Next Friday
USA 2000
Reviewed by Keith Perry
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
South Central, LA, the present, Friday. Craig Jones is unemployed and living with his father. Local criminal Debo breaks out of jail, hell-bent on revenge against Craig, who beat him in a fight four years earlier. After a confrontation with Debo, Craig leaves for the suburbs to stay with his lottery-winning uncle Elroy and cousin Day-Day. Day-Day warns Craig about the brothers living next door, headed by ex-con Joker. Craig flirts with Joker's sister Karla, before being chased away by their dog. Craig discovers there is a repossession order on the house. He goes to the shop where Day-Day works to tell him, but Day-Day reveals that all the winnings have been spent. The pair get high with co-worker Roach, and lock up when Day-Day's pregnant ex-girlfriend D'Wana arrives. Following a fight between Craig and the shop's owner, Day-Day and Roach are sacked.
Craig suspects Joker is a drug dealer, and plans a cash robbery to help Elroy. Roach distracts the dog while Craig steals the money. Mr Jones, Craig's father, arrives, with Debo stowed away in his van. Joker discovers the theft, and takes Day-Day and Roach hostage; Elroy, Craig and Mr Jones rescue them. The police arrest Debo and the brothers. Elroy keeps the house. Craig says goodbye to Karla and returns to South Central.
Review
After building a successful career as a rapper in which he maintained that South Central was a concrete jungle of police brutality, drive-by shootings and ever-circling helicopters, Ice Cube went on to depict the area as a slackers' paradise in Friday (which he co-wrote and starred in). Next Friday picks up four years after the events of the previous film. Former music-video director Steve Carr has wisely debuted on a movie with minimal narrative thread, but maximum posture and sun-drenched colour. The anti-gun, pro-family messages of the first film are gone, but as before we have a sketch format, with well-timed laughs built around soft drugs and bodily functions, all edited to a continuous soundtrack from well-known rap artists. Now that Chris Tucker has gone on to bigger things, stand-up comedian Mike Epps plays Craig's sidekickDay-Day. His natural charisma goes a long way towards compensating for Day-Day's feeble characterisation, but Epps' gangly charm is no match for Tucker's controlled physical flexing or unique verbal shape throwing. All of which makes things easier for Cube, whose teddy-bear rotundity and scowl have always enabled him to flip from huggable to intimidating via a simple close-up.
Apart from the leading players, all the men and women on show are visitors from that ripple-and-jiggle world familiar from Russ Meyer's sex comedies. Cartoonishness should not, of course, be confused with harmlessness; in fact here it seems to sanction a casual violence not seen in Friday (where the climactic fight is provoked by Debo punching two "females"). Joker's rough treatment of the women at a party is capped off by a "Call me!", queasily attempting to disperse the moment with a laugh. What's missing throughout is sexual sassiness - a quality only brought into a film by lively female roles - and hence any real sexual sparring. The mothers and sisters of Friday are absent; the character of D'Wana is almost all bad, while her friend Lady of Rage is not developed beyond Carr's initial framing of her enormous, traffic-halting rear end.
Next Friday's most mendacious trick is that it is not the fish-out-of-water tale it pretends to be. Those expecting a scenario similar to the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air - in which Will Smith's character uproots from his Philadelphia inner-city home for life with his middle-class relatives in LA - will be disappointed. Craig arrives in his uncle's pastel-coloured cul-de-sac, only to discover a group of armed drug dealers next door - hardly a typical suburban storyline. What follows could easily have taken place back in South Central. There's a degree of wish-fulfilment in the film's depiction of the suburbs as a place as volatile as the projects. The device diminishes the respective guilt and envy of the residents of both and contributed, perhaps, to Next Friday's massive US success. After all, if, as the film's poster tells us, "the suburbs make the 'hood look good", then we can all go home happy.
Credits
- Director
- Steve Carr
- Producer
- Ice Cube
- Screenplay
- Ice Cube
- Based on characters created by Ice Cube,
- DJ Pooh
- Director of Photography
- Christopher J. Baffa
- Editor
- Elena Maganini
- Production Designer
- Dina Lipton
- Music/Music Conductor
- Terence Blanchard
- ©New Line Productions, Inc
- Production Companies
- New Line Cinema presents a Cubevision production
- Executive Producers
- Michael Gruber
- Claire Rudnick Polstein
- Co-executive Producer
- Matt Moore
- Co-producers
- Douglas Curtis
- Matt Alvarez
- Supervising Production Executive
- Erik Holmberg
- Production Executive
- Michele McGuire
- Production Controller
- Paul Prokop
- Supervising Production Co-ordinator
- Emily Glatter
- Production Co-ordinator
- Jennifer Scott
- Unit Production Manager
- Jay Sedrish
- Location Manager
- Jeremy Alter
- Post-production
- Executive in Charge of:
- Jody Levin
- Supervisor:
- Sara Kaviar
- Assistant Directors
- Frank Davis
- Donald L. Sparks
- Seth Edelstein
- Tyrone Walker
- Evan L. Gilner
- Script Supervisor
- Nicole Cummins
- Casting
- Kimberly R. Hardin
- Associate:
- Debra Secher
- Voice:
- Burt Sharp
- Camera Operator/
Steadicam Operator - Dan Ayers
- Digital Imaging
- Howard Anderson Co.
- Special Effects Co-ordinator
- Dave Kelsey
- Additional Editing
- Jeff Ervin
- Art Director
- Keith Neely
- Set Designers
- Christopher S. Nushawg
- Susan E. Lomino
- Set Decorator
- Suzette Sheets
- Storyboard Artist
- Elizabeth Columba
- Costume Designer
- Jacki Roach
- Costume Supervisor
- Dana M. Campbell
- Make-up
- Head Artist:
- Debra Denson
- Key Artist:
- Beverly Jo Pryor
- Artists:
- Judy Murdock
- GiGi Williams
- Head Hair Stylist
- Kimberly Kimble
- Key Hair Stylist:
- Jasmine Kimble
- Hair Stylist
- Brian Andrew-Tunstall
- Title Sequence Design
- Blue Motel
- Victoria Vaus
- Digital Main Titles Composited by
- Digiscope
- Digital Artist:
- Marty Taylor
- Titles/Opticals
- Howard Anderson Co.
- Musicians
- Chris Severin
- Raymond Weber
- Brice Winston
- Don Vappie
- Music Supervisor
- Spring Aspers
- Executive Music Producer
- Andrew Shack
- Music Executive
- Paul Broucek
- Session Co-ordinator
- Robin Burgess
- Music Editor
- Lori Slomka
- Engineer
- Jim Anderson
- Music Consultant
- Heidi Santelli
- Soundtrack
- "You Can Do It" by O. Jackson,D. Rolison, D. Sanders, performed by Ice Cube featuring Mack 10, Ms. Toi contains a sample from "Planet Rock" by Arthur Baker, Afrika Bambaataa, John Robie, recorded by Afrika Bambaataa, The Soul Sonic Force; "Chase Me" by Michael Cooper, Felton Pilate, performed by Con Funk Shun; "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" by Lonnie Simmons, Rudy Taylor, Charlie Wilson, performed by The Gap Band; "Bad Luck" by Victor Carstarphen, Gene McFadden, John Whitehead, performed by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes; "Tell Me Something Good" by Stevie Wonder, performed by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan; "Mamacita" by Fredwreck Nassar, P. Brooks, A. Molina, F. Soto, R. Brown, performed by Frost, Soopafly, Kurupt, Don Ciscone; "Livin' It Up" by T. Jamerson, P. Hendricks, performed by Pharoahe Monch; "Friday" by A. Henderson, V. Aghaniats, S. Balasanyan, James Harris, Terry Lewis, performed by Krayzie Bone featuring Lyric contains interpolations from "Saturday Love" by James Harris, Terry Lewis; "Tyrone" by Erykah Badu, Norman 'Keys' Hurt; "Juicy Fruit" by James Mtume, performed by Mtume; "Murder Murder" by M. Mathers, M. Bass, J. Bass, performed by Eminem; "Rigor Mortis" by Larry Blackmon, Arnett Leftenant, Nathan Leftenant, performed by Cameo; "In the Mood" by Paul Richmond, Ruben Locke, Darryl Ellis, performed by Tyrone Davis; "Good Times" by Dave Grusin, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman; "Riding High" by Keith D. Harrison, Tyrone Crum, Ralph E. Atkens, Roger Parker, Robert Neal Jr, Clarence Satchell, performed by Faze-O; "Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak" by Dion Murdock, Macy Gray, Jeremy Ruzumna, performed by Macy Gray; "Chin Check" by O'Shea Jackson, Andre Young, Calvin Broadus, Lorenzo Patterson, performed by N.W.A.; "We Murderers Baby" by Irving Domingo Lorenzo, R. Wilson, Barry White, Jeffrey Atkins, performed by Vita, featuring Ja Rule contains samples from "Somebody Is Gonna Off the Man" by/performed by Barry White; "Hot" by Teddy Bishop, J. Austin, performed by Toni Estes; "Low Income" by Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis, performed by Wyclef Jean; "Don't Stop the Feeling" by Roy Ayers; "Fame" by David Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar, performed by David Bowie; "Fried Day" by Bryon McCane, Jimmy JT Thomas, Michael Powell, Charles Scruggs, Steven Howse, Anthony Henderson, performed by Bizzy Bone contains interpolations of "First of the Month" by Michael Powell, Charles Scruggs, Bryon McCane, Steven Howse, Anthony Henderson; "Let It Whip" by Reggie Andrews, Ndugu Chancler, performed by Dazz Band; "Funky Worm" by Marvin R. Pierce, Gregory A. Webster, Norman B. Napier, Ralph Middlebrooks, Leroy Bonner, Marshall E. Jones, Andrew Noland, Walter Morrison, performed by Ohio Players; "Jungle Fever" by Bill Ador, performed by Chakachas; "Money Stretch" by Zane R. Copeland Jr, Diane Warren, K. Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, J. Williams, Marshall E. Jones, Leroy Bonner, Clarence Satchell, Willie Beck, Marvin R. Pierce, performed by Lil' Zane contains elements of "Glad to Know You're Mine" by Ralph Middlebrooks, J. Williams, Marshall E. Jones, Clarence Satchell, Willie Beck, Marvin R. Pierce, performed by The Ohio Players; "Good Friday" by Baby, Manny Fresh, Dedrick D'mon Rolison, performed by Big Tymers featuring Lil' Wayne, Mack 10; "Can I Get a..." by Jeffrey Atkins, Shawn Carter, Irving Domingo Lorenzo, Rob Mays; "I Don't Wanna" by Johnta M. Austin, Donnie Scantz, Kevin Hicks, Jazze Pha, performed by Aaliyah; "Make Your Body Sing" by Ronald Isley, Angela Winbush, Ernie Isley, performed by The Isley Brothers featuring Ronald Isley; "Sinsemilla" by Michael Rose, performed by Black Uhuru; "Shaolin Worldwide" by Clifford Smith, Jason Hunter, P. Charles, Dennis Coles, R. Bean, Robert Diggs, performed by Wu-Tang Clan contains excerpts from "Knuckleheadz" by Dennis Coles, Robert Diggs, performed by Raekwon; "Friends" by Jalil Hutchins, Larry Smith; "Movin' On Up" (Theme from "The Jeffersons") by Ja'net Dubois, Jeff Barry
- Sound Design/Supervision
- Frederick Howard
- Sound Mixer
- Walter Anderson
- Digital Transfer Engineers
- Johanna Kraemer
- Matt Dubin
- Re-recording Mixers
- Yuri Reese
- Joe Barnett
- Dialogue Editors
- Jed M. Dodge
- Michael Hertlein
- Kevin Hamilton
- Jason George
- Robert Getty
- Walter Spencer
- Sound Effects Editors
- Lisle Engle
- Dorian Cheah
- Mark Hunshik Choi
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Robert C. Jackson
- Mixer:
- Alan Freedman
- Foley
- Artists:
- David Lee Fein
- S. Diane Marshall
- Mixer:
- Lucy Sustar
- Backgrounds Editor:
- Michael Mullane
- Editors:
- Craig Jurkiewicz
- Sarah Smith
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Keith Woulard
- Animals Supplied by
- Alvin Animal Rentals
- Head Trainer
- Alvin L. Mears
- Cast
- Ice Cube
- Craig Jones
- Mike Epps
- Day-Day
- Justin Pierce
- Roach
- John Witherspoon
- Mr Jones
- Don 'D.C.' Curry
- Uncle Elroy
- Jacob Vargas
- Joker
- Tamala Jones
- D'Wana
- Clifton Powell
- Pinky
- Kirk Jones
- man
- Kym E. Whitley
- Suga
- Lobo Sebastian
- Lil Joker
- Ronn Riser-Muhammad
- Stanley
- Amy Hill
- Miss Ho-Kym
- Robyn Allen
- Baby D
- Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Jr
- Debo
- Rolando Molina
- Baby Joker
- Lisa Rodriguez
- Karla
- Carmen Serano
- Maria Arce
- Vanessa White
- girls
- Michael Blackson
- customer 1
- David Waterman
- sheriff 3
- Cheridah Best
- sheriff lady
- Ronn Riser-Muhammad
- mystery guest
- Sticky Fingaz
- Tyrone
- Shane Conrad
- real estate man
- Keebo
- Pinky chauffeur
- [uncredited]
- Michael Rapaport
- delivery boy
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd
- 8,816 feet
- 97 minutes 57 seconds
- Dolby digital/Digital DTS sound/SDDS
- Colour by
- FotoKem
- Prints by
- DeLuxe Labs