"The Ladies Man" is another example of the folks at "Saturday Night Live" trying to stretch a three-minute television sketch into a full-length film, but without much success.

Tim Meadows takes his character of supersuave Leon Phelps, which he's performed on the comedy show since October 1997, to the big screen. But the film's multiple plots collide messily into each other, some of the scenes are irrelevant and most of the jokes get beaten into the ground.

"Ladies Man" does have one thing going for it, though: It's not as abominable as 1994's "It's Pat."

Admittedly, it's funny when we first see Leon in the opening credits, dressed in polyster clothes circa 1974 with his Afro pulled out to the max. And the first few times he lisps the name of Courvoisier, his favorite cognac, it's good for a laugh.

But then the movie makes the mistake of trying to have a plot; actually, four separate plots.

Leon is the host of a late-night radio show in Chicago where he talks about love. Or, more precisely, sex. His advice is so frank, so raunchy that he and his producer Julie (Karyn Parsons) are fired.

No one else will pick up their show, although it's funny to see them audition at a Christian radio station.

This is just one plot. Here are the others:

-- One of Leon's former lovers sends a letter saying she wants him back and plans to lavish him with money. But she signs it "Sweet Thing," a nickname he gives all the ladies, so he must figure out her identity.

-- A group of angry husbands form a support group and try to hunt down the mysterious lover of their wives (Leon). But they know him only by the smiley-face tattoo on his derriere they see as he runs from their homes, and the tacky bell-bottom pants he leaves behind.

-- Despite his lady-killer tendencies, Leon thinks he may be falling in love with Julie (of course), who supposedly sees "the true sweetness and innocence that lie in his heart," the film's production notes say.

Reginald Hudlin's direction is misguided, but it would be difficult for anyone to juggle all these stories. Billy Dee Williams as Lester, the bartender at Leon's favorite watering hole, is supposed to provide a cohesive thread, but the narrative flashback structure is awkward and forced.

Even though the movie is only 87 minutes long, it's hard to fill that much time when a film is based on a comedy sketch. The first "Wayne's World" was a rare exception, and that ran just 95 minutes.

Here, the screenwriters create a totally irrelevant scene that goes on way too long in which Leon challenges Julie's ex-fiance to a contest of eating disgusting pickled foods from jars that have been sitting behind Lester's bar.

Later, the film is padded with a montage that has Leon looking for the mystery letter writer and getting rejected each time he visits one of his former conquests.

There's also a flat, out-of-place cameo by Julianne Moore, who clearly doesn't need the work.

Meadows is a talented comedian. His "SNL" impersonations of Johnnie Cochran Jr., Sammy Davis Jr. and Ike Turner are priceless. Here, he can only say Courvoisier so many times.

"The Ladies Man," a Paramount Pictures release, was written by Meadows and "Saturday Night Live" writers Dennis McNicholas and Andrew Steele. It is rated R for sexual content and language.

(This film is rated AA)

More Movie Reviews