Hey folks, Harry here... Looks like Capone's all set for a shave & a haircut at this Barbershop. It's about time, cuz... well, Capone has hair down to his ass and tends to let it dread up on him. Of course, that's part of Capone's charm, he's always got an abnormal hair look. From the blue mohawk when we first met to his blonde dreads he had this BNAT... He's always out there. Here ya go...
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with a film actually shot in Chicago. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, the city gets excited. It doesn't hurt that one of the funniest movies I've seen in recent year, BARBERSHOP, was shot here a couple years back and made a ton of money. So when Ice Cube and Co. moved back to the Windy City last year, the anticipation level was through the roof. Thankfully, BARBERSHOP 2 maintains the quality of the first. And every once in a while it's fun to watch a film completely free of special effects and still be amazed at how they pulled it off. Read on... The message of BARBERSHOP 2 is that change is good in moderation and as long as it doesn't hurt people. I like that message, and I like that that is essentially the approach the filmmakers seemed to take in constructing this wonderfully funny movie. In Calvin's (Ice Cube) barbershop, very little has changed. The same group of barbers are cutting hair. Only now, token white kid Isaac Rosenberg (Troy Garity) is the most popular barber in the store, and aspiring politician Jimmy James (Sean Patrick Thomas) is working for the local alderman. We still have the inspired conversations on the most controversial topics in the black community, including R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, the war between the sexes, and even the D.C. sniper, with the establishment's oldest resident, Eddie (scene stealer Cedric the Entertainer), spouting the film's funniest dialogue ("Before the D.C. sniper, at least black folks could say we aren't THAT crazy.") Eve's Terri, Michael Ealy's reformed gangsta Ricky, and the African love god Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze) are all back. Heck, even the dudes that just hang around the shop are back. It feels like home. So what's new? Calvin owns the building next door, a beauty shop run by Queen Latifah's Gina (who will star in the spin-off film BEAUTY SHOP later this year. The conversations that go on there are just as funny and provocative. And you better just step back when the barbers and the beauties go at it. Also new is that Chicago's South Side, where the film is set, is being developed. Upscale chain businesses moving in and making the area safer and a more desirable place in which to live. No one in the barbershop seems to have a problem with this until a business called Nappy Cutz builds a store across the street. The man in charge of all the new development (played with snaky charm by Harry Lennix) plans on running Calvin and his store right out of business. The only fault I had with the first BARBERSHOP was the storyline involving the loan shark buying the barbershop and turning it into a strip club. Similarly, the scenes that drag the most in BARBERSHOP 2 are the scenes with cookie-cutter baddies threatening Calvin's business and the community in general all to make a quick buck. The danger never seems real because we know the shop will never go away, and these scenes grind the comedy to a screeching halt. The one new addition I really like is Calvin's wife's cousin and new barber Kenard (played by new SNL cast member and former GOOD BURGER star Kenan Thompson). I also enjoyed the flashback scenes involving Eddie's introduction to Calvin's father in the 1960s. The scenes aren't that funny but they do reveal a lot about Eddie's motivation for remaining at the shop for so long. And anything that keeps Cedric on the screen a few extra minutes is fine with me.
Despite replacing the director of the first BARBERSHOP, Tim Story, with Kevin Rodney Sullivan (HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK), the series is in no danger of getting stale. The actors now know their characters and each one grows to varying degrees. So just slip into your theatre seat, rest your head, and enjoy. It's as good as the first film with maybe a little more body.
Capone
