Friday - Platinum Series
New Line Home Entertainment   -   1995   -   91 minutes

Reviewed by Thor van Lingen

Review Date: September 2, 2002

FOR STARTERS

PHOTO GALLERY Daaaaaaaamn!!

The first of what is soon to be three movies on the subject, Friday is the opening act of a lighter look at life in the hood. After making his acting debut in Boyz N the Hood in 1991, Ice Cube saved a few bucks and made a few more movies before deciding to co-write, executive produce, and act in this movie. Wanting to get away from the darker more depressing movies about life in rough neighborhoods, this film is exactly what the doctor ordered. A witty and humorous slant on the genre, Friday leaves you with what most other stories on the subject can�t, namely a smile on your face. Between the zany antics of Smokey (Chris Tucker), the matter-of-fact in your face delivery of Mr. Jones (John Witherspoon), and the rest of the block�s misfits, this movie will keep you grinning for the 91-minute duration.

Ice Cube plays Craig Jones, a guy living at home with his parents and his sister who has just lost his job and has nothing to do on a Friday. Enter his good friend Smokey, the neighborhood pothead. (That�s right folks, before Chris Tucker was pulling down $20 million to star in Rush Hour 2, he was lighting up movie joints on the set of Friday for MUCH less money.) The good intentioned but misguided Smokey has offended the delicate sensibilities of the local marijuana distributor known as Big Worm. Worm has given him until 10 o�clock that night to pay for the brick of weed he gave him to sell, or face the consequences. Unwittingly dragged into this mess due to Smokey�s poor ability to give excuses, Craig is forced to help scrape together the $200 they need to get themselves out of trouble. Personally, I would never cross a guy who has �Big� right in his name, especially if he carries a gun and drives both a tricked out orange low rider with vanity plates and a hopped up ice cream truck sporting very expensive Daytons. Call me crazy.

Attempting everything from borrowing to stealing the money, the boys are still pushing their luck at being able to get the cash together by the deadline. Added to the confusion are a host of other smaller story lines. There is Craig�s jealous and temperamental girlfriend who keeps popping up and making trouble. Also firmly entrenched in the trouble category is the town thug Deebo, played to intimidating ferocity by Tiny �Zeus� Lister. He shows up unannounced at a few points throughout to harass/mug our protagonists just to make things more difficult. All the while, Craig is trying to silently impress the neighborhood cutie Debbie (Nia Long). Sound like a lot? Well, it is.

Certainly not an Academy Award nominee, Friday is a good movie to pop in if you are just in the mood for some clowning around, or just a switch from the boringly vanilla action/drama scene for an evening. Chris Tucker�s performance is suited to his personality, and similar enough to his recent Rush Hour successes that you really can�t lose. Just the film to watch if you�re in a goofy mood and can�t really decide on anything on the shelf, despite the amount of money you may have spent to fill your DVD rack with �winners�.

VIDEO

A hard movie to really fill with visual spectacle, Friday is more about video delivery than video wizardry. There are no extremely vivid colors. There are no grandiose landscapes or impressive waterfalls. This movie is pretty much just two guys sitting around the house and interacting with the people they come across. That said there are only a few video points to hit one. First, with a lot of outdoor shots during the day, our familiar nemesis edge enhancement is present. Semi-distracting in some scenes, the rings/halos visible are nothing new to the format, and become less prevalent as the feature progresses. Second, black levels in some of the darker evening shots are a bit muddy. Details are somewhat obscured and you lose some things in the shadows, but not so much as to be unpleasant.

AUDIO

Although �only� in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, the audio on this disc is actually surprisingly adequate. I was not holding out much hope in this department, and I was pleasantly surprised. If you turn this one up to a suitable level, you actually get some decent thump for your buck. The fronts exhibit good separation, playing nicely to off-screen sounds like closing doors and honking cars. The center comes through with clear voices, solid midrange, and some nice effects of its own like Smokey�s backfiring POS Ford Pinto. The rears didn�t dazzle, but they didn�t flop, either. They lend ample support to the soundtrack, and deliver nicely during Craig�s inner monologue when he is high. The sub has a few bright spots as well, most notably with the Jaws-like anthem for Deebo�s entrance sequences.

SUPPLEMENTS

For a single-disc release over three years old, this one actually has an impressive host of extras. The filmographies for the cast/crew are text-based, but that was somewhat of a nicety at the time, and plenty of current releases still do it that way. The chapter selection is full-motion, and the layout they went with on this one is actually quite original. The extras are fairly comparable to some of the better new DVDs, with two trailers, seven deleted scenes, and two different Q&A segments. Add to that both an Ice Cube and a Dr. Dre video, and you have a pretty decent collection of supplements for the remote-hog in your home.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Though surely not a �run out and get this one� kind of title, Friday is one of those �if you�re in the mood� kind of flicks. A funny look at an often-portrayed difficult existence, this movie is one that you can pop in with that younger sibling that may think you�re too out of touch to be down with the homies.