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Friday

Friday (1995)

tomatometer

83

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

89

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 235,656

My Rating

Movie Info

Hard-core rapper Ice Cube, after appearing in such hard-hitting films as Boyz 'N the Hood and Higher Learning, played his first comic role in this picture he co-wrote with frequent musical collaborator DJ Pooh. Craig (Ice Cube) manages to get fired on his day off (though he claims it's through no fault of his own) and spends the day hanging out with his buddy Smokey (Chris Tucker) and trying to avoid his father (John Witherspoon), who wants him to find another job immediately. Smokey (whose name

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Comedy

Ice Cube, D.J. Pooh

Mar 2, 1999

New Line Home Entertainment

All Critics (24) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (5) | DVD (12)

Friday has energy, and sass, and the nerve to suggest that the line between tragedy and comedy may be in the bloodshot eye of the beholder.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
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A crudely made, sometimes funny bit of porchfront humor from the 'hood.

July 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a ruder, cruder version of the hip-hop movie House Party, and it offers a fascinating glimpse at the way street life enters pop culture.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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Cube is amusing, though he's really playing straight man to Tucker's frenetic and energized Smokey.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Dirty, offensive, infantile and may launch a few sanctimonious opinion columns. And I mean that in the nicest way.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
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Writer and director are both only 25 years old -- and provide another example of why it's best to beware of young men with movie cameras.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment (1)
San Francisco Chronicle
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Ice Cube's drug- and profanity-filled 'hood cult classic.

August 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Co-scriptwriters Ice Cube, DJ Pooh, and director F. Gary Gray find as much humor in well-observed detail as in the oddities of the film's world.

July 25, 2010 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The original installment in the outrageous slacker trilogy starring Ice Cube.

September 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Sly Fox | Comment
Sly Fox

The original installment in the outrageous slacker trilogy starring Ice Cube.

September 7, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

A new generation of black talent (director Gray, actors Chris Tucker and Ice Cube) bring verve to this much welcome comedic view of street life in South Central, after mostly crime and drug pictures set there.

August 21, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Director Gray tries (unsuccessfully) to create a '90s Cheech and Chong with inane lavatory humour, manic facial expressions, and plenty of close-ups of a tokin' Smokey. Passé the spliff.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Synthesizes blaxploitation and pot-comedy genres and melds them into a colossus of unending laughs.

July 8, 2005 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Arizona Daily Star

It has a certain crude, rambling charm.

March 2, 2005 Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Gray's direction is painfully flat, and curiously -- especially for a popular music video director like Gray -- lacking any interesting visual style.

November 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

Cube's charm and Tucker's frantic antics can carry the movie only so far before the wall-to-wall profanity, constant vulgar humor and male chauvinist ogling wear out their welcome.

November 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | Comment
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

...much of the humor sailed right over my caucasian head.

November 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comments (2)
Reel Film Reviews

Turns "Boyz N'The Hood" on it's head...simply hilarious

July 11, 2003 Comment
Moviehole

Hilarious hip-hop ghetto comedy. Chris Tucker's role as "Smokey" sets this one apart from it's mediocre sequels.

March 19, 2003 Comment
eFilmCritic.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Friday

As far as "hood" films (the post 1970s predecessor to blaxploitation) go, this is one of the better and more entertaining ones. It's a buddy comedy all the way, yet it tries to do a little more and at least comment on larger issues affecting urban neighborhoods. It's not as preachy and serious or meaningful as Boyz N

June 9, 2006
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

A fun movie. Ice Cube and the rest are funny as hell. The jokes were funny, but I didn't laugh as much as I'd hoped. The plot was pointless, but aren't all stoner comedies. Overall a good movie, but comedy could've been better.

May 5, 2011
DreamExtractor
Brad Wright

Super Reviewer

    1. Smokey: You've got to be a stupid mother fucker to get fired on your day off!
    – Submitted by Alex M (3 months ago)
    1. Deebo: THAT'S MY BIKE, PUNK!
    – Submitted by Justice S (4 months ago)
    1. Smokey: YOU GOT KNOCK THE FUGG OUT!
    – Submitted by Justice S (4 months ago)
    1. Felisha: Craig. Craig.
    – Submitted by Jay A (7 months ago)
    1. Deebo: That's my bike, punk!
    – Submitted by Jay A (7 months ago)

Latest News for Friday

November 16, 2011:
Ice Cube in Talks for Another Friday
Cube plans to write, produce, star in, and possibly direct the fourth installment in the series.

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