Friday Collection (Friday / Next Friday / Friday After Next)
FridayFridayis that rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie  refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such  asBoyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted  by rapper Ice Cube,Fridayis a no-frills tale of a day in the life of a  pair of young blacks in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who  endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown  Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the  green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of  Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of  gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and  neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic  even as they are being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty  call" environment of '90s African American comedy.--Ethan BrownNext FridayIce Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel toFriday, which he also  wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister  Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out for revenge. To protect  Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon) sends his son to stay with his Uncle  Elroy (Don "D.C." Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho  Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived  than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend  is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because  of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve  these problems before the day is over. It's a rambling, loose movie, but a  genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines, though funny  lines abound; he writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of  bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are  stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been  the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's  dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance makeNext Fridaythoroughly enjoyable.--Bret FetzerFriday After NextIce Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through  the third movie in hisFridayseries. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike  Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa  Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically  bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing  pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this  sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor;  Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl,  and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a  Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan,Friday After Nextwill give you a  modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return  as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle.--Bret Fetzer