Reuniting as Grown-Ups, Kind Of The writer-director Malcolm D. Lee gathers the crew of friends from his 1999 debut, "The Best Man," for a Christmas reunion. In this follow-up, the struggling author Harper (Taye Diggs) and the football god Lance (Morris Chestnut) are wary former pals. Julian (Harold Perrineau) discovers that his wife, Candy (Regina Hall), has a past, preserved in a video online. And it's not immediately apparent why anyone still puts up with the troublemaking television diva Shelby (Melissa De Sousa). They're all under the same roof, specifically the comfortable home of Lance, the everlastingly gracious Mia (Monica Calhoun) and their polite offspring. But if the soapy dramas that emerge out of the movie's status-anxiety comedy feel predictable and unhappily tilted against the women, having stars with some charisma helps, especially Terrence Howard as the unrepentant horndog Quentin. Mr. Lee is unrepentant, too, in embracing familiar Hollywood elements: terminal illness, a big football game, pregnancy and innocent children lip-syncing songs. Mr. Lee's film is more traditional than its sexually frank humor might indicate, with faith and charity ultimately given pride of place (right alongside human pettiness). But even if some of the crudeness and the drama feel forced, it's hard to hate.