Tom (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) arrives home all eager to celebrate Valentine's Day with his girlfriend Sara. He even plans on asking Sara to marry him and has gathered four of his closest buddies to witness the occasion. Much to his dismay, however, he discovers upon entering the house that Sara has packed her bags and left him a Dear John letter, effectively putting an end to Tom's vision of eternal marital bliss. Further complicating the issue is the fact that one of Tom's friends, mistakenly believing he's going to a party, has invited a bunch of hot young ladies from his bar to join in the festivities.You could be forgiven for assuming that "What Love Is" began life as a theatrical work, since writer/director Mars Callahan has filmed it in the form usually reserved for stage-to-screen adaptations. It all takes place on a single set, with the characters declaiming at one another in that histrionic way that stage actors alone are wont to do. The result is an inert, talky, claustrophobic work riddled with heightened dialogue, pseudo-profundities, long-winded speechifying and manic performances. Each character is given his moment in the spotlight – whereupon he proceeds to air his grievances concerning women, gays, straights and each other - then hands the microphone off to the next person, who pretty much does the same.Then we get the distaff view of things, as the ladies who arrive for the party barricade themselves in the restroom to discuss at exhausting length the outrageousness and inadequacies of men.Finally, it all comes down to the mixing of the sexes as the party moves into high gear and the characters engage in verbal jousting about the problems and pitfalls of romantic relationships.The movie indulges in any number of requisite stereotypes, ranging from the loudmouthed, homophobic misogynist to the lisping, swishing homosexual (played by Callahan himself) and just about everything in between.In the final analysis, a game cast – which includes Matthew Lillard, Sean Astin and Anne Heche, among others – is let down by inferior filmmaking and material.

(Credit IMDb) Tom plans to surprise Sara with an engagement ring, and he's asked his four best friends to witness the popping of the question at his place on Valentine's night. Trouble is Sara's left him a "Dear John" letter and will be by soon for her suitcases; plus, thinking it's a party, Tom's friend Sal has invited five women who were at his bar to come too. First the men talk - about women, sex, love, and homophobia (Tom's pals include a happily married guy, a gay man newly engaged, a metrosexual, and Sal, an inveterate player). Then the women arrive and argue in the loo about men and sex before joining the boys for talk, alcohol, and hookups. But what of Sara, and what of love? What point were they honestly trying to make here? All I got was a few well known actors swearing, and trying to make things out on what love truly is. Not to mention, all of the characters pretty much grated my nerves. Cuba's character is a whiny person, Mathew Lillard is rather despicable for most of it, and Andrew Daily is overbearing as the gay man. The end also infuriated me. Yeah, I get it. Move on from your mistakes, but are we really supposed to believe Cuba moved on that suddenly? It ended abruptly just like that. Love is about communication, love is pure form. And most importantly love comes from the heart. I'm not an expert but I know that much.Performances. Cuba Gooding is a favorite of mine, as I have stated numerous times, but here is character is overbearing, stupid and overly whiny. He deserves better material, and his talents are far above this. Matthew Lillard is too cocky, and unfunny for my liking. His crude ways were difficult to get through. Sean Astin has virtually nothing to do, but stand around and offer advice. Andrew Daly is overbearing as the gay man, I wanted to slap him. Mars Callahan is basically the "Cool through it all" type. Gina Gershon and Anne Heche are wasted in their roles.Bottom line. Mediocre is an understatement. It wasn't painful, but I certainly got annoyed far too much for my liking. Look elsewhere for a romantic film, because this certainly isn't your ticket.4/10

I don't believe that What Love Is was a play before it was shot as a movie, yet I found it reminiscent of some stage play-turned-films I've seen. The main reasons are that it takes place primarily in one room, the dialog is very fast-paced, and emotions are high from the first moment and rarely drops.In this sense, it's not terribly original. What's more is that the small plot line is pretty predictable. However, where this movie shines is in it's advice and the characters' heartfelt monologues. Perhaps it my male bias, but the men's part far outshone and impressed me than the women's scene. Each of the characters reminded me of one of my friends and although it's unlikely these friends would say the things they did, it's something that they would actually believe. For example, Matthew Lilliard's homophobic rant is probably not something he'd say aloud, but you know he would think it. And the other characters react pretty well, continuing the dialog until they each have their turn to chime in with their thoughts on love, sex and women.The second and third acts aren't as good as the first, but there were a few gems that really got me, especially the gay man's sex advice (it's 99.9% correct) and Judy Tylor's (the dumb girl) thoughts on what love really is.So the characters were interesting, the dialog was funny, but mostly it was the gems of wisdom of the characters that really made me think, made me laugh and made me cheer.

After reading the reviews, I had to see this movie! I went with my husband and friends and we laughed endlessly! We all agreed that we want to see it again because we missed some of the humor because of the exciting fast pace!!! Cuba Gooding was excellent and Mathew Lillard gave a convincing performance!!! Mars Callahan is a great writer and director!! Keep it up!!! We also noticed that the camera angles and facial feature close ups were very unusual in that there was incredible definition and expression. Great camera work as far as we were all concerned! The women in the movie were very forthright and outspoken as well; not to be outdone by the men! A definite must see!!!