Wikipedia Draft:How Ya Like Me Now (1992 Film)

Overview

The story takes place in the early 1990's, in Chicago's South Side.

Plot

Thomas is a cheap, lazy and unmotivated young man who simply lives for the moment, with no thoughts of the future. Valarie is a hardworking, energetic and sensitive soul who desires the finer things in life and is getting disenchanted with Thomas and his nonchalant demeanor.

Thomas's friends include: Spoonie, a cynical ,streetwise lad who makes a living driving an illegal "taxi cab" on a revolked license, Alex, an arrogant and condescending wanna-be player who thinks he's God's gift to women, as well as constantly bragging about his wealth, and B.J. the owner of a failing Afrocentric shop who lives as simple as possible to the effect that its cost him his relationship with his girlfriend. All three have the audacity to try to give Thomas relationship advice.

To make matters worse, Thomas's job is on the line, due to his poor work performance. He's given 30 days to improve or he's a cinch to be fired.

Things come to a head when Thomas objects to Valarie's going out to a nightclub with her good friend Pierre. At the club, Valarie meets a white gentleman named Brandon and they seem to hit it off, as they agree to go out. After a heated argument with Thomas, Valarie leaves and stays temporarily with her mother and younger brother. They are both very upset, however, the stubbornness of the two prevents them from reconciling.

Thomas reluctantly goes out to a nightclub at the insistence of Spoonie and later meets a woman there and has relations with her..a move he instantly regrets and orders her to leave his home. Valarie introduces Brandon to her brother and mother, who immediately has reservations about them dating. Valarie's motives are questioned, but she insists it's not to make Thomas jealous, even though it is. Brandon is, to an extent, uncomfortable with dating a black woman, but neglects to tell Valarie how he feels.

After a night out, Alex and his date, Sharon end up at his apartment. Sharon decides to take a peek in his bank book and after discovering he only has $50USD to his name, she leaves in a huff, as she's only interested in dating rich men.

A female supervisor at Thomas's job takes a personal interest in him, motivates him to improve and he's eventually removed from the firing list. Unbeknownst to Thomas, she has feelings for him. In an odd twist of fate,she's later fired after refusing her CEO's sexual advances.

The area is shaken up after B.J. is killed in a drive-by shooting while delivering a speech at an awareness rally he'd organized. Spoonie is extremely upset, as he has few friends and B.J. was a peaceful man.

Later that day, Spoonie picks up Sharon in his cab and a conversation strikes up about Alex and how he had earlier bragged to him about sleeping with Sharon. To teach him a lesson, Spoonie sets up a 3-way phone call between Alex and himself, with Sharon listening. As Alex continues to lie about that night, the call is intercepted by Sharon, who proceeds to tell him off and hangs up.

As if that's not enough, Thomas and Spoonie decided to follow Alex to see where in fact he actually works. Its discovered that he works at a used car lot and is not the rich player that he claims to be. Alex is humiliated and speechless when he's seen by Thomas and Spoonie.

After realizing that dating Brandon was a mistake as it was for all the wrong reasons, she decides to pay Thomas a visit, hoping they may still have a chance. There's one problem, however-Thomas is now dating his former supervisor from work.

The writer and director of this film also portrays the character B.J.

Cast

Darnell Williams as Thomas

Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Valarie

Larry Scott as Pierre