Finally a film, screenplay, and filmmaker who has the guts to portrays a young, hip, black man as something more than an extra in a rap video or a mindless athlete. Sure, the characters in this film are hopeless man-whores but so are most single 20-something and 30-something men.

Jamie Foxx proves he has the charisma to carry a picture other than a "zany" comedy. I look forward to his serious role in the upcoming Micheal Mann film.

It's about time Hollywood stopped patronizing and insulting the young black male by casting them only as athletes and gangsters. The dialogue was certainly a bit trite at times and the direction and cinematography was just so-so.

Jamie Foxx stars as a guy just dumped by his fiancé who ends up writing a best selling book about how to dump significant others. Along the way, there are mistaken identities, gender and racial stereotypes, and a decided lack of comedy and wit. Gabrielle Union serves as the eye candy object of Foxx's affections by mistake when he's sent to dump her by his "player" cousin, Morris Chestnut, who specializes in booty calls that expire after three months. Due to a very subtle change in her appearance, Foxx doesn't recognize her as the person he's supposed to give the message to, and a romance between him and Union ensues.

Parallel to this story, there is a sub-plot involving advice-giving to Peter MacNicol, who is trying to rid himself of gold-digging Jennifer Esposito. Kudos to the director for trying to make a comedy with black lead actors that are not all "urban" stereotypes. However, there are other tired routines that are apparent in the film. The black male "player", the dirty old white man, the dog joke that runs throughout the film, etc. The laughs are few and far between and rely more on the aforementioned devices (and ones similar to them), instead of actual sophisticated writing and character development. The film is rather formulaic, and, without further plot developments beyond my opening comments of this review, becomes static to the viewer. This is another disappointing, unsophisticated comedy with too few laughs on any level. ** of 4 stars.

Breakin' All the Rules presents the worst part about dating (never mind that it's a stupid concept): that some people believe there are rules, or make up their own.

If you accept that, all in all, it's a funny movie. The story is inventive, even if there's no big surprise. Jamie Foxx plays a very attaching love broken man, the beautiful Gabrielle Union gives us a nice balancing act of sweet, smart, and upset, and both of them are really hot together. Morris Chestnut is great as a wingman, Jennifer Esposito looks born to play the gold digger, and Peter MacNicol seems to have found the sweet spot of the clueless desperate rich media owner.

Some of the acting is over done a bit, especially the psychotic character played by Bianca Lawson. Jamie seems to push his suave a bit too far at time, just as Morris does.

It's good entertainment if you accept the limitation and the subject.