SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1996 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
**1/2
"What exactly does the 'it' refer to?" my mom asked in an accusatory tone when I brought the SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT video home. "Commitment," I replied, to get her off my back, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The 'it' in SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT is S-E-X, a topic Spike Lee usually puts on the back burner in favor of his usual favorite topic: race. But in his debut film, directed with labored shots in artsy black-and-white (and one brief color sequence), race is a barely-mentioned factor in a story of relationships. Of course there are no white people in the movie -- you know if Lee could have possibly been able to film the movie in just black instead of black-and-white to make a metaphorical point, he would have.
Nona Darling (a made-up name if I've ever heard one) is a successful woman in her 20's who is juggling purely physical relationships with three men who want more. There's average working man Jamie, rich conceited oreo Greer and immature pint-sized Mars (Lee himself, naturally). She sees them as parts of one big, well-rounded man and doesn't want to choose between them or settle down with any one of them. In her words, she's got a job and an apartment and doesn't want someone leeching off of her, little Mars in particular because, as Dr. Ruth has pointed out, one can never have a fully satisying relationship with anyone named after a planet (sorry, Jupiter).
SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT isn't like most other Spike Lee films. Besides the absence of white (people) and color (film), nearly all the characters are likeable (except Greer, who actually uses the phrase, "The minute you get fat, I'm leaving you"), even Nona's friend Opal, one of those devastatingly beautiful Hollywood lesbians who tries to pull all of their friends into the web of experimentation. That storyline is never resolved, but then neither is the overall one, which keeps in the tradition of a woman who wants the bellboy but doesn't want him carrying any emotional baggage.
Overall, there's not too much meaning in the movie and it's about as believable as the Ace of Base "All that she wants is another baby" song. We know 95% of men in the world would jump at the chance to get the sex without the commitment, but what percentage of women out there would want a similar arrangement? And how many of those would actually want to see Spike Lee pantsless? I guess it's all part of the Hollywood lesbians believability package.
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