Paula Patton stars in Baggage Claim, a funny romantic comedy about the antics a girl named Montana goes through trying to land a marriage-worthy man in 30 days. Montana’s mother is pressuring her to come to the wedding of her sister, Sheree (Lauren London). Montana feels compelled to produce a fiancé at the big event to avoid her mom’s judgmental eye.
Her friends, Gail (Jill Scott) and Sam (Adam Brody of “The OC”), convince her that 30 days isn’t enough time to meet a new man, so they plan to find her ex-boyfriends and see if any of them have matured enough to be worthy: “Same person, new attitude.”
Montana, Gail and Sam work for an airline and use their connections to find out when her ex-boyfriends are flying. Then Montana arranges to “happen” to be on the same plane with each hunk (Boris Kodjoe, Taye Diggs or Djimon Hounsou.) Ultimately, she discovers the trick isn’t getting married, but staying married, and you can’t do that with just anyone.
Montana’s desperation to land a man puts her through some hilarious situations.
At one point in the film, Montana calls her best friend, William (co-star Derek Luke), for a ride in the middle of the night. She’s stranded in Georgetown, D.C., after another mile-high wild-goose chase. William hangs up on her and she calls back yelling, “Please don’t rob me. I don’t have any money or any friends either,” to an imagery jacker as a ploy get a ride.
The interaction with Sam and Gail is comic too. He is constantly on Gail about her ploys to maintain a healthy sex life.
Although I had a good time watching this movie, I was reminded that Black men owe Black women a huge apology. We have created a huge shortage of good Black men by killing each other and doing other criminal acts leading to mass incarceration.
Instead of being providers and protectors, many of us are dependent on women to take care us — and that’s no joke.
