Next Friday Review
by "Steve Rhodes" (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)January 13th, 2000
NEXT FRIDAY
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): 1/2
Stupidity reigns supreme in Steve Carr's NEXT FRIDAY, starring Ice Cube and written by Ice Cube and D.J. Pooh. Filled with repugnant racial and sexist stereotypes, the film is an instant candidate for the worst film of the year.
Craig Jones (Ice Cube) is visiting the big new house of his Uncle Elroy (Don Curry), who left the 'hood for the 'burbs after winning a million-dollar lottery. His uncle's next-door neighbors are a drug-dealing Chicano family. Most of the characters in the movie appear to have IQs somewhere in the double digits, and the acting doesn't even rise to the level of what you might find in a low-rent comedy club.
The plot is well hidden, not that you'll care. The movie relies on gross humor with the film's ongoing joke revolving around the stench from Craig's father, Mr. Jones (John Witherspoon). In the opening sequence, a tiny dog has a world-class bowel movement. Mr. Jones falls backward into the fecal matter but doesn't even change his clothes afterwards. Instead, he takes along an aerosol can of air-freshener that he sprays wherever he goes.
Uncle Elroy has a swimming pool and a spa in his backyard. The pool has only a few inches of dirty rainwater in it and some beat-up, old lawn chairs. He explains that people in the 'hood can't swim so there was no point in filling it. The spa, on the other hand, is full and has a used, purple condom floating in it.
The women, with one notable exception, Karla (Lisa Rodriguez), are all referred to as bitches and 'hos (whores) and treated accordingly. One man claims that his woman can smell junk sweets from miles away. The fatness of various characters' buttocks is a prime topic of conversation in the story.
Throughout it all, the baby-faced Ice Cube manages to be likable in a film that never is. "I can't wait to get back home," his character says at the end. And neither could I.
NEXT FRIDAY runs about 1:30. It is rated R for strong language, drug use and sexual content. The film might be considered acceptable for older teens, but I'd hate to see anybody wasting their time watching this movie.
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