30 Second Bottom Line: Two deadbeat cousins, rooming together in the ghetto, are robbed of all their rent money, plus presents, two days before Christmas and must work as security guards on Christmas Eve in a sleazy strip mall in the hood to come up with some quick cash. That plan brings them more trouble than cash, so they resort to having a rent contribution/Christmas party to solve their problem.
Story Line: The third in a series of "Friday" comedies about life in the hood, this version, directed by first timer Marcus Raboy, zips along at an insanely fast pace, packing in wildly exaggerated characters, one-liners and double entendres. Once again written by Ice Cube (along with D.J. Pooh) and targeted to a black audience, I saw it at an advance screening in a huge, packed theater, was one of maybe five white people there, and the only blond, blue-eyed female. No chick-flick here, but my boyfriend (middle-eastern descent) roared. The audience howled so loudly and so often, that I could catch only half of the lines and language. It may not be sophisticated humor, but it was a huge hit in this theater.
I wish I had a copy of the screenplay. The black ghetto language is expressive, witty and seductive to me. It is funny and cool and so blatantly sharp, our white expressions are literally pale by comparison. No wonder Eminem craves to capture that style and zip in his language and music.
The story line is simply a framework for laughs and a showcase of characters. Craig (Ice Cube), the most sympathetic and least extreme of the characters, and his roommate cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps), go to work as security guards in a sleazy strip mall in the hood, on perhaps the highest crime day of the year, Christmas Eve. They have no weapons, no flashlights (which really seems to bug them), and an unhealthy amount of bravado on Day-Day's part. Armed with whistles, which Day-Day seems to really enjoy, they bumble through criminals, a sexy girl working at a new shop, "Pimps N Ho's Fashions," and harass a ladies church choir.
The jokes fly and no one is safe. They blast the LAPD (represented by A. Hole and B. Dick), their landlady's massive gay predator son, even grandma gets slapped in the BBQ restaurant's commercial (it's so good it makes you want to slap yo mama). The women are all either no crap taking mamas or sweet and beautiful ho's, and the black men are either crooks, deadbeats, or pimps and overall pretty dumb. This is not a flattering portrayal of the ghetto or our society, but it is a light-hearted, light-spirited kick in its pants.
Tell Me More About It: Though I clearly was handicapped language-wise and could have used subtitles for some of the exchanges, I loved
the sass, pockets of innocence and fast-pace of this film. Would I recommend it to my girlfriends or want my daughter to see it? No, but if you are not wildly offended by life in the hood, you just might find yourself laughing out loud. It succeeds as an outrageous, slapstick cult film. The audience, the night I saw it, loved it.
The film could have done without the attempt at bathroom humor. Craig's dad's (John Witherspoon) gas played a larger role in previous Friday films-here it simply refers back to earlier films and so seems a wasted, nonexistent joke. I also couldn't figure out why "slappin yo mama" because something tastes so good was so insanely funny to everyone else in the audience¾I don't like grandmas being slapped. And the animated opening credits did nothing for me and seemed terminally long.
In summary, this movie delivers sassy, tasteless humor, poking politically incorrect fun at everyone, and at such a fast pace (it clocks out at a mere 85 minutes)-it is a non-stop comedy routine. If you liked the first two "Fridays," this one will not disappoint you.
Soundtrack