Movie Review by Neil Ryan
The 1995 movie ‘Friday’ performed only moderately at the American box office but went on to cause a major surprise when it enjoyed unexpectedly prolific success as a video release. This convinced the film’s producers (New Line) that there is a burgeoning audience for ‘Clownz In Da Hood’ style comedy and so they commissioned writer/star Ice Cube to script a sequel in which he could reprise the role of the lead character Craig.
The result is ‘Next Friday’ in which Craig moves from the rough-hewn streets of urban LA to the suburbs (to live with his lottery winning uncle and cousin). This enforced relocation is the result of hearing that his incarcerated nemesis Debo has escaped from the penitentiary and is looking for a little payback. Unfortunately for Craig life in the suburbs is every bit as problematic as life in South Central LA and he needs to keep his wits about him if he and his cousin are going to survive the day unscathed.
As with its predecessor all of the action in ‘Next Friday’ takes place on one day and, as with most sequels, it represents a masterclass in B-grade movie making: derivative, unoriginal, full of crudely drawn characters and ham-fisted slapstick. This is the kind of film where ‘deft’ is pronounced ‘daft’ and ‘subtle’ has a heavily accented ‘b’. Still, it is not a bad film, merely a wholly unnecessary one and it comes recommended if you have absolutely nothing better to do with 90 minutes of your time and your money.
