La bottega del barbiere

An uneven but mostly entertaining comedy/drama, "Barbershop" stars Ice Cube as Calvin, the owner of a neighborhood barbershop that has been passed down in his family through the generations. Of course, it's more than just a barbershop; it's a cornerstone, where you go to laugh with friends and find out what's happening in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that doesn't pay the bills, and Calvin, tired of barely scraping by, decides to sell the place to a local loan shark (Keith David).

The movie covers the events in and around the barbershop on the day Calvin sells it, changes his mind, and spends the rest of the day trying to get it back, along with several other sub-plots involving other characters in and around the shop (the most interesting being played by Cube and Cedric the Entertainer, both terrific actors).

Whenever the movie stays in the barbershop, it's usually a lot of fun, with some good, entertaining dialogue and witty interplay between the many characters (both barbers and customers). However, the film frequently cuts to an annoying and mostly unfunny sub-plot about two bumbling crooks (Anthony Anderson and Lahmard Tate) trying to break into a stolen ATM machine. This is almost entirely unrelated to anything else in the film, and even though it connects with the main plot at the end, it still feels like dead weight that could have easily been entirely cut from the movie.

This is a good movie, full of heart and worth checking out just for the performances by Cube and Cedric, as well as the good tunes on the soundtrack. It just has a few too many dry stretches and the irritating ATM sub-plot, which holds me back from whole-heartedly recommending it.

I thought this was a pretty decent flick. I laughed out loud at least twice, which is OK, because this film is not really supposed to be hilarious, just sardonic, mostly. Cedric the Entertainer was good, but not truly believable as an elderly man. Ice Cube turned in a quite good performance. In some of his previous films, I had thought he was pretty good, but rather one-dimensional. ("Anaconda" "Three Kings") Here, he definitely extends his acting range enough to be taken seriously. And wherever the one-named "Eve" came from, she nailed her character. There's a lot more to this movie than the controversial lines from Eddie (Cedric). It was interesting to see some black characters be aware of, and concerned about, the pathologies in the black community. But I guess this is spoken of only in barbershops, or elsewhere away from whites. Overall, definitely worth a look. Grade: B+

Hilarious picture that is held together just well enough by a somewhat mediocre screenplay to be one of the funnier movies of the past few years. In inner-city Chicago barbershop owner Ice Cube hates where his life is at. He has a very pregnant wife (Jazsmin Lewis) and is drowning in debt due to his late father's apparent lack of business sense. He looks at the shop as a burden and wants to unload it to shady neighborhood businessman Keith David (and his very large bodyguard DeRay Davis). What Cube does not realize is just how important the business is to many in the neighborhood and he also fails to realize that David cares nothing about the people and wants to turn the place into a gentleman's club. Some of the other cutters include intellectual Sean Patrick Thomas, West African immigrant Leonard Earl Howze, racially confused white boy Troy Garity, two-time criminal Michael Ealy, lonely and out-of-place Eve (who is involved with two-timing boyfriend Jason Winston George) and priceless veteran barber/loud-mouth Cedric The Entertainer (very politically incorrect as well). Simultaneously two local losers (Anthony Anderson and Lahmard Tate) have stolen an ATM machine from a convenient store near Cube's barbershop. The two try and try to get the money that is not even inside out with painstakingly outlandish results. Unwittingly they have taken an empty money machine. African-Americans like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson rubbished this movie as being demeaning and rude to black communities. This was never the intention of the film-makers (I don't think). Cedric has a tongue of acid here as he takes on Jackson, Sharpton, O.J. Simpson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Rodney King and even Walter Payton. I believe the real point of Cedric's character is to show that the titled location is a place of comfort and respect, regardless of an individual's views or perspectives. In this regard it makes you realize just what a close-knit group the characters are to each other. All the players are very different and sometimes don't like one another, but still they respect and welcome everyone else. Overall I liked the project (even though it is not the most fundamentally effective film ever made by a long-shot). Comedic timing and fresh characters make a sub-par script and ho-hum direction look much better than they really are. Watch for former Michigan Fab-Fiver and current NBA standout Jalen Rose as one of the many diverse customers. 4 stars out of 5.

Likable, engaging story about the day-to-day operation of a black barbershop in downtown Chicago. The plot centers around Calvin Palmer, an average Joe but promising young barber who inherited the family-owned shop years earlier from his late father and his attempts to save the shop from foreclosure, even if it means agreeing to an offer from a miserly neighborhood loan shark. Cast is appealing and enthusiastic, the story interesting and well-intended, but it's let down by bickering characters, uneven comedy, and a few distracting subplots. A decent way to pass the time, and a good change of pace for lead actor Cube, but it's never quite as on target as it needs to be. **½

BARBERSHOP (2002) *** Ice Cube, Cedric The Entertainer , Eve, Sean Patrick Thomas, Troy Garity, Anthony Anderson, Michael Ealy, Leonard Howze, Keith David, Jazsmin Lewis, Lahmard J. Tate, Tom Wright. Uproariously funny comedy set in the eponymous hangout set in Chicago's South Side with Cube as the owner of the establishment where a colorful cast of characters chill and gossip with the subplot concerning the long-suffering proprietor deciding on selling the joint altogether. The laughs come fast and furious largely due to scene-stealer Cedric as the senior haircutter with a razor sharp tongue. (Dir: Tim Story)