Somewhere in this disaster is a very, very good movie.

Friends with Benefits writers Keith Merryman and David Newman, and Barbershop director Tim Story give us too many cliche characters stuck in cliche relationships.

-- Local show times, theaters, trailer.

Instead of exploring real, and important dating and relationship issues with some drama and insight, Think Like a Man sticks an ensemble cast of some of today’s best black actors and actresses into the relationship mumbo jumbo found in any rom-com you can name.

As a rom-com, it’s not a complete failure. The guy bonding — much of it done on a basketball court — is fun. Comedian Kevin Hart narrates the movie, and some of his observations are hilarious. Hart’s comic relief is about all that keeps the film moving as the script leads one pair of characters after another through easy to predict relationships.

The female characters discover comedian/writer Steve Harvey’s book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man and begin practicing its principles and sharing information.

It throws the guys off until they find out. A not-so-surprising table turning is next. No, duh. You could have written that one yourself.

There are six couples. It takes forever to get to that point. Then, you get to the obligatory happy wrap-up. It takes forever. By the third act, you’re thinking, geez, so many couples, so many crises to solve. That’s when you start looking at your watch.

Movies that claim to have answers to life’s relationship questions should really offer up those answers. Think Like a Man does for relationships what the Mel Gibson/Helen Hunt film What Women Want did.

And that’s absolutely nothing.

Mr. Movie rating: 3 stars

Rated PG-13 for mature themes, sex. It’s playing at Regal’s Columbia Center 8 and the Fairchild Cinemas 12.

5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it's your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on video.
2 stars to 1 star: Don't bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.