[Archive July 3, 2006]
Well, it's summer vacation time. So, I decided to break out of drama and action movies and get something different. I decided on Barbershop (2002 MGM; Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and brief drug references), in part, because David Letterman joked a few years back that Pope John Paul II spent his summer vacation watching Barbershop 2.
Calvin Palmer (Ice Cube) inherits his South Side Chicago Barbershop from his father. It is the local gathering place of the neighborhood community. After mounting debt he decides to sell the barbershop to loan shark Lester Wallace (Keith David) who is going to turn it into a "gentleman's club." He regrets this decision and tries to buy it back but the price to re-purchase is at the price of extortion by Wallace.
One sub-plot, among several, has J.D. (Anthony Anderson) and Billy (Lahmard Tate) stealing an ATM machine. They prove to be a great comedy team along the lines of Carvelli and Murray from Welcome Back Kotter. For the DVD “extras” we learn that the director and producer cut out all the scenes that touched upon “religion/church/faith”. Unfortunately, they decided to leave in the misuse of sexuality and language. Regardless of these flaws, this film had an overall positive message. I was pleased that stereotypes were minimized in favor of showing the human condition of a community and different viewpoints.
In the barbershop, the gang learns from BET (Black Entertainment Television) that some are seeking some sort of “reparation” for the past enslavement of African-Americans. Ricky Jones (Michael Elay) is the two-time “street smart” felon. “Old man” Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) has a chair at the barbershop and is constantly telling stories in the first person. (He eats and sleeps at the shop but does not seem to cut much hair.) Jimmy James (Sean Patrick Thomas) is a didactic Northwestern college student.
Ricky: Jews did not get reparations. Holocaust survivors got reparations.
Eddie: We had affirmative action and welfare. Is that not reparations? Is that not reparations?
Ricky: We don’t need reparations. All right. We need restraint. Some disciplne. Don’t go out and buy a Range Rover when you’re livin’ with your momma. And pay you momma some rent. And can we please please please try and teach our kids something other than the Chronic album. And please black people be on time for something other than “free before eleven" at the club.
Jimmy: You know that was a surprising passionate and well articulated argument.
Ricky: You mocking me?
Jimmy: Not at all sir. I applaud your virtuosity.
Ricky: You know what schoolboy for your information a scallop is a shell fish
Jimmy: No I’m afraid it isn’t.
Ricky: No. I’m afraid it is because it is a mollusk before it come to you dinner plate it got two shells wrapped around it just like a clam.
The barbershops of my youth seem to be quickly becoming be a thing of the past in favor of the likes of "sterile" places like "Great Cuts" and "Supercuts" but they can still be found. Eve plays a very likeable Terri Jones. She should stick to acting and forget music. “Now, who drank my apple juice?”
Photo: Cedric the Entertainer as Eddie (©2002 MGM)
Tags: Barbershop, Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve