Movie Review : Lowbrow ‘Friday’ a Funny Trip Around the ‘Hood

“Friday” is about two South-Central homeboys, Craig Jones (Ice Cube) and his best friend Smokey (Chris Tucker), and the long day they spend together hanging out in the ‘hood. There’s no plot really, just a series of lowdown comedy sketches that follow each other like skits in a variety show. If you don’t like one sketch you may like the next.

It’s the right format for this scattershot jokefest, which at times resembles a vaudeville act crossed with the kind of goofy bludgeoning antics that sometimes make it into gangsta MTV videos. The director, Gary Gray, has worked with Ice Cube on some of those videos, but they seem to be in a more loopy mood for “Friday.” This is a kinder, gentler Cube--he even co-wrote the script, with DJ Pooh. The relief of “Friday” is that it’s not another ‘hood horror show. It makes fun of those shows.

The fun isn’t always so funny. There’s a flashback to a time when, without realizing it, Smokey smokes angel dust, and the scene is played for broad laughs. Did the filmmakers really think they could get away with this? And there are more toilet jokes per minute than in “Dumb and Dumber”--a dubious achievement. A lot of “Friday” plays like a mishmash of moments from shows like “Def Comedy Jam” and “The Wayans Bros.” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” And, in fact, many in the cast, including Nia Long as Craig’s would-be girlfriend, John Witherspoon as his father and Bernie Mac as a randy preacher who makes house calls, are regulars on some of these shows. They seem content to preen and mug as if they were still on the tube.

The commercial appeal of “Friday” may be helped by its TV familiarity. Movies used to compete with television by giving audiences bigger and broader experiences; now they try to give audiences a big-screen version of what keeps them cozy at home. Even the outrageousness of “Friday” isn’t a heightening of what you see on television; it’s just more of the same.

The movie is best when Craig and Smokey just sit back and watch the passing parade of humanity. These guys have a chummy clownish rapport: Ice Cube’s disbelieving deadpan is the perfect foil for Tucker’s rubber-faced, motor-mouthed antics. Tucker isn’t the subtlest comedian you’ll ever see but his hit-’em-with-everything style keeps the film percolating. He’s not only the star of “Friday,” he’s its mascot.

* MPAA rating: R, for pervasive strong language and drug use and for a brutal fight. Times guidelines: It includes a bloody fight and a scene involving angel dust intake played for laughs.

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‘Friday’

Ice Cube: Craig

Chris Tucker: Smokey

Nia Long: Debbie

Tiny (Zeus) Lister Jr.: Deebo

A New Line presentation of an Ice Cube presentation of an Ice Cube/Pat Charbonnet production in association with Priority Films. Director F. Gary Gray. Producer Patricia Charbonnet. Executive producers Ice Cube, Bryan Turner. Screenplay by Ice Cube, DJ Pooh. Cinematographer Gery Lively. Editor John Carter. Costumes Shawn Barton. Music supervisor Frank Fitzpatrick. Production design Bruce Bellamy. Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes.

* In general release throughout Southern California.