Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Cortechba Overrated

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Steve Pulaski After digging through Ice Cube's filmography and finding some mediocre films like All About the Benjamins and Janky Promoters I finally found a gem shining out from the pile. Barbershop is to smart to have its characters fall into an endless pit of clichés. It knows that somewhere these characters exist and they give them a sense of individuality. They are being themselves, not who they should be. And not what movies expect them to be.Barbershop takes place all in one normal work day. Calvin (Cube) runs the barbershop that was once occupied by his father and grandfather. Calvin gets by working there, but isn't as into cutting hair as his former generations. Desperate to try and get his record company on its feet, he sells the shop to a shady loanshark named Lester (David). Regretting his deal, he tries to undue the damage and call of the negotiation but Lester refuses.The other subplot is two bumbling thieves (Anderson and Tate) steal an ATM machine and spend the whole film trying to get inside to the money. Their antics are idiotic and sometimes humorous, but ultimately, these two subplots make the film a little less enjoyable.When I look back on Barbershop, I will remember very funny dialog, realistic characters, and an enjoyable setting. I will not remember the loan shark or the idiot thieves. If the whole movie would've been set in a barbershop with these characters I would've loved it even more. The screenwriter and the director probably figured it would be "too boring." But with these characters it probably wouldn't.The rating seems to hold back the film as well. A PG-13 rating on any comedy movie holds it back from being, not necessarily funny, but daring. Some comedies, like Just Married for example, could've been better if they would've gone further and not watered their material down. Barbershop doesn't water it down too much, but you can tell at times the characters are holding back their true feelings.The employees at the barbershop are some of the funniest and cheeriest of people you'll ever meet. We have Ricky, a felon, Jimmy, a College graduate looking to make more out of his alive, Terri, a hostile women with a passion and devotion for apple juice, Issac, the token white barber who says he is just as black as the other employees in the shop, Dinka, the Nigerian barber with a love for poetry and harbors a crush on Terri, and my personal favorite, the sixty year old veteran barber Eddie who seems to be on a continuous break.These characters have their own place and purpose, and each are as welcomed as the next. Barbershop has enough passion and soul to be labeled a drama or even realistic fiction. It's a comedy, but not always. I feel that if the two subplots were removed the tonality would completely change and we would have a bunch of people doing what they do best; talking and cutting hair. It's more than a barbershop, it's a constant social hour amongst employees and customers.Starring: Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve, Michael Ealy, Troy Garity, Leonard Earl Howze, Keith David, Lahmard Tate, DeRay Davis, and Cedric the Entertainer. Directed by: Tim Story.

Jackson Booth-Millard I don't get to see a nearly all black actor filled film, and this one wasn't too bad, from director Tim Story (Fantastic Four). Basically it is a day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin Palmer (Ice Cube) inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, and with an ambition to do other things, he sells it local loan shark Lester Wallace (Keith David). Slowly though he realises his mistake, and Wallace instead of taking back his money wants double, so Calvin is pretty sure his barbershop will have to close its doors. He can either convince Wallace to forget the debt, or raise it, Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) who has been there since it opened is determined Calvin can#t and won't sell it. There is also a slapstick filled subplot where J.D. (Anthony Anderson) has stolen a cash dispenser and is trying to find a good place to hide it, and before the end it ends up at the barbershop, where Calvin can collect a reward for returning it. Also starring Sean Patrick Thomas as Jimmy James, Eve as Terri Jones, Troy Garity as Isaac Rosenberg, Michael Ealy as Ricky Nash and Leonard Earl Howze as Dinka. The film is filled with black stereotypes, and there are moments where you really have to listen to understand what they are saying, but it amusing. Worth watching!

view_and_review The barbershop, especially in Black culture, has always been a communal spot. The shop is usually packed with shabby heads waiting to be groomed while the barbers quickly and carefully shaved and shaped the hair of the head in front of them. The barbershop was never short on conversation, hot topics, and a wide array of opinions."Barbershop" did a good job of capturing that in comedic fashion. Although Ice Cube is a sub-par actor, the supporting cast and the story itself were enough to overshadow his poor performance. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Ice Cube is a horrible actor, he just lacks the range and ability to do much more than the angry black man role. The cast of characters was very well chosen. Cedric the Entertainer's presence helped the movie a lot. There is not a movie that he is in except that he enhances it.The movie had a nice even tone to it: not too funny, not too serious, not too much going on, not too many slow parts. The main story was nicely complemented by the other sub-plots involving the other characters. I'm especially pleased that the Barbershop was not depicted as a vulgar place not suitable for kids or anyone with decent morals. I wouldn't mind seeing more movies like this.

roxy_quiksilver_12 Relationships vs. Money In Barbershop, having good friends and sticking together is better than money because money can't buy happiness and because friendship lasts forever. Furthermore, Calvin wanting Oprah's guest house for his wife isn't going to make her happy.I've watched Barbershop quite a few times. It's one of my favorite movies and that's why I chose to do my MMR on it. Actually thinking about the meaning of the movie is something I don't normally do after watching a movie, but this time I did.When I said "Calvin wanting Oprah's guest house for his wife isn't going to make her happy," I meant that Calvin thought if he sold the barbershop for enough money and bought his wife a huge house then she would be happy. He was so wrapped up in the thought of money and himself he wasn't thinking about how great the barbershop was and how many generations it had been there. The barbershop had tremendous sentimental value, but money was clouding Calvin's thoughts. Within the barbershop group, there were people who loved and truly cared about each other. All Calvin wanted was more money; he didn't take the time to think how significant the shop was not only to just him, but to others around him also. It took Calvin selling the shop to see the value of relationships and realize that money won't buy happiness and cannot fulfill the things friendships can.No matter how much money you have in your possession, you will never be able to buy yourself happiness. Yeah a nice house, a nice car and any material thing you want might be nice, but you can't accomplish true happiness with money. In the beginning of the movie, Calvin had a picture of Oprah's guest house and he was trying to start all these small businesses thinking that being able to buy a huge house was going to make him and his wife happy. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is when Eddie said to Calvin, "Yo daddy may 'notta had a whole 'lotta money, oh but he was rich, cause he invested in people." This is such a powerful quote because of the meaning it has. Eddie is saying Calvin's dad changed peoples lives by giving them jobs, cutting their hair, and just letting them be in the barbershop. After Calvin sold the barbershop, he thought about it and saw the happiness and relationships in the barbershop. His wife was so disappointed in him and so was everyone else, and he finally realized that his father's barbershop was worth more than twenty grand, what it represented couldn't be purchased for any amount of money. Friendships and relationships do last a lifetime. Eddie was one of the barbers that had held a job there for so many years. Before he worked for Calvin, he worked for Calvin's father. Eddie built numerous relationships around the barbershop along with others who were customers and employees. His best and closest friends he saw every day while at the barbershop. They had conversations about anything and everything. You could go into that barbershop and talk about whatever you wanted. There were so many memories in the barbershop; you probably couldn't even count them. Checker Fred had been there every day for who knows how many years. After Calvin realized that the barbershop was more valuable than he realized before, he was a richer man.This movie helped me realized that money isn't everything, but friendship is. Money is important to a certain extent, but not to the degree where we lose any sort of relationship.