Barbershop Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)September 11th, 2002
BARBERSHOP
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
How is BARBERSHOP? Loud. The reasonably decent cast -- all wasted -- has a propensity to scream their clichéd lines at each other. There isn't an original moment in the movie, and Tim Story's ham-fisted direction only makes the painfully obvious film seem even more so. I didn't laugh. I didn't smile. I survived.
Calvin Palmer (Ice Cube) has taken over the barbershop that his father founded in 1958. In a high crime area, the barbershop is way overstaffed with a half dozen employees working all the time. Not much of a businessman, Calvin hasn't been able to figure out how to make a profit from his father's old establishment, so he sells it to Lester (Keith David), a local loan shark, chop shop operator and all-around scum.
Will Calvin live to regret his decision? Of course, which provides the motivation for the comedy's last act, when the movie tries to get sweet and mushy and Calvin tries to get pop's place back. Before then, we have to suffer through one retreaded gag after another: two obese guys trying to pass each other on the stairs, a car bumper pulled off when trying to use it for a tow and a lit match tossed into a trash can. And, of course, the number one topic of the men are women's buttocks, which are prominently featured in very tight pants. Groan.
BARBERSHOP runs 1:42. It is rated PG-13 for "language, sexual content and brief drug references" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 13, 2002. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
