Calvin (Ice Cube), who inherited a struggling barber shop on the south side of Chicago from his father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and a waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out. The shop is filled with an eclectic cast of characters that share their stories, jokes, trials and tribulations. PG-13

I'd like to start off this review by revealing that I'm whiter than a grain rice in a driving snow storm. You should keep this in mind because the setting of Barber Shop is in the ghetto, so there are elements in this movie I can't relate to. This doesn't make me the worst person in the world to review this movie. Some of my favorite movies of mine while I was growing up were the House Party movies, Friday, The Wood, etc. However, it is important to remember who is doing this review, a white middle-class raver punk Gen. ‘Xer.

Some of the jokes in this movie are contrived and predictable. The main plot of Ice Cube's character trying to save his barber shop is not interesting, and there is a subplot about two thugs who stole an entire ATM machine. That's funny as a one time joke, but not as a major subplot. The resolution of the plot is also laughable.

If you think about it, how often do we care about little things like that when we go to see a comedy? The real question is, did I laugh?

Yes.

Cedric the Entertainer was funny when I understood him, and many of the other members of the supporting cast had their moments. Ice Cube was primarily the straight man that he was in Friday. The highlights of this movie are the loaded conversations that go on in the barber shop during the day. In these scenes (which were not frequent enough), several people will have overlapping conversations that seemed realistic not only in a barber shop but in any social situation in any social class. In other words, you don't have to be a certain age or color to laugh at this movie.

The cast members that engage in these conversations include Sean Patrick Thomas (Cruel Intentions, Save the Last Dance, Halloween Resurrection) playing the character Jimmy James and Eve, playing the character of Terry Jones. Eve appears in her second role (J.J. in XXX the other), and is another musician-turned actress. She does a great job. She'll be able to have a career as an actress. Also in the supporting cast is Anthony Anderson, who continues to be funny mugging the camera and cracking his voice as he did in Me, Myself, and Irene.

Playing the bad guy, Lester, is Keith David, one of the best method actors in the business. The guy can be hilarious (Cameron Diaz's step dad in There 's Something About Mary), a dramatic hero (King in Oliver Stone's Platoon), a dramatic victim (Pitch Black), or even a villain, as he is in this movie. If that's not enough, he does enough voice work in cartoons to have projected to voice to nearly every one of us. I point him out to show that the producers did a great job in casting. Even though I felt that the characters were not written with much depth, the actors made up for it.

Tim Story, the director, is on board for the sequel. That's right, a sequel already. Lately sequels follow box office success and not the quality of the film, but this above average film is worthy of its sequel. However, I didn't feel that this movie was on the level of House Party or Friday, but I did find myself laughing out loud at about half the jokes. It was . . . okay. There were no directorial breakthrough and no breakthrough performance by any of the actors, although everybody held their own. If you don't want to see any of the other movies that are out and want to chuckle for an hour and a half, go see this movie. If you want something special, go rent a classic.

More on Barber Shop here.

RATING: 3

SCALE:

0 (Unbearable)

1 (If I'm Bored and Someone Else Pays)

2 (Worth Renting)

3 (Worth the Over-Priced Admission)

4 (I loved it, I'll buy the DVD)

5 (A Classic/Oscar Worthy)

~~~~~

Ben Lawrence is 26, resides in south central Pennsylvania, and is a starving artist. He works for the York Newspaper Company, runs his own website ProjectSoma.com , and is currently negotiating with a publisher over his first novel, called How to Kill Yourself Very Very Slowly. He reviews movies and books, writes fiction, covers sports, and dabbles in photography. His art is primarily surreal and/or psychedelic and usually satires concerning American pop culture. Ben's a Cancer so he's very sensitive ‘wink'.