Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-I have always had a problem with movies that come towards me armed with a goofy grin saying im going to make you laugh. Right away I arm myself with the coldest cynicism I can muster and prepare for a war against manufactured joy.
Barbershop, The Next Cut however is a comedy that doesn’t promise you plenty of laughs but simply delivers them whilst you are grappling with the larger dark topics it deals with.
Unlike 14 years ago when the last Barbershop movie came out, it’s now harder on Chicago’s South Side with a proliferation of guns and gangs which are threatening to draw in Calvin’s (Ice Cube) son.
The setting of this latest Barbershop movie is actually unusual since the topics dealt with and environment of the setting would usually call for a drama and not a comedy.
However there is a graver take on the issue already on the circuit with Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq also dealing with same issues.
Unlike Lee’s Chi-Raq which has plenty of wow factor, suprising and shocking audiences, Barbershop allows us in and through the use of one liners and gags, debates the issues afflicting the black community.
There is plenty of social commentary and Director Malcom Lee, who also happens to be Spike’s cousin, has managed to again face the status quo of America with a brash but funny movie that works on all levels.
There is the broad comedy that moviegoers have come to expect from the franchise with social commentary that’s surprisingly effective.
The movie creators keep the laughs coming while maintaining an undercurrent of urgency.
The cast of the movie include Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall, Eve, Nicki Minaj, Common, Michael Rainey Jr., J.B. Smoove, Anthony Anderson, Lamorne Morris, Deon Cole, Jazsmin Lewis.
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