Release Date: September 13, 2002
Starring: Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve, Sean Patrick Thomas, Troy Garity, Anthony Anderson
Directed by: Tim Story
Written by: Mark Brown, Don D. Scott, Marshall Todd
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual content, brief drug references)
Barbershop is brought to you by Cube Vision, the production company owned and run by rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube. He has previously produced films like Friday (and its sequels), The Player's Club, and All About the Benjamins, all of which weren't wholly praised but earned him respect as an actor nonetheless. With Barbershop, Cube makes a more heart-warming and family friendly film than before, and though the story itself is a bit unbalanced, he and all of the the other personalities make the movie worthwhile.
Freshman director Tim Story knows this is a hands-off production, and the best thing he does is to put the camera in the right place and let the actors do just about everything else. There are a few subplots to handle, and they to get to be too much for the director at times, but thankfully talented performers like Cedric the Entertainer and the aforementioned Ice Cube are very watchable and make the film as satisfying as possible with the script they have to work with.
Mark Brown (Two Can Play That Game) is the man responsible for that script, and it focuses on a day in the life of Calvin's Barbershop, a haircut joint on Chicago's South Side (Cube) run by the eponymous Calvin, who has reluctantly inherited it from his father. Throw in a group of colorful daily patrons, a couple of misfits who burglarize a convenience store across the street, a loan shark that wants to buy the barbershop and turn it into a sex club, and you have the gist of Barbershop.
It's about a small but diverse group of people who all share something in common -- the barbershop that has been in business for over forty years. Calvin's father established it as friendly place for inexperienced barbers to perfect their trade and locals to get a trim and a shave while talking about anything that pleases them, be it politics, the irresponsibility of today's youth, or beautiful women. The shop has almost the same warm feeling of something from "The Andy Griffith Show," and it takes a shady moneylender (Keith David, Pitch Black) to make Calvin realize how important the place is to his community.
This theme and the film's overall tameness is what sets Barbershop aside from Ice Cube's previous work. It should be surprising that the actor handles something like it so well, but he carries himself as if this is nothing new to him. It's fair to say, then, that his role here is one of his best since 1999's Three Kings.
Cedric the Entertainer is also worth mentioning. His role is that of a wise old man who is always quick to dispense his views on society, barbering, and black history. The character is particularly amusing because his barber chair is always empty, unless he's napping in it, and he isn't afraid to claim important historical figures like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. are "overrated." Cedric the Entertainer does especially well with the part because he, a 38-year-old actor, effortlessly transforms himself into an elderly man with the help of gray highlights and a hairdo that mimics those of Don King or Frederick Douglass.
The presence of too many characters is Barbershop's flaw, however. Sean Patrick Thomas (Save the Last the Dance), Troy Garity (Bandits), Anthony Anderson (Exit Wounds), and R&B recording artist Eve all help create the right atmosphere for Calvin's Barberhsop and are only a few of the many characters throughout the film. But the script tends to delve too much into each of their lives, cluttering the main plot and theme of the movie. The subplots involving Eve's romantic relationship gone wrong and two petty thieves endlessly trying to hide a stolen ATM machine are the most tedious.
In the end, though, these minor flaws eventually work themselves into the fabric of the story, even if they don't fit quite right. The overall theme of friendship and community remains strong, and the characters all help in making humorous contributions, so Barbershop isn't a great movie, but one that surely isn't waste of time.
all contents © 2002 Andy Zientek