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.
Copyright © 2002 Steve Rhodes
