Why Nia Long Should Go Out with Larenz Tate and Where Should They Go

In the February 2007 issue of Essence magazine, readers got to learn a little more about the very incognito and impressive actress, Nia Long. Even better, Essence writer Jeannine Amber asked a great question: "Who was the best kisser?" out of all of the guys that Long has been in movies with, such as Taye Diggs, Larenz Tate, Mekhi Phifer, Martin Lawrence, Ice Cube, Will Smith, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Long said that although Will Smith "set the standard for leading men...the most natural chemistry was definitely with Larenz." As much as I loved watching Nia Long tying Smith up on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," sexually frustrated with Taye Diggs in "The Best Man," and running down the street eyeing Ice Cube in "Friday," these guys, as well as the others, couldn't compare with the approval I gave to Tate and Long. If Tate wasn't married, I'd root those two on for life. "Love Jones" was a beautiful movie about two young professionals, one writer and one photographer, who meet in Chicago at a poetry spot. Darius Lovehall, played by Larenz Tate, and Nina Moseley, played by Nia Long, meet by the bar, run into each other at a record store, and Darius follows Nina right to her front door, stalker style (from getting her address off of a check). But even with that crazy way to get a woman's attention, viewers are so interested in the two characters that they don't even pay attention to how nuts that is.

When those two juked at the Wild Hare nightclub and went to a stepper's set (true Chicago dating), I wasn't thinking about Darius and Nina. I was wondering whether Nia and Larenz really did like each other because they sure pulled it off in this movie. Of course Larenz was as smooth as can be on the stepper's floor, being that he is a native of Chicago, but Nia showed him a thing or two as well. Both the actress and actor always make a point of playing down-to-Earth roles that their peers can connect to. Both tend to stay away from stereotypical roles, minus a couple of thugged out roles that Tate did before cutting it off in movies like "Dead Presidents" and "Menace II Society." Both are undoubtedly attractive people, even better since they emphasize natural beauty, with Tate's short haircuts and Nia's feathered-out stacks with natural toned make-up. Tate is a comfortable distance above Long, in height. Their builds compliment each other; not too big, not too small. They both have smiling eyes. They both come across as convincing lovers. Best of all, when you read interviews about the two, they appear grounded. Nia didn't bat an eye about the fight in the mall, being that she spent her youth in South Central and Brooklyn. Tate has never claimed to be an angel. He admitted on IGN's website that he was a "badass kid" who "needed some direction." Both have the street smarts and the creative drive to compliment each other.

Not one minute in "Love Jones" did I think "These two would never be together." A sista who would stand out in the rain and mess up her hair to listen to a speech on rekindling a relationship is a bona fide sign of love. After I saw this movie, I wondered how seriously did these two think about the chemistry they had onscreen, and did it ever go further than the script. I saw so many people in poetry spots afterwards trying to find themselves a Nia and a Larenz, and I've never seen a movie where two people connected so well, never mind the fact that it being shot mainly at a spoken word café made it even more unique. So, did Tate really ever want to be the Blues in Nia's left leg trying to be the Funk in her right? If both of them showed up at the Buckingham Fountain or a poetry set again, and if he did want to be her Blues and Funk, I hope Nia would see a brotha worth musical legs.