Richie Keen’s “Fist Fight” is pretty much just a remake of “Three O’Clock High,” this time around it’s amped up to a lighter tone and steeped in hazy intentions. “Fist Fight” could have an important message to tell, but the commentary about public education, class overcrowding, and the under appreciation of teachers is lost in a flurry of empty sub-plots, pointless gags, and under developed characters. “Fist Fight” could have worked since the film itself does garner some laughs every now and then, but it never can figure out if it wants to make a social statement, or if it merely just wants to show Charlie Day and Ice Cube engage in a huge fist fight by the climax. For all intents and purposes, “Fist Fight” works in some areas, setting itself up as a teacher’s nightmare fueled by anxiety of unemployment and poor work conditions.
Tag Archives: Ice Cube
Are We There Yet? (2005)
Though, I can respect Mr. Cube for wanting to think outside the box, someone never told him that a disgruntled man around bratty kids is not. If Cube wanted to think outside the box, he should have thought in the lines of independent film, or documentary. But then, this is the man that starred in the “Friday” films, so it’s all relative. Cube who has his own production company has yet to turn out anything original and this is never really any different.
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004)
“Barbershop 2” is really disappointing with the gloss of a bigger budget and less heart, less character emphasis, and a plot that is so hokey, I could barely get over how I would have rather been watching the first film than this. Like right out of an old fashioned sitcom, Calvin’s barbershop is met with new competition from Nappy Cutz, a larger chain of barbershops that just moved in from across the street. Now, the writers could have gone for the more conventional and cliche and have them compete with the beauty shop, but then that would be a battle of the sexes and we wouldn’t want to get all predictable, now would we? Now as you can guess, Nappy Cutz is a better barbershop with a fancier design and Calvin is looking for a way to compete with their growing number of customers.
Barbershop (2002)
“Barbershop” is a smart, clever, and well-written piece of filmmaking that stars an ensemble cast of predominant African American actors, all talented. Ice Cube is Calvin Palmer, the son of a beloved barber who inherits his father’s old barbershop and takes it for granted mostly running the shop for his father’s sake, viewing it as a waste of time and money. But when he has aspirations of starting a record company, he secretly sells it to local neighborhood loan shark Lester Wallace and slowly begins moving everything out from under the employees who have a bond, and function as a family. I was surprised with this film, because of the screenplay which invokes a large array of truly hilarious and likable characters.