Calvin (Ice Cube) has taken over his father's barbershop in a poor section of Chicago's South Side. He's in debt because of bad money management by his father as well as himself. His dad gave away too many free haircuts since the shop opened in 1958 and Calvin has a laundry list of failed get rich schemes. His loving and very pregnant wife Jennifer (Jazsmin Lewis), who is expecting their first child, is supportive of his ventures, even his most recent one to turn his basement into a recording studio, the next source of hip-hop riches. For this to happen he needs some cash, and by selling the shop to slick hustler Lester (Keith David), he raises $20,000. Calvin later has a change of heart and wants to buy it back. Lester is willing to accommodate him…but for a sales price of $40,000.

Raising the money to buy back the shop is just one aspect of what "Barbershop" is about; the "why" of keeping the shop is more important. The film provides a rare visit into the ghetto, the `hood, where bars are on windows for much the same reason that many suburbs have sophisticated alarm systems on their homes and businesses. Dreams are shaped as well as the design of a haircut and a ready-made community forum exists.

George grew up on the South Side of Chicago, so he can relate to the shop depicted in the film. All of the things that happen here in one day represent reality, but over time; the totality of what is discussed can occur depending on who is behind the chair and who is sitting in it. The movie addresses universal themes using African-Americans in the manner that "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" uses Greek-Americans to convey its story. Both have an ethnic spin we can laugh with because these characters know how to make fun of and satirize themselves. Most of the dialogue is what you would expect in a theatrical production where barbers and their customers talk about their love lives, career aspirations, and what they think about politicians and celebrities.

Terri (real-life rap diva Eve) knows how to spike an attitude with her two-timing boyfriend, Kevin (Jason Winston George). Rotund Nigerian immigrant, Dinka (Leonard Howze), who is having trouble making it with the ladies, wants to be a barber and is truly "…proud to be an American." A white barber, Isaac (Troy Garity), can't get any clients to trust him to cut their hair and illustrates how it feels to be a minority and not to be accepted for who you are. College educated, nose in the air and stuck on himself, Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas) works as a barber on the way to something better. Although they are not on the best side of town, Jimmy's more likely to get attacked because of the way he orders his coffee at Starbucks than by a gang-banger.

Conversation in the barbershop is honest, funny and familiar to many. A sub-plot involves Billy (Lahmard J. Tate) and JD (Anthony Anderson), who steal an ATM machine and have to keep moving it as they try to open it to get the cash. Tate has the edge of Chris Rock while Anderson has a quality reminiscent of the late Robin Harris in Spike Lee's classic, "Do the Right Thing." While pursuing their selfish aims, these two are negatively impacting Ricky (Michael Ealy), a hip young barber…and two-time felon, from getting on the straight and narrow.

When it's all said and done, "Barbershop" portrays one reality of life in the ghetto, as a mixture of hustlers alongside the good character of the majority of people who live there. In fact, all hustlers are not all bad. What a pleasure to laugh "about" the ghetto without laughing at people "in" the ghetto. We may just have another hit like "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding" in the making, with an ethnocentric spin that turns on the universal axis of humor.