The Ladies Man

Leon Phelps hosts a late-night Chicago radio show where he dispenses romantic and sexual advice to his devoted listeners. His suggestive on-air remarks get him and his loyal producer, Julie Simmons, fired. Around the same time, Leon receives a letter from a former lover who invites him to return to her and share her fortune, but she does not identify herself. Since Leon has been involved with many women, he has no idea who she is, and he sets out to track her down while Julie stays by his side.

The film is a comedy directed by Reginald Hudlin, his fourth feature after House Party, Boomerang and The Great White Hype. Tim Meadows, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele, plays Leon; Karyn Parsons plays Julie, with Billy Dee Williams, John Witherspoon, Jill Talley and Lee Evans in supporting roles. Lorne Michaels produced it for Paramount and SNL Studios, drawing on a character Meadows had played on television.

Released in October 2000, the film had a budget of 24 million US dollars and took in about 14 million worldwide, so it did not recover its costs. On IMDb it holds a rating of 5.2 from roughly 14,000 votes and on TMDB 5.4 from a much smaller number of votes, while critics rated it 4 out of 10 across 69 reviews, placing it below even the modest audience scores. It became Hudlin's fourth directorial credit in a career that continued with later films and documentaries.