Movie Review- Next Day Air

I guess i was wrong for entering into this whole thing with big expectations. I said to myself, "no this isnt a cheap black movie filled with bafoonish, pot-smoking, gun-carrying, foul-mouthed gangsters that I've seen in so many movies before...no way." Yea...I was wrong. Now don't get me wrong, it works sometimes, but this time it didn't.

Initially, the cast looks impressive. But if your expecting Chris Turk, Ford Prefect, Avon Barksdale, Day-Day Jones, or even Eddie Winslow, you are way off base. The movie should be way funnier than it is, but shotty writing and an at times confusing plot makes "Next Day Air" fall short of expectations.

NOTE: The ending was bonkers and out of the 1000 different ways it could have went, they chose the worst in my opinion.



PLOT:
Leo (Donald Faison) is an incompetent NDA (i.e. UPS, FED-EX) driver who loves to smoke weed. He's in hot water with his mom/boss Ms. Jackson (Debbie Allen) who tells him if he screws up one more time he's fired. He delivers a big-time drug dealers package of cocaine to the wrong apartment that is occupied by dumb crooks Brody (Mike Epps) and Guch (Wood Harris), setting a series of inconceivable events involved drug dealers, storage workers, drug runners and other NDA workers all in a chase to get the package.

Pros:
The film did have some funny moments. The shear ridiculousness makes you laugh alone. It tries to be different than your normal comedies. It uses flashbacks and animated graphics to add to the odd story. Faison is naturally entertaining but Mos Def supplies the best laughs in only 2 scenes. The most genuine laughs are in the first 15 minutes, before the story gets erratic.

Cons:
So there is nothing wrong with an ensemble piece. I mean i love movies with large casts. But many of the characters in this film were under utilized and not given a chance to show their comedic talents, especially Mos Def, who has great comedic timing is only there for 2 scenes. And so many characters seem to fall in and out of the movie. One minute you are interested in them and then you don't see them for 8 or 9 more scenes. There was just too much stuff going on for such a flawed storyline. I would have loved to have scene these very funny actors and maybe even their characters in a movie where they all work together in the same scenes and not a 3 minute scene where they just shoot eachother.

Recommendation:
Wait til it comes on HBO.

WRITTEN BY:
Blair Cobb

DIRECTED BY:
Benny Boom

MAIN CAST:
Donald Faison ("Clueless", TV's "Scrubs")
Mike Epps ("Next Friday", "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins")
Wood Harris ("Remember the Titans", TV's "The Wire")
Mos Def ("Be Kind Rewind", "Cadillac Records")
Omari Hardwick ("Beauty Shop", "Miracle at St. Anna")
Darius McCrary (TV's "Family Matters", "Transformers")
Cisco Reyes ("Feel the Noise")
Yasmin Deliz
Emilio Rivera ("Spiderman 3", "Street Kings")
Lobo Sebastian ("Major Leauge: Back to the Minors", "Longest Yard")
Malik Barnhardt ("8 Mile", "Get Rich or Die Tryin'")
Debbie Allen ("Fame", "Blank Check")
Lauren London ("ATL", "This Christmas")

SIMILAR TITLES:
All About the Benjamins, Next Friday, Half Baked

MOVIES TO BE BLOGGED:
Observe and Report-Trailer
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past-Trailer