Even Tiny Lister looks young in Ice Cube's Friday, a day in the life of a couple of slackers, playing through vignettes as various characters come to them, though building towards an action finale, more by negligence than plot momentum. Cube is a good boy faced with the pressures of the suburban 'hood. It's actually rather poignant how he must eventually make a choice to give in to those pressures when the comedy takes a dramatic turn. His best friend and main reason he gets into trouble is Chris Tucker who is somehow shot the way he is in The Fifth Element, all crazy close-ups and talking to camera, which is very weird (I can only imagine Besson cast him from this film). A lot of Ice Cube's regular collaborators also show up, though generally, their characters tend to be a little thin. It's like you're enjoying spending a lazy day with characters and maybe wish they had more to say. It mostly lives on the characters' funny reactions (just watching Cube find cereal in a cupboard turns to delight), and few comic moments feel dated.
I find the darkness lurking under the humor thoroughly scary and too real. The final choice to resolve into a happier ending makes it into a fantasy and, thus, a sharp film.
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dpanter
Brilliant. One of the few movies where both Ice Cube and Chris Tucker are enjoyable.Siskoid
Even Tiny Lister looks young in Ice Cube's Friday, a day in the life of a couple of slackers, playing through vignettes as various characters come to them, though building towards an action finale, more by negligence than plot momentum. Cube is a good boy faced with the pressures of the suburban 'hood. It's actually rather poignant how he must eventually make a choice to give in to those pressures when the comedy takes a dramatic turn. His best friend and main reason he gets into trouble is Chris Tucker who is somehow shot the way he is in The Fifth Element, all crazy close-ups and talking to camera, which is very weird (I can only imagine Besson cast him from this film). A lot of Ice Cube's regular collaborators also show up, though generally, their characters tend to be a little thin. It's like you're enjoying spending a lazy day with characters and maybe wish they had more to say. It mostly lives on the characters' funny reactions (just watching Cube find cereal in a cupboard turns to delight), and few comic moments feel dated.Rohit
I find the darkness lurking under the humor thoroughly scary and too real. The final choice to resolve into a happier ending makes it into a fantasy and, thus, a sharp film.oleole90
meh!