Directed by: Bennie Boom. Starring: Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Wood Harris, Omari Hardwick, Emilio Rivera, Yasmin Deliz, Mos Def, Debbie Allen. Comedy/Action. Synopsis: A shiftless delivery man mistakenly delivers a package-containing a large quantity of cocaine- to two inept criminals who then try to sell it but have to stave off the rightful 'owners' of the drugs.
I love peanut butter and I love steak, but I don't think I could stomach the two of them together. Where am I going with that analogy, you're probably asking? Well, Next Day Air is a flick that tries to marry two excellent genres: comedy and gangsters...and it just doesn't work...at least it didn't for me. Now, I know you might be thinking, "Whoa, now! Good Fellas has more than a few laughs and there is nothing wrong with a little edgy action in a comedy!" True, enough. But, I would argue that in those cases one genre was just an element of the other, not trying to stand on equal footing throughout the entire flick.And, I think it detracted from the movie and dulled the effect of what wasn't a bad idea for a flick-at least in theory-as well as some decent acting.
The story revolves around a borderline incompetent delivery man (Donald Faison Remember The Titans) who likes to smoke a little weed during his rounds. How bad of a delivery guy is he? Well, his boss (Debbie Allen) is about ready to fire him. Now, that might not seem like necessarily an indictment on his work ethic in these tight economic times, but his boss is also...his mom. Told 'ya.
Anyway, he promises to turn over a new leaf but doesn't get off to a great start as he delivers a large package to a couple of underachieving thugs (Mike Epps Malibu's Most Wanted Wood Harris Dirty) , who open the package and find, to their delight, that it contains 10 bricks of uncut cocaine, worth quite a bit of loot. Like I said, they weren't supposed to get the package, it was actually supposed to go across the hall to an aspiring drug dealer (Cisco Reyes) and his girlfriend (Yasmin Deliz). Well, without the package, the young dealer's boss is going to get involved and away we go.
The plot is not really developed well, but the bigger problem is that the characters have almost no depth other than their primary caricatures and we really don't empathize with any of them, or at least not as much as we need to to really get into the movie. Of course, the choppy flow of the plot makes it hard to get into the story. I don't think it's the fault of the direction, either, because it seems almost like the point is to set up various scenes more than a story with flow. And of course, we either get borderline slapstick comedy or psuedo gritty gangster action.
In listening to the special features, it seems like this was the goal of the flick, Boom says they wanted to follow up a comedic scene with a gritty scene and so forth. Again, maybe its just me, but it didn't work well. Also, when you under utilize the most versatile and talented actor in your cast (Mos Def 16 Blocks) , I think the karma is going the wrong way. Of the two genres that the flick attempts to marry, it comes much closer to being an effective comedy, there are some legitimate laughs. The ganster portion relied to much on stereotypical caricature and dialogue to be effective, but that could be the effect of trying to be 1/2 comedy.
Next Day Air is not a bad flick by any means, I just can't tell you I think its a good one. But, that is just my opinion.
You might want to see for yourself.
I love peanut butter and I love steak, but I don't think I could stomach the two of them together. Where am I going with that analogy, you're probably asking? Well, Next Day Air is a flick that tries to marry two excellent genres: comedy and gangsters...and it just doesn't work...at least it didn't for me. Now, I know you might be thinking, "Whoa, now! Good Fellas has more than a few laughs and there is nothing wrong with a little edgy action in a comedy!" True, enough. But, I would argue that in those cases one genre was just an element of the other, not trying to stand on equal footing throughout the entire flick.And, I think it detracted from the movie and dulled the effect of what wasn't a bad idea for a flick-at least in theory-as well as some decent acting.
The story revolves around a borderline incompetent delivery man (Donald Faison Remember The Titans) who likes to smoke a little weed during his rounds. How bad of a delivery guy is he? Well, his boss (Debbie Allen) is about ready to fire him. Now, that might not seem like necessarily an indictment on his work ethic in these tight economic times, but his boss is also...his mom. Told 'ya.
Anyway, he promises to turn over a new leaf but doesn't get off to a great start as he delivers a large package to a couple of underachieving thugs (Mike Epps Malibu's Most Wanted Wood Harris Dirty) , who open the package and find, to their delight, that it contains 10 bricks of uncut cocaine, worth quite a bit of loot. Like I said, they weren't supposed to get the package, it was actually supposed to go across the hall to an aspiring drug dealer (Cisco Reyes) and his girlfriend (Yasmin Deliz). Well, without the package, the young dealer's boss is going to get involved and away we go.
The plot is not really developed well, but the bigger problem is that the characters have almost no depth other than their primary caricatures and we really don't empathize with any of them, or at least not as much as we need to to really get into the movie. Of course, the choppy flow of the plot makes it hard to get into the story. I don't think it's the fault of the direction, either, because it seems almost like the point is to set up various scenes more than a story with flow. And of course, we either get borderline slapstick comedy or psuedo gritty gangster action.
In listening to the special features, it seems like this was the goal of the flick, Boom says they wanted to follow up a comedic scene with a gritty scene and so forth. Again, maybe its just me, but it didn't work well. Also, when you under utilize the most versatile and talented actor in your cast (Mos Def 16 Blocks) , I think the karma is going the wrong way. Of the two genres that the flick attempts to marry, it comes much closer to being an effective comedy, there are some legitimate laughs. The ganster portion relied to much on stereotypical caricature and dialogue to be effective, but that could be the effect of trying to be 1/2 comedy.
Next Day Air is not a bad flick by any means, I just can't tell you I think its a good one. But, that is just my opinion.
You might want to see for yourself.
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