Meanwhile pediatrician Jackson (Morris Chestnut), after recurring dreams of being gunned down by a woman in a wedding dress, is wary of all women in general.

These four plot lines spin us through the next year or so in the men's lives, though the romantic center of the movie is Jackson. As you might have guessed, after swearing off commitment, he finds himself falling for Denise (Gabrielle Union), a photographer as smart and romantically aloof as he is.

Setting his tale in the upper middle-class neighborhoods of Los Angeles, director Hardwick keeps the focus on its characters' struggles to figure out the whole love thing. (The characters include Jackson's sexy-sassy mother and estranged father, giving the flick a generous age range and reminding us that relationships remain fluid and difficult over the decades.)

Though the men get most of the screen time, the women get their due as well, trying to figure out why men often seem like another species. And their frank, funny talk can be just as off-color as the guys'. Casting a wide net, Hardwick's script touches on a lot of things: class divisions among African-Americans, the ever-shifting borderline between interracial dating, family tensions, and the pursuit of genuine romance. Funny as hell in one scene, "The Brothers" also sneaks in moments of real poignancy.

There's so much going on that you can even forgive a forced climax involving a loaded gun and a woman in white (yep, just like Jackson's dream). Just remember: Don't leave when the credits start to roll, or you'll miss the outtakes.