"Merry Christmas Muthafucka!" (reviewed by AX)

I don't think I have to explain the appeal of the FRIDAY film series. I mean, if you don't think this type of shit is funny, you should hang it up. You have problems. When I saw the original back in 1995, it marked the first time I ever liked a movie so much that I bought another ticket and watched it twice in a row. Most everyone I know has not only seen FRIDAY, but has seen it multiple times and has the dialogue memorized. In fact, it's to the point now where you have to say the right line from FRIDAY or nobody even laughs.

NEXT FRIDAY came out a few years later, and lots of people ignored it because Chris Tucker did not appear in the film. Funny, because it was FRIDAY that made him a star in the first place. Tucker stated that he wouldn't do any more R-rated movies because of his young fan base. That's lame. All the kids want to do is hear you say "motherfucker", Chris! Damn man. Despite all that, I thought NEXT FRIDAY was awesome and these days I watch it a hell of a lot more often than the first. I think Mike Epps (who plays Craig's cousin Dae Dae) is just as funny as Chris Tucker and has his own comic flavor. Not only was he hilarious in this, but was a crack-up in HOW HIGH as well.

So FRIDAY AFTER NEXT is the newest entry in the series, and yes it is very funny. And yes it is the kind of movie that'll require repeat viewings just like its predecessors. Epps and Cube are funnier than ever, and they brought back all the greatest characters from the previous film (Deebo and Stanley do not appear, but Pinky does. He was funnier anyway). This time we find Craig (Cube) and Dae Dae living in their own apartment in the hood. When their rent money is stolen on Christmas eve, they decide to get security jobs at a strip mall to make quick cash. As you could guess, the comedy comes from Cube and Epps's brilliant chemistry together, as well as the usual roundup of hilarious characters.

I think this is the strength of these films, because as we all know, life is full of strange and funny people. All you have to do is look around. Your family is weird. Your neighbors are weird. It's just truthful and yet off the wall, it's stuff we can identify with. We laugh at the FRIDAY movies because we can laugh at ourselves. I see humor in stuff like this because I see humor all around me constantly.

Fuck, I guess if you can't laugh, you'll cry. And that, my friend, makes you a bitch.

(11.22.02)