The plain and ugly truth about dating that is undeniably universal is that it is tough. More often than not, finding that special someone is not a matter of how perfect the other person is. It’s all about that moment when two people of the same or opposite sex walk past each other with a chemistry that cannot be matched on an online personals site.
Perfect Combination, produced by Tri-Destined Films, should have been the ordinary waste of time that most black films have become in the last few years. The plot, in which a successful man named Rick goes about searching for love via a dating agency, isn’t necessarily original. Yet the chemistry of this film's cast upgrades the usual groans this genre has often created into cheers, tears and even surprise.
Christian Keyes (Madea Goes To Jail), Tiffany Hines (Nikita), Kareem J. Grimes (A Good Day To Be Black And Sexy), Ayo Sorrells (Zane’s Sex Chronicles), and Angell Conwell (The Young and The Restless) seem to vibe together on screen. This reminds me of what I appreciated about Christopher Scott Cherot’s Hav Plenty in spite of the fact that the plot was rather simple. Any other cast with this kind of plot, I would have immediately stopped watching.
Tiffany A. Rose, who wrote the screenplay and is an executive producer of the movie, doesn’t spend too much time dealing with the pitfalls of finding love through a dating agency. It’s clear to the audience that the agency’s selections for Rick clearly aren’t right for him. What Ms. Rose does spend time on is the humanity of finding the right one.
Ironically, Rose’s screenplay throws in more than one conclusion for Rick and for his best friends. Hav Plenty, made several years ago, did the same thing. I won’t reveal what those endings are, but when they start to appear in the last thirty minutes of the film, they all seem not only to be logical, but the pairings actually click.
Trey Haley and Tiffany Rose deserve special recognition for giving the audience for this film a steamy scene between two of the leads that actually fools you. Thanks to a series of dissolves, I literally thought what I normally thought would happen in this kind of film and then promptly had to close my mouth after I found out what did happen actually didn’t. It takes a creative mind to have the resistance to simply go the easy route when it comes to making love scenes.
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