Morality tale set to the rhythms of Jamaican dancehall music, What Comes Around has vital life lessons sprinkled throughout a storyline featuring non-stop vulgarity, double-crossing and sexual innuendos and exploits of every kind imaginable. Family viewing? Not by a long shot, but the consenting adult viewer who endures to the end will almost surely have taken a crash course in the complexities of relationships and the perils - biological and otherwise-- they can produce.

The story centers on half-brothers Denzel and Sylvester, whose playboy father we're introduced to during the film's somewhat riveting yet quite hilarious (perhaps unintentionally so) opening sequence. Sylvester, despite his obvious lifelong contempt for his father, has nevertheless adopted his playboy ways, whereas Denzel has taken a divergent path, preferring to settle down with main squeeze Lucille - whether she likes it or not.

But while philanderers such as Sylvester are forever revered in the lyrics of dancehall music, What Comes Around is careful not to paint him as a hero. Indeed, the film consistently trumpets the merits of safe sex and monogamy while warning of the dangers of illicit drug use and violence. Credit filmmaker Steve McAlpin for imbuing the film's more virtuous characters with enough wisdom and likability that you can't help but admire them, even if some of them occasionally wield guns or are ultimately led astray.

So-so acting and editing aside, What Goes Around has its share of witty banter, clever one-liners and Sigmund Freud-esque gems ("Happy is a setup for a heartbreak" … "Only men get their hearts broken; women get their hearts bent.") One must wonder, though, if a non-Jamaican audience can vault the language barrier a wider American audience would experience in trying to understand the Jamaican dialect. (The version played at the media screening did have subtitles, which were eventually turned off.) And even for the Jamaican audience that the film is geared toward, the constant profanity and sexual content might mean the film's overall message advocating HIV awareness might never be heard by teens or grown-ups with more innocent sensibilities. Added to that, the film's biggest draw, dancehall deejay Mavado, plays a bit role that might disappoint fans who tune in just to see him.

South Florida residents would instantly recognize such establishments as Marcia's Café and Aunt I's, staples of the Jamaican-American community, and McAlpin was wise to screen the film in Miami amongst a friendly crowd who received the film warmly. As for awards shows or film festivals, What Goes Around might not get him through the door, but it should generate significant buzz within the Jamaican community in South Florida and elsewhere.