest son Lance Jr. aka LJ comes out as non-binary in the mini-series and says he's always felt different, which is why he doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps as a sports star. Naturally, the traditionally Christian Lance has a hard time accepting this but he eventually does.
- Get Out!: Lance to everyone in the first movie after learning Harper had a fling with Mia, nearly murdering him for it, and threatening to cancel the wedding and again to Harper in the sequel when he learns that Harper is trying to publish yet another book involving events from Lance's life without consulting Lance about it first, with Lance demanding that Harper stay away from him and his family and out of his life forever this time.
- The Ghost: Quentin’s father, Wellington, is alluded to in the films but never appears. He finally makes his debut in the miniseries as a recurring character.
- Happy Ending Override: The first sequel finds that there's still tension between Lance and Harper over the latter sleeping with Mia and between Jordan and Robyn over Jordan and Harper almost sleeping together, despite everyone having apparently reconciled at the end of the first movie. And the Mini Series finds Harper and Robyn divorcing, despite the sequel ending with them welcoming their baby girl.
- Happily Married: Averted with Julian and Shelby in the first film and subverted with all the married couples in the sequel. While ostensibly happy together, the reunion dredges up some underlying issues and causes tension. Regardless, Lance and Mia are the couple with the strongest relationship, but it is tragically cut short as she is dying of cancer, while Julian and Candace emerge stronger once she comes to terms with her past as a dancer and they're able to save their school's funding. Deconstructed in the mini-series with Harper and Robyn; they divorce by the end.
- Played surprisingly straight with Shelby and Quentin in the mini-series.
- Heartbroken Badass: Lance, grieving over Mia's death well into The Final Chapters.
- Heel–Face Turn: Two of these occur in Holiday. Lance drops his hatred for Harper in the aftermath of Mia’s death, becoming the best of friends again from that point on. Likewise, Shelby lets go of her own bitterness and jealousy toward Candace and befriends her. She also makes a generous donation to help Candace and Julian's school stay open.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Quentin and Julian often come across as these. Downplayed with Harper and Lance. They’re depicted as having a brotherly type of bond prior to their fallout, and after their reconciliation at the end of Holiday. This carries over to The Final Chapters where their friendship is stronger than ever.
- Henpecked Husband: Poor Julian can't seem to catch a break with this trope. His ex-girlfriend Shelby had a tendency to run right over him, and he just goes along with it...until he finally stands up for himself and leaves her for Candace, who treats him much, much better than Shelby ever did but isn't above being passive-aggressive towards him or taking advantage of his gentle nature from time to time
- Hypocrite: Lance cheated on Mia left and right, but is so enraged at her one instance of infidelity—which happened as a result of his behavior—that he nearly kills his closest friend (whom she purposely slept with) and tries to call off the wedding.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: Quentin suffers one after having had one too many drinks at Harper's movie premiere.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Candace aka "Candy" is an exotic dancer (ex-dancer as of Holiday) who treats Julian a heck of a lot better than Shelby ever did and proves to be a loving wife and mother.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shelby graduates to this beginning in Holiday and continues the "heart of gold" streak well into The Final Chapters. That said, step out of line with her and she'll remind you that she used to be a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Shelby, though it's not until the very end of Holiday when she makes amends with Julian and Candace by donating to their school that the loveable part starts showing.
- Karma Houdini: Lance never faces any consequences for ruthlessly attacking and attempting to murder Harper. Not to mention the fact that he caused moderate property damage to the hotel suite owned by Quentin’s father in the process.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: The mini-series reveals that the father of Shelby's teenage daughter Kennedy is Quentin and a portion of his arc revolves around him attempting to establish a paternal bond with her.
- Men Don't Cry:
- Averted by Lance during his wedding ceremony and after Mia's death. He also sheds Tears of Fear when LJ leaves home and goes missing for several days.
- Also averted by Quentin when he sobs at Mia’s funeral and later when he and Shelby finally declare their love for each other. Harper has a breakdown after Robyn leaves for Ghana with their daughter, driving home the fact that their divorce is final.
- Mortal Wound Reveal: Downplayed in that it's not necessarily a wound per se. In Holiday, Mia is pleading with Lance to let go of his grudge against Harper before her time runs out, as her cancer is terminal, and when Lance adamantly refuses, she pulls off the wig she's wearing to reveal the extent of her chemotherapy-induced hair loss, emphasizing the point that she doesn't have much longer left.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Lance would have murdered Harper with his bare hands had Q not intervened. He lampshades this later and Harper barely manages to talk him down from finishing the job.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: In the sequel, there is still tension between Lance and Harper over Harper sleeping with Mia, despite it being 14 years since he learned about it and roughly 20 since the incident itself. Similarly, there is friction between Robyn and Jordan despite 14 years since Jordan and Harper almost slept together.
- Papa Wolf: Lance is very protective of his children, though, in LJ's case, it borders on him becoming overprotective.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- In the second film, Shelby is devastated when she sees how distraught her young daughter is after seeing her engage in a cat fight with Candace. This is what kicks off her Character Development.
- Subverted in The Best Man when Lance, upon encountering Harper after nearly killing him the night before, states as much in a tone that implies he's horrified that it came to that, then immediately says he still might do so.
- Lance has one for real following his argument with LJ over the latter's non-binary sexuality when LJ leaves home and when Lance goes looking for him, he finds LJ's empty car parked next to a bridge and fears the worst.
- Harper in The Final Chapters when he finally realizes that his selfish pursuit for his ambitions and goals have resulted in Robyn divorcing him with no plans of reconciling beyond sharing custody of their daughter.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Harper gets one from Lance in each of the movies (along with a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown in the first film) and a mass one from Robyn, Candace, Julian, and Shelby in The Final Chapters, with all three of them concerning his selfishness and his tendency to put his own pursuits over anyone else's needs. It's saying something that Shelby is on the same page as both Candace and Julian in an argument given her past history with them and the fact that she is still dismissive of Julian even after befriending Candace.
- Roman à Clef: Harper's novel and the film it's made into in The Final Chapters is a thinly-veiled autobiography of his life in college with weakly-inserted pseduonyms and expies for himself, Lance, Quentin, Julian, Jordan, Mia, and Shelby. The others are not amused.
- Scary Black Man:
- Both of the films firmly establish that Lance is not the one you want to piss off. Even if he doesn't outwardly lose his temper and Curb Stomp you, he'll do a great job of making you worry that he might, without even having to raise his voice.
- Invoked in The Final Chapters against Julian by a "Karen" when she avails herself to the cab he hailed and then starts whining and crying to nearby cops that he's the one harassing her when he attempts to stand up for himself.
- Going back to Lance, he recounts that also suffered this when one of his neighbors calls the police on him thinking he doesn't belong in her wealthy neighborhood. Once she learns who he is, she apologizes and asks for his autograph for her parents and he complies since business is business.
- Spear Counterpart: To black female-centered films like Waiting to Exhale.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Your best friend finding out that you slept with his girlfriend-turned-fiance back in college isn't going to be taken well by said friend regardless of how many years ago it happened and was kept a secret. Including it as a plot point in a thinly veiled novel about your friends' college lives is just rubbing salt in the wound. As is reappearing in the friend's life over a decade later to do yet another faux expose' on him without at least asking for permission to do so.
- Exposing your friends' lives in college in general won't be looked upon too favorably since that's usually a period where most people engage in things that they'd rather the outside world not know about. Again, making a weak token attempt to gloss it over as a work of fiction is just rubbing salt in the wound by insulting everyone's intelligence.
- Losing a loved spouse to cancer isn't something you just immediately bounce back from and despite the light-hearted ending in Holiday, The Final Chapters reveals Lance is in full Heroic BSoD mode over Mia's death, having resorted to hiring erotic masseuses to help him get through the day and going through pretty much the entire mini-series before he moves on and finds love again.
- In the mini-series, Harper lets his success go to his head to the point that he starts neglecting Robyn's needs and wants—notably her desire to buy and open her own restaurant in her old neighborhood. She ultimately files for divorce and while they eventually reconcile, it's pretty clear that she thinks it best they go their separate ways in life. It goes to show that one can only go so far with kicking his/her spouse to the side before they cross the point of no return in the relationship. Maybe he should have paid more attention to how Shelby and Julian's relationship turned out.
- Took a Level in Badass: Tired of being seen as the introverted pushover, Julian starts taking kickboxing lessons and levels up to the point that he's able to win full-on cage matches.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Harper unwittingly does this over the course of the miniseries due to letting the high life go to his head and putting his work ahead of his family, leading to him neglecting Robyn and her ultimately filing for divorce. When he learns that Robyn intends to move to Ghana with their daughter, he files for primary custody, effectively trapping her in the states until it's resolved.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Shelby and Lance both drop their problematic traits in The Final Chapters.
- Shelby becomes a lot more grounded and levelheaded as a parent, wife and businesswoman throughout The Final Chapters. She and Candace, whom she initially despised, end up becoming good friends. So much so that Candace could be considered Shelby’s second closest friend after Jordan and anyone who hasn't seen the movies before The Final Chapters wouldn't know they were enemies at one point.
- As established in the second film, Lance has truly forgiven Harper once and for all, resulting in the two of them being closer friends than ever before. Aside from one grief-induced outburst, Lance never shows an ounce of aggression or hatred towards Harper. Instead, he acts as a source of comfort and a voice of reason when Harper needs it most. He even goes as far as giving his blessing on a movie adaptation of the very book that tore them apart for several years. His most touching display of kindness occurs when Robyn vents to him about her and Harper’s failing marriage. Lance consoles her, but is quick to remind her that in spite of his flaws: Harper is a good man, and is still his “dawg”. Mind you, these are words spoken by the same guy who literally tried to kill Harper, once before. And lastly, after butting heads with his oldest son over the latter’s sexual identity, Lance comes around to accept it.
- What You Are in the Dark: Shelby finally lets her good side show in Holiday when she donates $2 million to Julian and Candace's school to make up for the fight they had earlier and to cover the funding they lost due to Candace's past occupation as a stripper coming to light. Likewise, Quentin pays off Harper and Robyn's debts, though only after making Harper call him "Daddy".
- Why Waste a Wedding?: Rather than going through the process of planning another wedding, Quentin and Shelby decide to get married at the one originally planned for Quentin and Xiomara.
- With Friends Like These...: Quentin. None of the friend group can seem to tolerate him for too long, and his only role boils down to "start drama and dip out." His only truly redeeming actions, aside from his charm, is his saving Harper from almost certain death after Lance read his book and figured out he and Mia slept together, his pushing Murch to stick up for himself against Shelby, and lastly - rescuing Harper and Robyn out of financial ruin by paying off their debts, in the sequel. With no strings attached, other than Harper having to jokingly call him “daddy”.
- Yandere: The Final Chapters reveals that despite parting ways with Quentin in Holiday, Shelby continued to stalk him for some time in between the two installments upon finding out he had become engaged to celebrity icon Xiomara Armani, including showing up at his work meetings and creating a scene. In the mini-series itself, she shows up uninvited at his wedding venue and bachelor party, going so far as to ask Candace to teach her how to lap dance so she can seduce him out of his impending nuptials. The lap dance itself doesn't work but Quentin ultimately chooses her over Xiomara.
- You Should Have Died Instead: Said by LJ to Lance during their final argument over LJ's non-binary sexuality.
