Barbershop

Ice Cube takes over his deceased father's barbershop, where he employs his friends, and has a dilemma about whether to sell it or not. That's all you need to know, that's all there is to it. Cube calls the films from his production company "real nigger movies", and it’s true, The Barbershop features an all-black cast, from the lead to the extras on the street. The exception is one Indian shopkeeper and one of the white barbers, whom the other "brothers" distrust, and he only manages to break it when he skillfully cuts the hair of one of his black brothers with a razor. Sounds quite silly, right? Well, it is silly. Cube's buddies spend the whole movie quarreling and making jokes at each other. Fortunately, compared to Cube's previous film Next Friday, the fecal humour has been reduced to a minimum. Perhaps this film can only be appreciated in the States, where for a while it was on the top of the attendance chart. (07/05/2003)

This time, I'll be kind and assume that things went completely downhill with the subsequent installments. But they may surprise me pleasantly. Ice Cube is good in the lead role, Cedric is at least not as annoying as I've seen him before, Eve is fine, and plot-wise, it's also quite decent. It’s nothing outstanding, but within the realm of comedy with dramatic and brotherly elements, it's enough to reach the average mark for me. (07/21/2016)