Barbershop (2002)

Directed by Tim Story. Starring Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Michael Ealy, Sean Patrick Thomas, Troy Garity, Anthony Anderson, Lahmard Tate, Keith David, Eve, Leonard Earl Howze, Jazmin Lewis, Jason Winston George, Kevin Morrow, Tom Wright. [PG-13]

The social comings, goings, and inner-workings of a barbershop on the South Side of Chicago over the course of a day. Fitfully entertaining comedy has a fine sense of community and rapport, and lots of good conversation bits inside the store; when the film focuses on casual interplay and character conduct, it usually works. The narrative, however, is cluttered with a manufactured crisis from a loan shark sub-plot and constant cutaways to the hijinks of a pair of criminals (Anderson, Tate) trying to break into a stolen ATM machine (amusing at times, but enough is enough after a while). Director Story struggles to arrange all the messy pieces, but a fine cast makes the most out of the uneven writing; Cedric the Entertainer steals the show as an old-timer who doesn’t seem to actually do any work but has no qualms about sharing his opinions, no matter how controversial they might be. Followed by two sequels, a spin-off (Beauty Shop), and a television series.

61/100