Barbershop 2: Back in Business «««
PG-13, 106m. 2004
Cast & Credits: Ice Cube (Calvin), Cedric the Entertainer (Eddie), Sean Patrick Thomas (Jimmy), Eve (Terri), Troy Garity (Isaac), Michael Ealy (Ricky), Leonard Earl Howze (Dinka), Queen Latifah (Gina), Quentin Leroux (Harry J. Lennix), Robert Wisdom (Alderman Brown). Screenplay by Don D. Scott with characters created by Mark Brown. Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan.
I have a hard time coping with change, if for no other reason because I have found based on personal experience that when things do change, a lot of times, it isn’t for the better.
Hence the reason why I sympathize with the folks at Calvin’s barbershop in Barbershop 2: Back In Business. Seems all the talk amongst the barbers about having friendly competition and how sometimes change is good goes out the door the moment a corporate barbershop chain called Nappy Cutz moves in across the street. The place not only threatens Calvin’s (Ice Cube) business but life in the South side of Chicago as they know it.
I haven’t seen Barbershop (2002), a surprise box office hit that obviously earned its studio, MGM, enough money to warrant a sequel. I am familiar with the controversy the film stirred, however, much of which had to do with comedian Cedric the Entertainer’s remarks his character, Eddie, says about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders.
I came to the conclusion watching Barbershop 2: Back In Business that Eddie’s character could well be compared to another lovable lug from TV sitcom land. He’s the African-American rendition of Cheers’ (1982-1993) Norm Peterson. Instead of being a beer lover, Eddie has a love for food as in the first scene running from the cops for stealing groceries years before he became a permanent fixture at Calvin’s. The money isn’t what Eddie wanted but the steaks and burgers so he can have a barbecue to celebrate July 4. I wasn’t at all surprised when Calvin asks Eddie why he never left Chicago’s south side after all these years, Eddie jokingly says one of the reasons is because he loves his chair like Norm Peterson and his beloved barstool.
I know some people out there who’ve seen the first one will argue the original was better and that perhaps this second outing offers more of the same. They might even say the conversations the characters have are not as shocking or as controversial the second time around.
If I had seen the first one chances are I probably would say the same thing. I would have put Barbershop 2: Back In Business in the same batch as that other group of forgettable sequels of the past movie studios churned out that no one really asked for. Because I haven’t seen the first one, however, Barbershop 2: Back In Business is like seeing a new film for the very first time.
I am willing to bet the conversations the male gang at Calvin’s have in this second outing are similar to the ones previous as Cedric the Entertainer’s Eddie once again serves up his opinions on current events from the D.C. sniper to how President Clinton should have handled his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Every now and then, the women at Gina’s Beauty Salon next door, run by Queen Latifah, talk about the kind of men they’d like to sleep with. Latifah’s Gina says she’d like to sleep with Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies (1997-2002).
Believe it or not, however, in between all the pointless conversations and humorous confrontational arguments Latifah’s Gina and Cedric’s Eddie have I found that Barbershop 2: Back In Business teaches a lesson.
Calvin learns it early on as he desperately tries to keep his family business afloat with the new competition upgrading his establishment with expensive fixtures. At one point, Cal demands that his staff call every customer by their first name thanking them for their business like they are family.
Barbershop 2: Back In Business is about having loyalties, never sacrificing one’s personal beliefs and always remembering your past. Eddie’s life changed for the better the night of July 4, 1967. Seeing him look back on such newsworthy events that either brought about a negative or positive change from the rise of the Black Panthers to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the one thing that’s stayed the same is him, other than getting older. The lesson learned here is you can only control the little things, not the big picture.
That’s a pretty good lesson to heed, not to mention a pleasant surprise, for a film that’s promoted to be nothing more than comedic look at life on the south side of Chicago.
©2/9/04
PG-13, 106m. 2004
Cast & Credits: Ice Cube (Calvin), Cedric the Entertainer (Eddie), Sean Patrick Thomas (Jimmy), Eve (Terri), Troy Garity (Isaac), Michael Ealy (Ricky), Leonard Earl Howze (Dinka), Queen Latifah (Gina), Quentin Leroux (Harry J. Lennix), Robert Wisdom (Alderman Brown). Screenplay by Don D. Scott with characters created by Mark Brown. Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan.
Hence the reason why I sympathize with the folks at Calvin’s barbershop in Barbershop 2: Back In Business. Seems all the talk amongst the barbers about having friendly competition and how sometimes change is good goes out the door the moment a corporate barbershop chain called Nappy Cutz moves in across the street. The place not only threatens Calvin’s (Ice Cube) business but life in the South side of Chicago as they know it.
I haven’t seen Barbershop (2002), a surprise box office hit that obviously earned its studio, MGM, enough money to warrant a sequel. I am familiar with the controversy the film stirred, however, much of which had to do with comedian Cedric the Entertainer’s remarks his character, Eddie, says about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders.
I came to the conclusion watching Barbershop 2: Back In Business that Eddie’s character could well be compared to another lovable lug from TV sitcom land. He’s the African-American rendition of Cheers’ (1982-1993) Norm Peterson. Instead of being a beer lover, Eddie has a love for food as in the first scene running from the cops for stealing groceries years before he became a permanent fixture at Calvin’s. The money isn’t what Eddie wanted but the steaks and burgers so he can have a barbecue to celebrate July 4. I wasn’t at all surprised when Calvin asks Eddie why he never left Chicago’s south side after all these years, Eddie jokingly says one of the reasons is because he loves his chair like Norm Peterson and his beloved barstool.
I know some people out there who’ve seen the first one will argue the original was better and that perhaps this second outing offers more of the same. They might even say the conversations the characters have are not as shocking or as controversial the second time around.
If I had seen the first one chances are I probably would say the same thing. I would have put Barbershop 2: Back In Business in the same batch as that other group of forgettable sequels of the past movie studios churned out that no one really asked for. Because I haven’t seen the first one, however, Barbershop 2: Back In Business is like seeing a new film for the very first time.
I am willing to bet the conversations the male gang at Calvin’s have in this second outing are similar to the ones previous as Cedric the Entertainer’s Eddie once again serves up his opinions on current events from the D.C. sniper to how President Clinton should have handled his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Every now and then, the women at Gina’s Beauty Salon next door, run by Queen Latifah, talk about the kind of men they’d like to sleep with. Latifah’s Gina says she’d like to sleep with Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies (1997-2002).
Believe it or not, however, in between all the pointless conversations and humorous confrontational arguments Latifah’s Gina and Cedric’s Eddie have I found that Barbershop 2: Back In Business teaches a lesson.
Calvin learns it early on as he desperately tries to keep his family business afloat with the new competition upgrading his establishment with expensive fixtures. At one point, Cal demands that his staff call every customer by their first name thanking them for their business like they are family.
Barbershop 2: Back In Business is about having loyalties, never sacrificing one’s personal beliefs and always remembering your past. Eddie’s life changed for the better the night of July 4, 1967. Seeing him look back on such newsworthy events that either brought about a negative or positive change from the rise of the Black Panthers to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the one thing that’s stayed the same is him, other than getting older. The lesson learned here is you can only control the little things, not the big picture.
That’s a pretty good lesson to heed, not to mention a pleasant surprise, for a film that’s promoted to be nothing more than comedic look at life on the south side of Chicago.
©2/9/04
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