Auteur Watch - Reggie Gaskins

...okay!  I'm back!  Well, the next time you're out with your film geek friends, here's how you impress them.  When they ask you who your favorite all-time screenwriter is, you say Reggie Gaskins.  And why?  They'll always ask that follow-up question, of course.  Film geeks are tenacious that way.  One question after another until you gain their trust.  But you can tell them, with 95% confidence and a large n, that only a truly gifted screenwriter can take the name Reggie Gaskins and turn it into Russ Jenkins.  Take 2006's Restraining Order, for example... okay, sure, it's the only example.  But what an example indeed!  Wonder how much Robin Givens makes off of these movies.  Sad to think that she's still grinding away in the sulfur mines like this.  Wasn't she one of the Waiting to Exhale ladies?  ..no?  Owwch.  I like the opening credits sequence of that movie because it reminds me a bit of the opening credits sequence of Joel Schumacher's Batman movies.
But back to the instant case.  Tired of being typecast as a cop in such classics as Friday After Next and Showtime... the 2002 comedy, not the channel... Reggie branched out from film acting into the lucrative fields of film writing, film directing, Editorial Department, Second Unit Director or Assistant Director, Thanks, Self... oh, now I'm just turning into one of those auto-blog bots I used to so decry, one or two soirée ago.  But his instincts are right, for just as Robin Givens' soul was washed clean before appearing on Tyler Perry's "House of Payne," so too did Mr. Gaskins find the instinct to put his name as a stamp on his productions.  Productions such as "Reggie's Family & Friends" and Reggie Gaskins' Urban Love Story... damn.  George Carlin had some musings about the word "urban" but they're not readily available on YouTube.  The point being, I thought the word "urban" was a bad thing.  On the other hand, might as well own it.  And mind you, Reggie Gaskins isn't a complete egomaniac!  Sure, he wrote, directed, and starred in Reggie Gaskins' Urban Love Story, but he plays a guy named Trent Jordan.  Sure, it's a thinly veiled autobiographical version of himself, but named Trent instead of Reggie, or Reginald... he just likes that name, okay?
So, the real question is... how does this urban love story stack up to the greats?  You know, Heloise and Abelard, Romeo and Juliet... From Justin to Kelly.  I know, I know, sorry.  Always gotta go for the punchline.  Me myself, I'm taking a more negative view of love these days.  I was one of those guys growing up in school that thought, yeah!  A girlfriend is the thing for me.  That's the goal in life, right?  You marry your high school sweetheart and stay married to her for 50 years.  Like the Aldas.  But then, when I actually got one... I'll admit, I was a bit out of my depth.  I mean, hey, life's hard enough when you've got to do homework for six different classes, am I right?  But that's one benefit of being a senior in high school, I suppose.  Freshman and sophomore girls always want to try and ... grab one.  I'll use the word grab instead of snag or something more salacious.  For some reason I wanted to date one of my fellow seniors.  As for love, well... lately it seems to be killing the planet.  I mean, there's, what... 7 billion people on this planet?  Well, how did that happen?  LOVE, that's how!  Sure, the number will eventually level out at 11 billion, as resources start to run out, drinkable water starts disappearing, other species disappear off this planet at an even faster rate.  We need more indifference in order to save this planet.  Or, at least our little comfortable place on it.  Spending my time studying films instead of in-depth study of a human female is the way to go.  That's the choice I've made, anywho.

Reggie Gaskins's YouTube Channel