"The Ladies Man" rubs audiences the right way

Somehow, somewhere, a pact with Satan is surely responsible for the spate of movies adapted from "Saturday Night Live" skits. Perhaps best exemplified by the Butabi brothers' opus, "A Night At the Roxbury," "SNL" movies take skits that are barely funny in their original seven-minute incarnations, tack on a plot that would seem ridiculous in a porn flick, add cameos from faded celebrities, and ride the resultant film to rollicking success - in an alternate universe.

An "SNL" film is usually an unmitigated entertainment disaster, which makes "The Ladies Man" quite puzzling - it is actually funny and charming, if a little rough-edged. Tim Meadows plays titular character Leon Phelps, a radio call-in talk show host who dispenses questionable advice - "I recommend doing it doggystyle" - about the romantic arts. Adopted and raised from infancy by Hugh Hefner, Phelps is a screaming fashion anachronism, sporting a '70s-era pimp wardrobe and one of the finest, most spherical afros committed to film since Dr. J retired.

Despite his lack of sartorial savvy, Phelps is a spectacularly successful pick-up artist, with a registry of conquests as big as the Chicago phone book. His unlikely skill with the ladies is the film's main running joke, as he is largely devoid of any attractive qualities- Phelps is short, crude, and really, really skanky, but his boundless optimism and goofball nature somehow allows him to bed nearly every woman who comes within pick-up line range.

After being fired from his radio job for what can charitably be described a variety of FCC violations, Leon is unable to find work outside of the bedroom. In a miraculous stroke of luck - slyly self-parodied with some clever writing - the Ladies Man receives just what he has been waiting for: a letter from a past conquest promising riches beyond his wildest dreams, as well as the rocking of Leon's world.