Better Late Then Never

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

It probably would have helped if I'd seen all (or at least some) of the movies that this parodies, but as it stands, DON'T BE A MENACE is consistently funny enough on its own. From the Wayans' Brothers, DON'T BE A MENACE parodies/spoofs just about every "hood" movie from the 90's, like BOYZ N THE HOOD, MENACE 2 SOCIETY, etc. Shawn Wayans stars as Ashtray, a 19-year-old who moves in with his younger (than him) father, and Marlon Wayans as Loc Dog, one of his friends. If there's one big weakness, it's that there's not really a plot to speak of, meaning that the film plays like a series of skits rather than a cohesive story. That being said, there were a lot of laugh-out-loud moments and funny running gags. The best ones, to me, were Keenen Ivory Wayans as the mailman who pops up from time to time and says "Message!" whenever the "preachy" moments come. Also, everyone (and I mean everyone) drinks only malt liquor. Generally, the humor that works the best has to do with pointing out stereotypes in these types of movies (and life in general), rather than the scatological stuff which was often a little too gross for me. Thankfully, it wasn't relied upon as much as it is now in movies of this ilk, but fart jokes and foul-mouthed grannies will only get you so far. For those types of jokes, they were funny the first few times, but became a little tiresome later. This is also an extremely quotable movie, with such memorable lines as, "Break yo self, fool!" So, while I haven't seen really any of the movies this parodied, I have seen other Wayans' Brothers movies and this compares favorably to those. I'd consider this the last genuinely good spoof from them, even if the story structure is all but nonexistent. It doesn't really live up to Mel Brooks (but honestly, what can?), but as a distillation of 90's urban movie clichés, DON'T BE A MENACE is on fairly solid ground.

I was watching an old "Honeymooners" rerun with a friend and we came to Jackie Gleason's Ralph's inevitable "To the moon, Alice!" expression of frustration with his wife, and suddenly I realized that it WAS inevitable, so why were we laughing, having heard it a dozen times before? My friend pointed out that Gleason's timing - the manner in which he held his slow-burn, the widening of his eyes, the sudden "Bang! Zoom" take off into the line - was what always made it funny. We weren't laughing at the line so much at the performance of it."Don't Be A Menace" is the most obvious collection of predictable gags and bits I have seen in a long time, but it is by far the funniest. The Wayans are rather stuck - the genres they parody here have very rigid conventions, so much so that there is usually only one or two gags one can use to mock them - e.g., when a young gangsta warns us that many young men in the 'hood don't live to see their 21st birthday, we all know what's coming next. So the Wayans handle it in a manner that delays the punchline while emphasizing its obviousness. Thus we laugh with them, appreciating the way they pull it off, and recognizing the gangsta genre limit that's getting parodied, rather than at the bit itself.Just about the whole movie operates on this level, and for this reason has become one of my favorite comedies. The Wayans capture every moment with a dead-on rhythm that blends the gags into a kind of music. Shawn plays the steady bass while Marlon does some wild riffing. Other characters and bits drop in and out like improvisation and sound effects. Keenan Wayans drops in every now and then like the voice on a scratch dub. The tempo could have been a little swifter, but the rhythm itself is excellent.Comedy like this is very tricky, and I personally didn't think the Wayans' efforts in the "Scary Movie" films were quite as successful - but here they move it right along.It's rude, it's crude, it's in-yor-face - and it's just a delight to watch.

I don't understand the humor in this film. I also found it offensive on how Koreans were depicted in that film, despite how it is actually just a caricature of Koreans in those areas. First, the actors are Japanese, and they make the most rude expressions of Koreans in that film. It disgusts me on how these people are expressed. I felt anger just watching that one scene, and how they were so badly made out in the film. The humor lasts just for one laugh, and then you don't understand why it's even funny. It's crude humor with the most disgusting representation of society there. I found it to be an offensive film overall... Maybe it was just because I never lived in the "hood" or saw any "hood" movies, but I don't intend to either.

I've been wanting to see this movie for a while and I finally did. I thought it was hilarious!The Wayans Brothers take off movies so well.I thought this was a fabulous take off of all the hood movies.All the jokes were very smart, original and funny.The acting was good. They made a really good parody of all the hood characters.I felt some characters were too over the top though, but nothing that bad.I'm sure anyone will find this funny, but only if they've seen some of the hood movies. If they didn't then some of the jokes will stupid.Overall I thought it was a marvelous take off of all the hood movies. An entertaining movie and must see for hood movie fans!Keep up the good work Wayans!