Combines big laughs, a big heart and thoroughly winning characters.
Barbershop (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:115
Fresh:96
Rotten:19
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: Besides bringing on the laughs, Barbershop displays a big heart and demonstrates the value of community.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for language, sexual content and brief drug references
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Sep 13, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $75,074,950
Synopsis:
Barbershop is a smart comedy about a day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin (Ice Cube), who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop...
Barbershop is a smart comedy about a day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin (Ice Cube), who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.
Calvin's barbershop is filled with an eclectic and hilarious cast of characters that share their stories, jokes, trials and tribulations. In the shop we find Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), an old barber with strong opinions and no customers. Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas) is a highly educated barber with a superiority complex who can't stand Isaac (Troy Garity), the new, white barber who just wants a shot at cutting some hair. Ricky is an ex-con with two strikes against him and is desperately trying to stay straight. Terri (rap star Eve, making her feature film debut) is a hard-edged woman who can't seem to leave her two-timing boyfriend. And lastly there's Dinka, a fellow barber who is madly in love with Terri but doesn't get the time of day.
Ice Cube leads an all-star cast, including Anthony Anderson, in a touching comedy about one day in and around the barbershop.
-- © 2002 MGM Pictures
Starring: Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve
Starring: Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve, Jazsmin Lewis, Troy Garrity, Anthony Anderson
Director: Tim Story
Director: Tim Story
Screenwriter: Mark Brown, Don D. Scott
Producer: George Tillman, Robert Teitel
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Studio: MGM/UA
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Reviews for Barbershop
The banter between Calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise McLaughlin Group ... and never fails to entertain.
Ice Cube has never seemed more rooted or believable as a character, first-time director Tim Story is very good at keeping his ensemble under control and in balance, and the movie makes a cogent, optimistic and mostly entertaining slice of ghetto life.
What makes Barbershop so likable, with all its flaws, is that it has none of the pushiness and decibel volume of most contemporary comedies.
If nothing significant gets settled in the rambling barbershop conversations, at least many issues are aired, and by the end, in classic sitcom fashion, all problems have been solved.
Once folks started hanging out at the barbershop, they never wanted to leave. Chances are you won't, either.
Like CAR WASH (1976), this loosely structured comedy is less about plot than character, and its characters are carefully drawn and flawlessly played.
The film didn't convince me that Calvin Jr.'s Barbershop represents some sort of beacon of hope in the middle of Chicago's South Side.
An entertaining drama about an African-American barbershop owner who makes the startling discovery that true wealth comes from investing in others.
The movie's quiet affirmation of neighborhood values gives it an honest, lived-in glow.
Uneven at times, Barbershop wins you over through random moments of vitality and joy.
Pratfalls aside, Barbershop gets its greatest play from the timeless spectacle of people really talking to each other.
Manages to offer a heartening lesson about communal triumph over personal gain, while shearing away all the gloss, dreck and dry ends that normally comes with so blunt a message.
Ice Cube is sympathetic as the star, and Cedric the Entertainer tends to steal the show.
As warm as it is wise, deftly setting off uproarious humor with an underlying seriousness that sneaks up on the viewer, providing an experience that is richer than anticipated.
Why can't we all get along? Barbershop says, respectfully, that we can.
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