A Major Disappointment

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Coming-of-age story set in South Central Los Angeles is director John Singleton's 'counterpart' to his 1991 debut Boyz n the Hood about a puerile, twenty-year-old black youth named Jody who lives at home, mooches off his mother, and refuses to embrace manhood despite having fathered two children with two different women. His life reaches a crossroads when his mother's ex-con boyfriend-turned-legitimate businessman Melvin (Rhames) moves into their house, and his girlfriend's volatile ex Rodney (Snoop Dogg) is released from prison. Covers familiar ground, to be sure, and is excessively raunchy at times, but there and poignant and compelling themes, startling, authentic scenes, and top shelf acting from a supremely talented cast. ***

Director John Singleton hits the black manhood where it hurts. His theme for the movie from the start is that black men in America are little more than babies. He rails against the culture that infantilize them and the men who live that way.Joseph Summers (Tyrese Gibson) is a young black man struggling to get by. He lives with his mama (Candy Ann Brown). His baby mama Yvette (Taraji P. Henson) is frustrated with him. She starts going with gangster Rodney (Snoop Dogg). His mother has a new boyfriend Mel (Ving Rhames) who's done time.It's very tough. Joseph makes mistakes. He's an idiot at times, but he isn't a bad guy. Tyrese Gibson doesn't allow him to play the fool in this. He instills the character with humanity even when things are at the lowest. If there is one message, I think Singleton is trying to tell young black men to get their sh14 together.

Jody is a unemployed immature young man who isn't committed to anything or anyone but himself. He has two children out of wedlock he does not financially support. He leeches off his mother living at home. He tries to act like a gangster in the streets. That act does not fool anyone in his neighborhood. He's thought of as soft. His mother takes up with a veteran gangster called Mel. Jody feels left out as Mel becomes the man of the house. Mel tries to school Jody on how to be a real man. Jody doesn't take the lesson. Mel and Jody have a fight. It's like when a older stronger lion chases a weaker younger out the pride to fend for themselves. Jody is out on his own.He shacks up with one of his kids moms. She has some kind of relationship with a hard core gangster that beens in prison called Rodney. When Rodney comes home he causes problems for Jody. It's time for Jody to be a man and face this hard core gangster. Jody unable to kill him only wounds him, but it sends a strong enough message he will protect his own. Shook up and scared he turns to Mel who without words understands what Jody is going through. Mel uses his street mentality to put Jody back together and calm him. The two share a bond now. Jody leaves his mother's house to become a man on his own with one of his mother's children. The one he loves.Tyrese Gibson was stellar as Jody. Great performance. As a viewer I got caught up in his story because I thought he was an immature punk at times and felt sorry for him other times when Mel and Rodney backed him down. Ving Rhames gave a powerful showing as Mel. When he has Jody in a headlock letting him know what he would do to a weak man in prison was real to the bone. Ving Rhames commands every part he is in. Snoop Dogg was low down dirty Rodney. Snoop Dogg's best acting I've seen. He owned that part. He played the bad guy to perfection.John Singleton's best movie. Much better than Boyz n the Hood. More real and powerful with heart. I expected Mel was going to have to deal with Rodney. Singleton did not go that route and out smarted this viewer.

This is not an uplifting film, nor does it try to be. A young black man trying to survive in the hood and dealing with the mess he created. The typical stereotypes abound. Unemployed, illegitimate child and crime. The main character is always conscious of the possibility of being killed on the streets. Part of the plot is that a part of him wants to escape, but he knows no other way to exist.You could sit in the passenger seat of a car driving through Compton or Watts, run a camcorder out the window for about 90 minutes and come up with the same thing.(Provided you survive the trip) There are a few strange twists in this film, such as the mother-son dynamic and the battle of good vs. evil featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg.