A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

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A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
ThinLineMoviePoster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Martin Lawrence
Produced by George Jackson
Doug McHenry
Screenplay by Martin Lawrence
Bentley Kyle Evans
Kenny Buford
Kim Bass
Story by Martin Lawrence
Starring Martin Lawrence
Lynn Whitfield
Bobby Brown
Regina King
Narrated by Martin Lawrence
Music by Roger Troutman
Cinematography Francis Kenny
Edited by John Carter
Production
company
Jackson-McHenry Entertainment
You Go Boy! Productions
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Savoy Pictures
Release dates
April 3, 1996
Running time
108 minutes
Language English
Budget $8,000,000
Box office $34,746,109

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate is a 1996 American dark comedy-romance film that was directed and co-written by Martin Lawrence, who also stars in the film. Lawrence co-wrote the screenplay alongside Kenny Buford and Bentley Kyle Evans, who has also written for Lawrence's hit television sitcom, Martin, and Kim Bass. Along with Lawrence, the film features a cast of actors that include Lynn Whitfield, Regina King, Bobby Brown and Della Reese. The film tells the story of Darnell Wright, a ladies' man who finds himself targeted by one of his obsessed lovers.

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate was released in April 1996 and went on to gross over $30 million at the box office against a budget of $8 million. The film was shot on location entirely in the city of Los Angeles, California from June 5 until August 11, 1995. The title for the film is taken from the 1971 song "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" by The Persuaders. R&B trio H-Town recorded a cover version of this song that was included on the film soundtrack. At the time of filming, Lawrence was 12 years younger than Lynn Whitfield, who was 42 at the time.

Plot[edit]

Nightclub manager Darnell Wright is a perpetual playboy and hopeless male chauvinist. He works for a nightclub called Chocolate City and aspires to be its owner. He trades VIP privileges at the club for favors from women. Though he is an expert at conning women, he sometimes worries about what his childhood sweetheart Mia (Regina King) thinks of his adventures.

When the classy and elegant Brandi (Lynn Whitfield) steps out of a limousine to enter the club, Darnell feels that he's met his ultimate prize. She rejects his come-ons, which only fuels his appetite. He pursues her, showing up with flowers at her real estate office. He finally wins over Brandi, only to find out that he's really in love with Mia. But Brandi doesn't take kindly to rejection. It appears that she has borderline personality disorder and becomes an obsessed femme fatale stalking him, even taking all four wheels off his SUV to ground him from his rounds.

Ending his relationship with Mia is not enough to satisfy Brandi, who finally administers Darnell's punishment for his misogyny. Darnell quickly learns the hard way that when you "play", you have to "pay." The film ends much like the last verse of the song A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, with an injured Darnell in the hospital pondering over what happened to him and deciding to change, and a mugshot of Brandi and Darnell's voice saying "Damn I'm truly sorry about what happened to Brandi. I hope po' baby lands on her feet, but they better make damn sure they fix that dent in her heart before they let her out".

Cast[edit]

Sequel[edit]

On February 19, 2015, Lawrence uploaded a picture of the screenplay to a A Thin Line Between Love and Hate 2 to his Instagram profile. He captioned the picture writing, "Just finished writing A Thin Line Between Love and Hate 2. Excited as a MF! #crazyderanged #comingatyou."[1]

Soundtrack[edit]

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released January 30, 1996
Recorded 1995-96
Genre Hip hop, R&B
Length 65:16
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Tim & Bob, L. T. Hutton, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Roger Troutman, Somethin' for the People, R. Kelly, Soopafly, Battlecat, Eric Benét, D'Flow Production Squad, Touch, B-Love, Gizzo, Dwayne
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 2.5/5 stars link

A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on January 30, 1996 by Warner Bros. Records. It peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It consisted of a blend of hip hop and R&B music. The soundtrack contained three charting singles, "Beware of My Crew", "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate" and "Let's Stay Together".

  1. "Beware of My Crew" - 4:30 (LBC Crew featuring Tray Deee & South Sentrelle)
  2. "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate" - 4:50 (H-Town featuring Shirley Murdock)
  3. "Damned If I Do" - 3:54 (Somethin' for the People featuring Adina Howard)
  4. "Freak Tonight" - 3:57 (R. Kelly)
  5. "I Don't Hang" - 4:58 (Soopafly)
  6. "Love Got My Mind Trippin'" - 3:30 (Ganjah K)
  7. "Ring My Bell" - 4:20 (Luniz)
  8. "Playa fo Real" - 4:15 (Dru Down)
  9. "Chocolate City" - 4:39 (Roger Troutman featuring Shirley Murdock)
  10. "Thin Line" - 4:36 (Drawz)
  11. "It's Ladies Night at Chocolate City" - 3:49 (Dark Complexion)
  12. "Knocks Me Off My Feet" - 3:22 (Tevin Campbell)
  13. "Let's Stay Together" - 4:53 (Eric Benét)
  14. "Come Over" - 5:15 (Sandra St. Victor)
  15. "Way Back When" - 4:28 (Smooth)
Personnel
  • Dwayne – producer
  • Dave Aron – engineer
  • Arvel – programming
  • Alison Ball-Gabriel – director, executive producer
  • Battlecat – multi instruments, producer
  • Eric Benét – vocals, producer
  • Chris Brickley – engineer, assistant engineer
  • Priest Brooks – keyboards, producer
  • Denise Brown – executive producer
  • Larry Campbell – producer, mixing
  • Tevin Campbell – vocals
  • Cat Daddy Ro – programming
  • Jon Catfish – keyboards, vocals
  • D'Flow – producer
  • Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
  • Michael Denten – engineer
  • Michael Denton – engineer
  • D'Flow Production Squad – producer
  • DJ Battlecat – producer
  • DJ Slip – engineer
  • Dru Down – vocals
  • Brian Frye – mixing assistant
  • Fuzzy Da Lil' Nasty – vocals
  • Brian Gardner – mastering
  • Leigh Genniss – engineer, executive producer, mixing
  • Stephen George – engineer, mixing
  • Barry Hankerson – executive producer
  • Yolanda Harris – vocals, backing vocals
  • Lili Hayden – violin
  • Tom Herzer – engineer
  • Adina Howard – vocals
  • L.T. Hutton – keyboards, producer
  • George Jackson – executive producer
  • Greg Jacobs – engineer
  • Tim Kelley – drums, keyboards, producer, engineer
  • R. Kelly – multi instruments, producer, engineer, mixing
  • Vince Lars – saxophone
  • Martin Lawrence – executive producer
  • Bernard Lilton – arranger, keyboards, producer, vocal arrangement, moog bass
  • Alex Lowe – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
  • The Luniz – vocals
  • Tim "Flash" Mariner – producer, engineer
  • Doug McHenry – executive producer
  • Aaron McInnes – assistant engineer
  • Tony Mills – engineer
  • Shirley Murdock – vocals
  • George Nash, Jr. – guitar, producer, engineer
  • Bill Ortiz – trumpet
  • The Piano-Man – keyboards
  • Demonté Posey – keyboards, producer, engineer
  • Darin Prindle – engineer, mixing
  • Steve Prudholme – director
  • Timothy Christian Riley – piano, drums, electric piano
  • Bob Robinson – keyboards, producer
  • Sauce – programming, producer
  • Michael Schlesinger – mixing
  • Shock-G – arranger, drum programming
  • Dexter Simmons – engineer
  • Lance "Drawz" Simmons – vocal arrangement
  • D.J. Slip – engineer
  • Gary Smith – producer, drum programming
  • John Jubu Smith – bass, guitar
  • Snoop Dogg – keyboards, producer
  • Somethin' for the People – producer
  • Sandra St. Victor – arranger, vocals, producer
  • Booker T – mixing
  • Tim & Bob – producer
  • Chris Trevett – mixing
  • Lester Troutman – engineer
  • Roger Troutman – bass, guitar, drums, keyboards, vocals, producer, talk box
  • Joe Warlick – mixing assistant
  • D'Wayne Wiggins – guitar
  • Mike Wilson – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
  • Mario Winans – drums

References[edit]

External links[edit]