{"id":46441,"date":"2025-02-21T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T05:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=46441"},"modified":"2025-02-18T23:59:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T04:59:33","slug":"friday-1995-black-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/21\/friday-1995-black-history-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday (1995) [Black History Month]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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You come into the room and see the New Line Cinema title card gracing the television screen. There\u2019s no theme like before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or a horror movie, but in its place remains a voice over instead. You know the voice, you know the quote, and you know the movie.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI know ya don\u2019t smoke weed, I know this. But I\u2019m gonna get you high today \u2018cause it\u2019s Friday, you ain\u2019t got no job, and you ain\u2019t got s\u2014- to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie hasn\u2019t even officially started yet, and Chris Tucker has hit you with the first of many of the film\u2019s memorable quotes which range from \u201cBye, Felicia.\u201d To \u201cYou got knocked the f\u2014- out!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 1995\u2019s comedy Friday. Directed by F. Gary Gray and written by DJ Pooh and Ice Cube, who also stars in the film next to Chris Tucker. The movie is easily one of the most recommendable R rated, feel good, comedies out there. The audience follows Craig (Ice Cube) and his friend Smokey (Christ Tucker) while they try to make it to the weekend as they bounce from situation to situation in a \u201cClerks meets Boyz N The Hood\u201d fashion. Fans of the R rated comedy will find familiar faces among the crowd such as Tony Cox, Bernie Mac, and John Witherspoon. Everyone brings their own addition to the film, which allows it to culminate into something seemingly organic. No moment feels forced or unnatural. The movie marches on, keeping you grinning, laughing, and feeling fulfilled by the time it all wraps up.<\/p>\n

Friday was filmed in F. Gary Gray\u2019s childhood neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. Using houses his friends lived in for central locations, and his own childhood home as the backdrop for an iconic scene where the local bully, Deebo, punches someone so hard it sends them through the air and out of his driveway. The neighborhood itself is immortalized in the movie, which serves as a time capsule from an era when weed was still illegal and none of the rap music seemed to give a damn. Speaking of music, the soundtrack does Nostalgia\u2019s heavy lifting with the likes of The Isley Brothers, Cypress Hill, James Brown and Zapp. The entire atmosphere Friday brings to the table screams \u201c1995\u201d in all the best ways.<\/p>\n

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While the story mostly centers around Craig and Smokey attempting to enjoy a Friday, the most pressing element is Deebo. Played by Tom Lister Jr. (Tiny \u2018Zues\u2019 Lister Jr. In the credits), Deebo is imposing on all fronts. The neighborhood bully is a grown man who goes around \u201cborrowing\u201d bikes with no intention of returning them, and snatching gold chains off anyone willing to get too close. Deebo crosses a line in the final act when he strikes a woman for mistakingly thinking she stole from him. This isn\u2019t the only serious tone brought to Friday. The film also speaks on gun violence, with a minor subplot involving Craig seeking to use a handgun for self-defense from, not only Deebo, but a local gang known for doing drive by shootings.<\/p>\n

All of these elements, both good and bad, are a part of LA\u2019s history. Friday finds a way to wrap it all together without it being too outrageous or over-the-top. Think King of the Hill in terms of grounded comedy. Just swap out the sun burnt Texans for a black neighborhood and you have the right expectations. Take out the hangout spot in the alley, and replace it with a porch. This movie hits every note that would make Mike Judge smile from ear to ear.<\/p>\n

No stone is left unturned in Friday. The neighborhood sees it all, from failed romance to a crooked pastor. The movie is packed with quotable characters, memorable moments, and a dash of gross-out humor. Nothing ever goes too far in any direction, keeping the film relatively tame for its R rating. Viewers can expect mild violence, vulgar language, and on screen drug use. Nothing that doesn\u2019t make for an eventful start to one\u2019s weekend, and Friday makes the most of it.<\/p>\n

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While a beacon of 1995 LA culture, the movie itself remains timeless. I was only 7 when the film came out, and as a white child I wasn\u2019t exactly the film\u2019s demographic. But when I reached middle school and all of the kids were looking for the next \u201cadult thing\u201d to share with their friends, Friday was chief among them. I still remember seeing it for the first time at a sleep over and, from there, catching it in all of it\u2019s butchered, edited-for-TV, glory throughout my high-school years. When I started to collect movies, I didn\u2019t hesitate to add Friday to my comedy line up. It\u2019s always there for a good laugh, and will continue to be there long into the future.<\/p>\n

Friday didn\u2019t stop with just one movie. Fans of the original can look forward to it\u2019s sequels Next Friday, and Friday After Next after they\u2019ve decided the first film was worth visiting. A fourth film is currently in development limbo, but Ice Cube remains adamant that it\u2019s still in the works. In an era of legacy films, a \u201cFinal Friday\u201d could be just the send off this franchise needs. Until then, sequels or not, the original Friday can stand proud as one of the most iconic black comedies to ever grace the silver screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You come into the room and see the New Line Cinema title card gracing the television screen. There\u2019s no theme like before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or a horror movie, but in its place remains a voice over instead. You know the voice, you know the quote, and you know the movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284,12],"tags":[3613,219],"class_list":["post-46441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","category-movie-reviews","tag-black-history-month","tag-comedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46442,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46441\/revisions\/46442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}