FRIDAY

ality: * * Acceptability: -3

RATING: R

RELEASE: April, 1995

TIME: 95 minutes

STARRING: Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Bernie Mac, John Witherspoon, Regina King, Nia Long, Anna Maria Horafod, Reynaldo Rey, Tiny “Zeus” Lister, Angela Means, & Paula Jal Parker

DIRECTOR: Gary Gary

PRODUCER: Pat Charbonnet

WRITERS: Ice Cube & D.J. Pooh

DISTRIBUTOR: New Line Cinema

GENRE: Comedy

CONTENT: (H, LLL, V, S, D, M) Humanistic worldview where self rules all; 120 obscenities, profanities and vulgarities; 3 brief violent scenes of gunfire & a physical confrontation; implied promiscuity; blatant smoking of drugs & depiction of drug deals carried out in front of young children; and, scenes of household robbery

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Teenagers and young adults

SUMMARY: FRIDAY chronicles one long day in the life of Craig Jones who has lost

his job after stealing from his place of employment. During the day, Craig and his drug-smoking friend Smokey try to: resolve a drug deal; survive confrontations with the `hood’s’ bully; goggle at women; and, engage in burglaries. FRIDAY has excessively harsh language, the blatant smoking of drugs, violence, and low entertainment value.

IN-BRIEF:

FRIDAY is the story of Craig Jones, played by Ice Cube, who has just lost his job after stealing videotapes from his place of employment. The film chronicles one long day in the life of Craig, as he hangs out with his best friend Smokey, who smokes drugs all day and persuades Craig to join him. In the course of the day, Craig: tries to bail Smokey out of a drug deal that has gone sour; tries to escape his jealous girlfriend and win the heart of another; goggles at women with Smokey; watches as Smokey participates in burglaries; and, survives confrontations with the neighborhood’s bully, Deebo.

Although FRIDAY is a comedy, there is nothing very humorous about life in the `hood’ as depicted in the film which includes the blatant smoking of drugs, excessive use of vulagarities and profanities and casual burglaries. The general lack of direction in the characters’ lives all send out a message of the loss of goals and self-worth. The crude slant of FRIDAY’s humor and its offensive language throw dark and disturbing questions on the sociological trends in some neighborhoods. The film’s entertainment value is low and unappealing. Although events of the day are wrapped up at the end of the film, it leaves no messages of reassurance that life in the `hood’ is going to dramatically improve.