The Diva's "Baby Boy" Review

(click here to skip to this movie's rating) Baby Boy(2001) Viewed at Loews' Lewis and Clark Rated R; approximate running time of 129 minutes. Directed by: John Singleton Written by: John Singleton Starring: Tyrese Gibson, Omar Gooding, A.J. Johnson, Taraji P. Henson, Snoop Dogg, Tamara LaSeon Bass, and Ving Rhames Genre: Drama WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW. The Digest Jody (Tyrese) has 2 kids by 2 different women; no job ;no car; and lives at home with his mother. Yet despite all of his trifilance, "he got game" Lots of game. His mother is always bailing him out when he gets in trouble especially from "baby mama drama". He jumps from woman to woman, yet still his son's mother; Yvette (Taraji P. Henson) takes him back every time. But all of this is about to change. Jody decides that he is going to start boosting clothes to make ends meet. Jody, armed with advice from his mother and her girlfriend and charm, tells the women what they want to hear and makes a killing. Before you know it, he is rolling deep in money. With the money flowing in, you'd think that Jody would get his act together, but he doesn't. He is still at home with his mother. He doesn't neglect his children and he is spends as much time with them as he can. He is just not a constant presence in their lives, but his father wasn't there for him so he is learning how to be a father as he goes along. Jody's 36-year-old, mother, Juanita (A.J. Johnson), has found a new love. A reformed O.G. ("Old Gangsta" or "Original Gangsta" depends on who you ask.) from the old school named Melvin (Ving Rhames) has come a-callin' and Juanita is sprung (hooked). She is ready to start he life again. Jody is 20 and should be living on his own. His mother is tired of supporting him. She wants him to do right by his children. Melvin tries in his own harsh way to be a father figure for Jody, Jody ain't havin' it. As far as Jody is concerned, he is the man of the house and Melvin is over-stepping his bounds. Melvin and Jody antagonize one another until there is so much tension that a fight breaks loose. Juanita is torn between her man and her child, but any decision she makes is the bound to be the wrong one. The Dish Before I go any further... parents keep your children at home. This movie is "R" for a damn good reason. Let me give you some more advice... Assited Listening Device. Get it at the box office. It looks like a Walkman, but it's not. The headphones only work for the movie you are watching. You will have a much better movie going experience because you won't hear everyone running off at the mouth. My blood pressure would have exploded had I not worn those. I could faintly hear the audience talking at the screen and doing what "folks" do in the theater, but with my headphones on, I was still able to enjoy the movie. This is a very hard review for me to write because I've found myself justifying, excusing and accepting all of the stereotypes and issues that I fight against. The negative stereotypes that are reinforced, the foul language (Y'all know how I feel about the "N" word.), belief that everyone in the hood is a miscreant and nothing good comes out it. All of this was present in this movie, but I still liked it. Maybe it's because I looked at it as the life of these few people. Not the black community as a whole. Maybe it's because what I saw on the screen is what I expected from people who are/were gangbangers and people who grew up in that environment. This very well could be my own stereotype coming into play. I know that everyone who grows up in South Central is not "Rodney, "SweetPea" or "Do Dirty". Nor are do all the women excuse trifilin' behavior and chose men over their children like "Juanita", "Yvette", and "Peanut". Let's get down to my issues. The plot was weak and there were many loose ends. Characters not fleshed out or characters mentioned in passing several times, but neither background on them nor do we every see them. Beyond all of my issues, what I saw is a story of a young man struggling to be a man when he hasn't had in male guidance at home. Babies having babies then not knowing how to juggle motherhood and womanhood. Immature people making poor decisions; and lacking the skills that only come with maturity to cope with their poor decisions. It's a vicious cycle. Snoop played the part of a complete and total THUG very well. There was nothing to like about him. Heck I wanted to beat his ass. Tyrese did very well portraying a young man who is trying his best to be a man, but is too weak to not allow the women in his life to take care of him. Taraji P. Henson's "Yvette" seems to only know how to express anger and sexual gratification. She's so busy telling Jody to grow she fails to see that she has some growing to do too. A.J. Johnson pleasantly surprised me. I remember her as "Sharane" in "House Party". Juanita looks good. She's not much older than me (only when evil people make me tell the truth about my age, other wise I'm 22 and that makes her WAY older than me.) and I fully believed that she was a now grown teenage mother desperately wanting to finally live her life. Even though her character was a bit one dimensional, I felt her pain when she couldn't get her man and her son to get along. Last but not least, Ving Rhames. Now this brotha scared me. He looked like he would stick you with a skiff in a second. Ving has also been working out. Go to the video store and rent "The People Under the Stairs" there you will see a very skinny Ving Rhames with a Jheri Curl. After you see him then, you'll understand my shock. "Baby Boy" is no "Boyz 'n da Hood", and I was saddened to see that not much in hood has changed in John Singleton's eyes, but nonetheless I'm glad he took us back to his hood for another glance. The Directive There is no real need to catch this right away. You might want to wait until the crowds thin out some. Or go catch it early in the morning. "Baby Mama Drama" in da Hood. back to top Copyright Kamal "The Diva" Larsuel-Ulbricht, 2001 EMAIL: thediva@3blackchicks.com ICQ: 8690410 http://www.3blackchicks.com/ Use the feedback form below to send your comments to The Diva