Third movie in franchise is a cut above the rest
|||BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT
DIRECTOR: Malcolm D Lee
CAST: Ice Cube, Cedric The Entertainer, Nicki Minaj, Eve, Common, Regina Halland Anthony Anderson
CLASSIFICATION: 13 L
RUNNING TIME: 112
RATING: 4 stars (out of 5)
Helen Herimbi
This is the third instalment of the Barbershop franchise. The usual suspects are back: Ice Cube, Cedric The Entertainer, Eve and Anthony Anderson. But this time, there are some new – and much-needed – additions.
Cube returns as Calvin, a man who inherited his father’s barbershop. Cedric The Entertainer is Eddie, Calvin’s father’s friend and sometimes barber. Eve is Terri, the best female barber in town and she is now married to Rashad (Common). Anderson’s character, JD, has a successful (shady) business and Angie (Hall) has been brought in to be Calvin’s partner in the company.
She has her section – where women braid hair, sew in weaves and do nails. While Calvin’s guys (and Terri) still cut hair and talk smack. This is the perfect arena for a battle of the sexes, a different perspective, some understanding and some arguing.
Minaj plays Draya, a big booty fly girl who is about her paper. It’s not far from her on- stage persona even though the insistent focus on her butt is annoying.
The movie is the funniest in the franchise. Most of the characters have some slick, silly or laugh-out-loud lines. Take this one from Draya: “Walking out with this hair and with this booty is like walking out with a black AmEx card; I never get denied.” Bars.
Utkarsh Ambudkar plays a nerdy, but funny barber who laments that there are more black representations on TV, while all he has to look up to is the Indian guy from Big Bang Theory. It’s quips like that that are not only funny, but make you think.
The film deals primarily with the violence in Chicago. How kids are being drawn into gang culture and how a ceasefire may or may not help the community that the barbershop is in.
But they make it in such a thought-provoking but cool (and as light as dealing with violence can be) way that Spike Lee should’ve taken notes from Cube and director Lee before he attempted to make Chiraq.
This Barbershop isn’t a heavy film though, because the violence is also juxtaposed with topics like infidelity, identity and more.
The first Barbershop hit cinemas in 2000 with the second arriving in 2002. Barbershop: The Next Cut is a meeting of the minds – and the wit – of the men and women in the shop.
If you liked The Salon or Think Like a Man, you’ll enjoy this.