We all fell in love with her “girl next door” vibe in the 2000 hit Love & Basketball. Since then Sanaa Lathan has been coasting on a Hollywood career that is nothing to be ashamed of. Now, with her box office smash The Perfect Guy killing it in theaters, she seems to be veering off on a path to certain annihilation. She is making a series of bad decisions that threaten to torpedo the venerable career she’s been building for nearly two decades. It’s time for us to sit her down and set her straight.

Lathan (43) is one of those Black actresses. If a Black film is about to be released, odds are she’ll be in it (with a 25% chance she’ll be the lead). She’s been cast in her required Tyler Perry film (The Family That Preys). She’s held so many memorable roles is films that are firmly a part of Black lexicon: The Wood, Brown Sugar, The Best Man. And who could forget her turn as the mother of a vampire killer in Blade?

Maybe that Cleveland Show money got too good. Maybe the sudden resurgence of The Best Man franchise has her thinking she’s infallible. Maybe being pursued by both Morris Chestnut and Michael Ealy in the same movie made her think she had magical powers. I don’t know how these things work; Hollywood operates under its own unique set of rules. But whatever the cause, she thought she could release a single, featuring Dej Loaf, in her 40’s talking about “emotional n*ggas” and everything would be ok.

Ms. Lathan … things are not ok.

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