Shave and a haircut...two bits.
Added 5/17/2009
Calvin (Ice Cube) inherited his fathers Barbershop a few years ago, and while he likes it, it just isn't what he wants to be. He'd rather be doing something that will make him rich, such as recording music, because he wants to provide for his wife and kid. Sadly his father left him more than just the barbershop; he left him some serious debt with the barbershop. The bank wants to take the shop from him thanks to the debt, but Calvin decides to sell it to a local shady business man named Lester Wallace for a measly 40 grand so he can at least keep it a Barbershop. Lester lies to him though, and is going to turn it into a strip club. After Calvin changes his mind, Lester won't give the shop back for less than 80 grand. And Calvin just has a couple days to figure out how to get the rest of the money so he can keep his shop.
Barbershop is a nice little comedy dealing with the `black' barbershops. How they are like the local hangout or the office water cooler. It's where the men usually do their gossiping, or telling jokes, or just catching up with one another. The cast is diverse, but very 1, 2, 3. You have the angry upset black man trying to make something of himself, the one black man that tries to tell others they need to educate themselves, the old black man who doesn't care about things and tells lots of jokes, the angry black woman who sticks with her cheating man, the white dude trying to be black and everyone laughs at but he's the best haircutter there, the black guy who's hard on the outside and always going to jail... but a sweetheart inside, the actual African guy, and the usual peanut gang of customers. Actually as I type that out, it kind of sounds racist... but hey... I didn't write the characters. Cedric the Entertainer plays the old man, and even though he's not my favorite character, he did have some funny parts. I love how he rocks on people like Jesse Jackson and tells his thoughts on things. Stuff that if a white man said it, they'd be killed probably. Eve plays the woman role, and I really liked her character. She constantly made me laugh; especially when she came out holding her apple juice screaming at people cause someone drank it. And Eve is pretty hot.
All in all, the movie is just a nice little watch. Nothing great... but not bad either. Definitely give it a rent.
P.S. - I used to be best friends with a black kid named Chivas way back in the day when we were like 9 or 10. I remember one day he came over to my house to trade baseball cards and he had got his hair cut. It was that kind of box top thing but he had the most amazing thing I ever saw at that time done to his hair. He had Michael Jordan cut into his hair, doing his famous jump, over a Nike symbol. I was so mad my parents would let me do that with my hair. I wanted a ninja turtle done to mine. Or He-Man. Something like that.
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barbershop is one of those nonesense movies that you can actually enjoy. it has witty comedy and good comedians such as ice cube, cedric the entertainer & more. this is a very good movie. it's a must see
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Right on target: Laugh out loud funny, sharp wit; great lines
Added 5/11/2008
Great Saturday (or any day, actually) movie. Very funny from beginning to end! Where else but the barbershop (or the beauty shop) can anyone "tell the truth," as Eddie the "senior" barber (portrayed by Cedric the Entertainer) says! It's good ... The lines weren't THAT controversial, were they? How many stories in the press haven't been a bit exaggerated here and there? How many "legends" have their flaws and faults ... even JFK? Why take offense. It's the community of the barbershop that counts! We like the staccato lines. It's a movie that can be watched numerous times, and you'll still hear something new... like Eddie's comments at the end about Arizona and Martin Luther King ... Watch it for yourself and find out! Also, there's a hilarious journey of the stolen ATM machine!
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"Checker Fred! Just sit there and play checkers!"
Added 5/8/2008
There are kids out there who only know Ice Cube from movies. If he's not there yet, I do believe that Cube is getting precariously close to becoming better known as an actor than a rapper. As someone who's bounced up and down to his hip hop flavor since his NWA days, I can't help but feel that this is a bit of a shame. On the other hand, I do enjoy his film stuff. Dude's got his mojo going on cinema. Certainly, Cube's been one of the few folks who've successfully transitioned from music to movies. BARBERSHOP is one of his best films, and just may be my favorite Ice Cube flick.
BARBERSHOP is an ensemble comedy which covers a day in the life of Calvin's Barbershop. Calvin's Barbershop has been a fixture in Chicago's seamy South Side for three generations now. It's the hangout of choice for the impoverished neighborhood, a place to chill, where verbal gamesmanship is engaged, controversial opinions are voiced ("This ain't nothing but healthy conversation."), and the earthy conversations range from Civil Rights issues to whether a scallop is a shellfish. It serves as the pulse of the community. In fact, when a hood wanted to learn the word on the street, he sends his henchman to the barbershop. Ice Cube plays Calvin Palmer, the barbershop's beleaguered proprietor, who early in the film makes the mistake of selling his establishment to a loan shark. Calvin spends much of the film trying to get it back.
There's a silly subplot involving two inept dudes who steal an ATM machine. But, really, although laced with its own funny moments, that storyline serves primarily as breathing room away from the barbershop scenes. Less claustrophobic, this way. According to the audio commentary, Anthony Anderson was the first actor signed, and it was felt that his scenes ought to be expanded more.
I really enjoy this movie. BARBERSHOP is funny and sweet and rowdy (in a PG-13 kind of way). And it glows with such easy warmth. Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer are the big names, and, make no mistake, they earn their paychecks. Cube mainly plays the straight man here, and he nicely rides herd over his boisterous bunch. Certainly, his solid presence grounds the film. Which is good, because a lot of the other characters are pretty colorful. And Cedric the Entertainer's Eddie just may be the most offbeat of 'em all. Eddie's an old, grizzled barber (with unconvincing makeup) who dispenses funny lines and occasional nuggets of wisdom, certainly much more so than he doles out shaves and haircuts. The supporting cast knocks it out the park, with three particular standouts: Sean Patrick Thomas as the snobbish college graduate, lovely hip hop artist Eve as the tough but vulnerable Terri, and Michael Ealy as the two-time felon Ricky. On the villainous tip, Keith David is slimily memorable in his few scenes as the loan shark Lester Wallace.
Honestly, this is some of the funniest riffs I've ever heard, with plenty of "Oh, no, he didn't!!" moments. And the good-natured feel of the film makes it that much easier to like. I don't know why this is, but my favorite moment in the film (and I have many favorite moments here) happens to be when Jimmy and Isaac were about to go at it, and then, out of the blue, Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up (Part One)" plays out of the radio and eases all tensions. It was, I dunno, cathartic. Check it out, and see what you think.
(By the way, I liked the sequel, too.)
And, lastly (since I guess I'm still thinking about the dude's hip hop career), if I had to compare BARBERSHOP, my favorite Ice Cube flick, to an Ice Cube song, that song would have to be the laid back, feel good "It Was A Good Day." Which, coincidentally, is my favorite Ice Cube song. It figures, right?
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One of Ice Cube's best films
Added 4/1/2008
I had very high execpations walking into Barbershop back in 2002 and my execpations went way past what I thought. Barbershop is clealry one of the best films I've seen . The story is a simple one but the film acutally goes into depth anout how important a barber shop is to the Black Amercian community or any ethnic group for that matter. Ice Cube gives an NAACP Image award worthy performance in the film as Calvin. Cube is cool and charamistic as Calvin the owner of the shop and his supporting cast of Sean Patrick Thomas (who needs more roles),Eve (great debut), Leonard Howze and Mike Ealy all give good performances. Troy Gairty as Issac the white barber and Cedric The Enterainer as the elder barber steal all almost every scene their in. Lahmard Tate and Anthony Anderson along with Keith David also do well in the two subplots. Tim Story has made a great debut and Mark Brown's script is excellent.
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(3.5) Is part 2 better? Fro Sho!
Added 5/18/2009
Calvin (Ice Cube) inherited his fathers Barbershop a few years back. At first he wasn't to happy with having the shop, but now the shop is a part of him. Calvin is now a rear part of the community, a corner stone of it. But change is coming into the neighborhood. Old shops, homes, and buildings are being bought out by a bigger corporation and replacing them with chains of restaurants, coffee houses, and even barbershops. And one of the barbershops, Nappy Cuts, is moving in right across from Calvin's shop. They offer nice chairs, better pampering, basketball courts, big screen TV's, and even fish in the floor you can pick out and get them cooked anyway you want it. Change is coming, and it isn't going to be pretty. To hopefully keep his shop as well as other peoples shops open, Calvin and the gang try their best to bring the community together to fight what some would consider the inevitable.
I'm sure I'll be in the minority here, but I liked part 2 a lot more than part 1. I laughed more, the characters weren't as cookie cutter as in part 1 (but they still are somewhat), and the story was more enjoyable this time through... for me at least. I liked that it dealt with major corporations coming in and trying to undercut the competition to run them out of business. It felt a little more real than, the first movie where Calvin is being a little emo about inheriting a barbershop from his father, selling it, then trying to get it back. And the cast, well, I liked that they were a little less involved, but still there. You really don't pay attention to the fact that `everyone thinks the bad boy is just clubbin and having sex all the time at night, but what they don't know is that he's studying and trying to get an education', you know... things like that. And I really think the movie was a lot funnier than the first one. I laughed pretty hard at some things this time through. Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) at one point is cooking some free burgers, and a little girl said hers was burnt. They argue about it and Eddie snatches it and throws it away. She goes and tell on him while Eddie is saying "Go on! Go tell! I aint scurred of nuthin!" Then Gina (Latifah) comes storming out the other shop yelling at Eddie. All Eddie says is "OH SHOOT!" (but cusses) and the look on his face is just priceless. So predictable, but so funny.
I said barbershop 1 was a definite rent, and I would say the same with this. I'm glad I own them both, because even though they are very by the book, they are still some light hearted fun.
P.S. - Kenan Thompson (Calvin's cousin)...is not funny. I have never laughed when that kid is trying to be funny. He's horrible on SNL also and just about anything he's been on. Even when he was on Nickelodeon. That guy just bugs me. OH... and that's just my opinion.
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funny and more funny
Added 10/15/2008
if you looking for a lot of laughter, get this movie it's funny as hell. and also have alot of top actors and comedians.
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Back In Business
Added 6/23/2008
more nonsense humor for your pleasuer, barbershop 2 is wickedly funny it's a enjoable movie just like the first. it's a must see
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