This was almost a great picture, but there were too many moments of conventional comedy thrown in, which dragged it down from its otherwise high level of intelligence.

"Little Black Book" is about Stacy. She is woman focused on finding her destiny with the right man and career. She feels the right man, currently, is Derek. However, Derek has a trail of ex-girlfriends he doesn't like to talk about, but somehow seems to meet with once in a while.

As Derek is away on business, Stacy goes into his palm pilot and learns more about these women. She finds out who they are, where they are and setting up interviews with them, using her work as cover. Stacy works for the Kippie Kann Show, which resembles the Maury Povich Show/Jerry Springer Show.

Later, Stacy's lies, used to meet these women, start getting her in a mess of trouble, not to mention the pressure added by coworker and friend Barb. Later, Barb sets Stacy up to be exposed on a live taping of the Kippie Kann Show.

The picture overall is very amusing. Not laugh out loud for me, but there's plenty of solid humor in it. However, some character responses and actions were predictable, as was the climax of the picture.

Screenwriter Melissa Carter uses this picture to say plenty about a lover's privacy, the need to understand there may be no "destiny" for someone to fulfill, and there may not be a "one perfect guy" to find for the rest of life.

However, there are moments in the picture, particularly its denouement, which feel thrown in for the sake of pleasing a test audience. They stick out like a soar thumb.

Brittany Murphy (Uptown Girls) is awesome as Stacy, while a very hot in her years Holly Hunter (The Piano) plays friend Barb. Ron Livingston (Office Space) does well as boyfriend Derek, while the supporting cast had plenty of solid talent. Also making an appearance is Kathy Bates (Misery) as Kippie Kann, a very funny personality. The cast was the seller of this show. A lesser cast would've allowed this work to fall on its face.

Overall, I think "Little Black Book" is worth seeing if you've ever had a significant other of whom's past raised questions in your mind too.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?