It’s Friday night again, and I just got paid

Friday After Next

Starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps

Directed by Marcus Raboy…

Friday After Next

Starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps

Directed by Marcus Raboy

“Friday After Next” wins this year’s award for the most uninspired, yet totally appropriately titled film. You see, the first installment in this Ice Cube produced and starring trilogy-for-the-time-being was titled “Friday,” and the sequel was “Next Friday,” thus making this film the “Friday” after “Next Friday.” I guess Ice Cube didn’t want to confuse his audience.

“Friday After Next” continues the exploits of Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) as they try and make it in a white man’s world. It is the night before Christmas and someone posing as Santa robs Craig and Day-Day, living on their own in a new apartment. This sinful Santa not only makes off with their stuff, but also manages to snag their rent money, which is due before Christmas Day.

Complicating matters, Craig and Day-Day are starting new jobs as security guards at the strip mall where their fathers have opened a restaurant. This new setting brings along its own set of colorful stereotypes including a pint-sized pimp, a shady boss and a pair of inept police officers named A. Hole and B. Dick. So in one day, Ice Cube must hold down a job, get back his rent money and of course seduce the new honey on the block, Donna – just another Friday in the hood.

If there is one thing that Ice-Cube has proven himself to be since his pseudo-retirement from the rap game it is that he is a smart filmmaker. From the time of his acting debut in 1991’s “Boyz N the Hood,” Ice has slowly established himself as a bankable star. Since his first producing endeavor, “Friday,” went on to become a bona-fide video hit, Ice has been using a similar recipe to produce and star in a consecutive series of moderate hits.

After the first two “Friday” movies came “All About The Benjamins,” and most recently, October’s hit “Barbershop.” These films were all produced for fewer than $20 million, featured no A-list stars and all generated a sizeable profit for the studio. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say that these films are works of genius, only that Ice Cube has discovered a formula that keeps both audiences and studio suits happy – not an easy task in the high-risk, big budget hit-or-miss era of Hollywood. Thus, it is no surprise that Ice has gone back to the well that gave him his first hit, and “Friday After Next” is definitely in step with the rest of Ice Cube’s successes.

While “Friday After Next” follows in line with the rest of Ice Cube’s producing achievements, this installment feels a little stale. Most of the jokes work, though some of the revisited material wears a little thin. The third time you hear someone say, “You got knocked the f— out!,” it’s just not as funny.

Also, first-time director Marcus Raboy does not appear to understand that he is directing a comedy and not a Jerry Bruckheimer picture. The directing is pretty standard fare, except for a couple overdrawn fight and chase sequences that utilize a frenzied editing style usually reserved for action flicks. If Raboy wants to be a big-time action director, that’s fine, but he should save his bag of tricks for the right material.

Overall, “Friday After Next” comes off as a logical continuation of the “Friday” saga, but that may be why it comes up a little short; it is fairly predictable. But ultimately, with a running time of only 85 minutes, “Friday After Next” is not a bad way to spend an evening and should satisfy fans of the franchise.