All About the Benjamins

After sitting through "All About the Benjamins" it's a real enjoyable action/comedy. This is the story of a bounty hunter (Ice Cube, who also co-wrote with first-time screenwriter Ron Lang and co-produced) who's on the pursuit of a bail jumper ("Next Friday" co-star Mike Epps) and their footchase ends up at drop-off for a major diamond where the killers left a few dead bodies in the process. I'll admit Cube is really showing his talents as an actor, screenwriter, and producer. And, Epps, is real hilarious in this movie. Cubevision projects have been getting better. And, Ice Cube shows a lot more comedic talents than he did in the last two "Fridays". I also like the bad guys, especially the ring leader of the heist. I feel that this is one of the most plot-driven movies Ice Cube has done since "Players Club". And, if you look hard at "All About the Benjamins" it's not just an Ice Cube movie. It's an actor/screenwriter hard at work. But, only one thing this sounds more like a movie that would be released in the summer, not early spring.

All About the Benjamins (2002) is a movie that I recently watched for the first time in a long time on Tubi. The storyline follows a bounty hunter whose recent, and most frequent, target hits the lottery, stumbles onto a jewelry heist and runs into the bounty hunter on the same day. When the bounty hunter hears his bounty's story, he sees an opportunity to further his career if he plays his cards right.

This movie is directed by Kevin Bray (Walking Tall) and stars Ice Cube (Friday), Mike Epps (Next Friday), Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy), Eva Mendes (Hitch), Roger Guenveur Smith (Do the Right Thing) and Carmen Chaplin (Sabrina).

The storyline for this felt like the same old buddy cop movie plot without the characters being cops. The dialogue and circumstances were fun, and entertaining but not elite (this isn't Rush Hour or 48 hrs). Epps and Ice Cube play off each other naturally and flow well together. The villains are well established and this has a great soundtrack. The comedic content and action scenes are entertaining but also not outstanding.

Overall, this is an above average addition to the comedy genre that I would score a 6/10 and recommend seeing once.

I was pretty surprised by this flick. It's an action film with a few shots of comedy that actually delivers where it counts. Ice Cube plays it pretty straight here (like all of his other movies, but that's why we love him), and Mike Epps seems to be channeling Chris Tucker. They play off of one another very nicely, though. The mostly formulaic storyline manages to throw them into some very interesting situations.

Of particular note are the "first black President" joke and the torture sequence. And of course, the Cube has his usual cheerful facial expressions glowing throughout the film. Truly, don't miss it.

To be fair, Ice Cube has done the best he could with All About the Benjamins. I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked in and got pretty much that. Not as funny as you'd think, especially from the constant annoyance from Epps, but the movie provides basic entertainment and accomplishes it's goal- obscene, action comedy for a weekend afternoon. Funniest scene goes to Epps first scene in the convinience store. B

I'm afraid it took two times of me watching this to actually appreciate the film. It was quite good for a buddy movie. The comedy was there and so was the action. Mike Epps is a very funny guy. Ice Cube is always good at his characters. The plot was so so. It is kind of like some that have been done before but as for entertainment value it was fun. I would watch this again in hopes that I would laugh even harder the next time.