The original "Barbershop" was a movie that I liked more for its values and intentions than for its actual execution. It had a lot of heart and was extremely well-meaning, but it had a dumb plot that kept getting in the way of everything and ultimately made the movie just ok.
For about half an hour I thought "Barbershop 2: Back In Business" was going to be much better. Once again, all the materials are there for a truly great movie: excellent atmosphere, entertaining characters, funny (and topical) dialogue... But once again, the script takes everything down an irritating path and drags what could have been a real gem into mediocrity.
The plot in this one has to do with the competition from Nappy Cutz, a big hair-cutting franchise that's opening right across the street from the barbershop owned by Calvin Jr. (Ice Cube) and frequented by all the characters we know from the first film. This seems like a perfectly good plot for the film, one that will be considerably less annoying than the one in the last film. Well, that's not the case. To say that the bad guys here (Harry Lennix as a greedy developer and Robert Wisdom as a lecherous Alderman who, for some reason, speaks in Don King-isms) are one-dimensional stick figures would be kind. In fact, the way in which this potentially good plot is badly mishandled actually made me miss those bumbling ATM thieves (Anthony Anderson in particular) from the first film, believe it or not. That plot was annoying, but at least it was funny on occasion.
There are so many things I like about this movie, though. Such good community atmosphere and so many good characters: Calvin, Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer), Isaac (Troy Garity), Terri (Eve), Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas)... Too bad so many of the supporting characters rely on stereotypes. For instance, we know that the Alderman is corrupt and a pervert within seconds of seeing him, and that the ridiculously uptight-looking white man sitting next to Eddie on the train is going to say something stupid and ignorant.
About Eddie, the most popular character in the "Barbershop" films, this time we get several flashbacks to his earlier life, including one rather powerful one set during the Chicago riots that followed Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 assassination.
I like so many things about this movie, and I love the movie that it could have been (and should be), but it just doesn't get there.
For about half an hour I thought "Barbershop 2: Back In Business" was going to be much better. Once again, all the materials are there for a truly great movie: excellent atmosphere, entertaining characters, funny (and topical) dialogue... But once again, the script takes everything down an irritating path and drags what could have been a real gem into mediocrity.
The plot in this one has to do with the competition from Nappy Cutz, a big hair-cutting franchise that's opening right across the street from the barbershop owned by Calvin Jr. (Ice Cube) and frequented by all the characters we know from the first film. This seems like a perfectly good plot for the film, one that will be considerably less annoying than the one in the last film. Well, that's not the case. To say that the bad guys here (Harry Lennix as a greedy developer and Robert Wisdom as a lecherous Alderman who, for some reason, speaks in Don King-isms) are one-dimensional stick figures would be kind. In fact, the way in which this potentially good plot is badly mishandled actually made me miss those bumbling ATM thieves (Anthony Anderson in particular) from the first film, believe it or not. That plot was annoying, but at least it was funny on occasion.
There are so many things I like about this movie, though. Such good community atmosphere and so many good characters: Calvin, Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer), Isaac (Troy Garity), Terri (Eve), Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas)... Too bad so many of the supporting characters rely on stereotypes. For instance, we know that the Alderman is corrupt and a pervert within seconds of seeing him, and that the ridiculously uptight-looking white man sitting next to Eddie on the train is going to say something stupid and ignorant.
About Eddie, the most popular character in the "Barbershop" films, this time we get several flashbacks to his earlier life, including one rather powerful one set during the Chicago riots that followed Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 assassination.
I like so many things about this movie, and I love the movie that it could have been (and should be), but it just doesn't get there.