November 2002
Friday After Next
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November 2002
Friday After Next
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Reviewed by Monikka Stallworth
The opening animated credit sequence of “Friday After Next” is quite
impressive. Ghetto-swank and clever, it sets a tone of comedic savvy that
unfortunately never pays off. If only the makers had put as much See – that’s why I still love Ice Cube, he’s honest. He went on to say that he "encouraged the cast to take (his) words, flip them and make them greater then they were on the page." All I know is there were times when somebody needed to yell "cut, lets take it from the top," but didn’t, and certainly times when a few folks should have asked themselves "what’s my motivation?" The third installment in the series takes place during the Christmas
season back in the old neighborhood where it all began. Although cousin
Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) have left behind the security
of living with their parents, the rundown I kid you not. With a cast comprised of so many talented comedians, the
filmmakers felt those standard technical comedy elements such as big,
broad, bright lighting wouldn’t be necessary. That these comedians could
carry the genre without the use of traditional comedic enhancing tools.
Whatever man. Jerry Lewis was over the top all day, every day and he was
lit for comedy, same with Jack Lemmon, Mel Brooks, Martin Lawrence; the
list goes on. Bottom line, a comedy needs comedic production elements.
Otherwise Geeeez. I must sound like a frustrated film geek. It’s just that the movie did disappoint and I want the readers to know why, and most importantly that it’s not all Ice Cube’s fault. Let me be honest, I did bust an occasional chuckle in “Friday After Next”. Katt Williams as "Money Mike", the flamboyant pimp turned retail entrepreneur, shines and will hopefully leap frog into big screen comedic success, but overall FAN gets a "B" for "Bah-humbug" and a "W" for "wall to wallness". That’s "wall to wall" ghetto-ized, stereotypical caricatures. "Paging Jackson and Sharpton, paging Jackson and Sharpton" For an "urban Christmas tale", Friday After Next just doesn’t live up to its wrapping. Please. Put the Friday franchise to rest. | |||||||||||||||
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thought
into what mattered most, the story. In what seems like, and for all practical
purposes should have been, a promising opening gag, Santa Claus robbing
Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) on Christmas Eve in the ghetto,
it falls very short of funny, as do most of the film’s jokes. Ice Cube
takes solo credit for writing the film and admits in the production notes
that he’s "not the greatest writer that ever lived."
apartment
they now share is filled with all the accoutrements of the holiday season.
That is until they get robbed along with their rent money. Taking jobs
as security guards, they are set to strike and take the law into their
own hands. FAN is loaded with an array of talented comedians (Mike Epps,
John Witherspoon, and Don “DC” Curry), but almost all of them seem to
tread sadly in the land of ghetto-fied caricatures. It was especially
unnerving in light of Ice Cube’s most recent release, Barbershop, which
I thoroughly enjoyed and also because the original concept Friday was
such a delightful film. Maybe it’s the curse of the sequel. Most seem
to fall very short of their original versions. Or maybe, it had to do
with the way it was shot. Apparently, a decision was made to shoot FAN
as a drama in order to give it that "keeping it real look".
you
end up with vulgarity that reads as "vulgarity", raunchy that reads as
"raunchy" and ridiculous that reads as "ridiculous". Jokes fall flat.
These days, everybody wants to "push the envelope" with Something About
Mary-esque edginess, but remember it doesn’t work unless it has got a
well crafted script first and then, some technical considerations during
production.