I LOVE Ice Cube. I have made this clear before, most recently in his hit film Barbershop. The movie Friday was one of the first I ever saw with Cube and it immediately became a classic for me. However much of the reason the film worked was the chemistry between Cube and Chris Tucker and the blossoming talent of Tucker. When the second film launched without Tucker I immediately felt that loss finding a movie that was nowhere near as enjoyable as the first.
Tucker was replaced with Mike Epps who is a great actor and comedian in the role of DayDay. Cousin to Craig, Dayday played the role of the village idiot. Whereas Tucker's character was a smartass coward in the end, Dayday was simply annoying. The second film did introduce some new wonderful character in Craig's Uncle and Daydays father, who plays the sibling rivalry to Craig's hillarious dogcatcher father. And who can forget the greasy haired record store owner Pink?
After time to reflect my initial disappointment with Next Friday has subsided and Friday After Next seemed exciting. Well once again I feel ripped off, as if Ice Cube rushed to capitalize on the franchise instead of putting his heart into it. The misadventures of Dayday and Craig continue with the two of them living together. This Friday takes place on Christmas Eve, with the boys waking up to finding their apartment being robbed. Craig tries bravely to stop the burglar but ultimately fails while Dayday pretends to sleep. Losing their rent money in the theft, the boys take a job as Top Flight Security guards for a strip mall. The adventures then take off as the boys fathers own a new BBQ joint in that same strip mall. Dayday becomes Barney Fife in his new authority role and Craig, well he keeps trying to score with the women and fix all the problems that Dayday create.
The movie is pretty short with a plot that is incoherent. Things move from one place to another and are strung together without much reason. The movie starts out in a strip mall but ends in a party at the boys apartment. Sure there are plenty of funny moments. Unlike the original which had a story that made sense, though, this one is just a bucket of laughs without meaning. It's more like a TV movie now than a trwu theatrical release.
The Disc:
Newline Cinema once again presents the movie with their now popular Infiniline format. The format has proven successful with fans and editors alike and continues to improve. The entire second side of the disc is dedicated to bringing you all of the extra content that only a DVD disc can provide. Watching the movie this way presents much more depth, the ability to be interactive and really is the best format we have seen any of the home video corporations come up with.
The disc is PACKED with extras ranging from numerous featurettes to audio commentary that is absolutely hillarious. Ice Cube, director Marcus Raboy and producer Matt Alvarez chime in with plenty of chatter that is both informative and just plain funny. There's an additional audio track with some of the actors as well as commentary for the deleted scenes. The numerous featurettes run the gamut from standard studio PR boringness to really interesting behind the scenes information. Truly a disc packed to the brim with cool features.
The look of the film is treated equally well. Colors are vibrant with plenty of urban use of culture for a look that is definitely southern california. The film just simply looks great and you can tell that Newline invests their money into making DVD's look the best possible. As far as the audio goes, well, it's pretty standard fare for a comedy. The voices are crisp and clean while the music and other sounds fill the left and rights. There's not much rear action but that is ok.
bottom line:
An enjoyable film that really doesn't and can't live up to the previous expectations. I love Ice Cube but I think it's time Craig and Dayday gave it up.
3 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
