Don't mess with Shanté Smith -- she ain't havin' it. "I'm a sista. An educated, strong sista," says the self-assured buppie (Vivica A. Fox), immediately breaking the fourth wall as she shows off her opulent manse. "Not bad for a girl from Compton, eh?" Not bad at all. Neither is her lawyer beau, Keith (Morris Chestnut), whose well-appointed office plays host to the occasional "freaky deaky drive-by." Actually, Keith is bad. Once. But when Shanté catches him with a "VP of marketing and bona fide 'ho'," she doesn't panic. That's rule #1 of her 10-day plan to bring a brother back in line. She's no amateur. She knows that "when your man messes up, ya gots to punish him."

Calm and collected, she metes it out deliberately and excruciatingly. "She got you laid out like a two-dolla crack 'ho'!" screams Keith's buddy Tony (Anthony Anderson). He's right. And when Keith starts to follow his advice, Shanté's labyrinthine game plan veers dangerously off-course. A fine cast (check out home-town boy Bobby Brown as a Jheri-curled, buck-toothed mechanic) and first-time director Mark Brown's assured hand make this one worth seeing. But guys might want to keep their gals away from it lest the ladies get some bright ideas. At the Showcase cinemas.