SLICK

A gifted public relations practitioner’s black arts are fouled by his own pesky humanity.

Scott Singer has sailed willingly into the perfect p.r. storm. Fresh from a qualified triumph involving the use of naked but sincere feminists to rescue the image of a lavish but languishing resort, the lanky, loveless 35-year-old has accepted a truly daunting challenge. Gifted, unfairly handsome, philandering rap artist Hunta, né Jeremy Sharpe, would be on top of the recording scene were it not for the recent school shooting for which the musical and dramatic theme was Hunta's hit Bitch Fiend. It’s not just that the cultural police are waiting to throw him in chains. Lisa Glassman, the uncredited co-author of one of his best recordings, is about to charge him with rape. For all his gangsta posing (he was present at Tupac’s shooting), Hunta is a pretty straight guy trying to live up to his father's tough standards without losing his badass credentials. But neither the press nor the public will remember his softer side when the rape charge comes out. Working with p.r. legend and African-American specialist Maxina Howard, Scott proposes deployment of a deflatable rape charge from another quarter to preempt Lisa’s accusation. But Harmony Prince, the woman he picks to cry wolf, presents her own set of problems. Her wretched ghetto past has left her so emotionally vulnerable that Scott’s may finish her off. Worse, as he is falling a little bit in love with the brilliant, deaf mother of his 13-yer-old assistant, Scott is also falling a little bit in love with Harmony. The brilliant but doomed plan starts to collapse on Larry King Live when Hunta’s long-suffering wife Simba phones in just as Harmony is telling all.

Wonderful characters elbow each other for room on a crowded stage. It’s a bit like a sunnier Bruce Wagner, but newcomer Price is his own man.