Barbershop: The Next Generation Review

After 12 years, the producers of the Barbershop series finally decided to release a new movie. “Barbershop: The Next Generation,” includes the same cast from the previous films, along with some new faces. It premiered in theaters April 15, the movie stars Ice Cube as Calvin, Cedric The Entertainer as Eddie, Regina Hall as Angie, Eve as Terri, and several more; along with Nicki Minaj as Draya, Tyga as Yummy, Lamorn Morris as Jerrod and many more new faces throughout the film.

Since the last film, Angie and Calvin have combined Angie’s beauty shop and Calvin’s barbershop because of the rough economy in Chicago. Along with living in Chicago during tough times and often being caught up in the chaos of the city because of gang violence and increased murder rates, Calvin and his friends are willing to do whatever it takes to put their neighborhood back on the right track.

Throughout the movie, Calvin and his wife begin to see their son, Jalen (Michael Rainey Jr.), slowly going down hill. The neighborhood they live in, and the school that Jalen now attends, is in a bad area and the people around him influence him in the most negative ways possible. After walking home one day from begging for money from his dad at the shop with his best friend, they run into the Crips gang and then comes a little confrontation. Soon, saved by Yummy (Tyga), a lead member of the “Bloods” gang, Jalen and his best friend join the gang as a token of their appreciation. Watching the film there were several suspenseful peaks, and I constantly wondered what would shock me next.

Noticing the increase tensions of gang violence, the employees of the shop decide to have the shop become the 48-hour zone of neutralization, where they can hopefully keep the peace for a few days at least.

I have noticed that in many movies there is an underlying theme or moral to the story in which the film writers hope the audience discovers; however, in this film the combining moral of love overpowering all, a neighborhood bond and the meaning of family is what made this movie seem different than other movies with a theme to it. The realness of the film, and the typical family love/hate relationships, but at times dysfunctional moments in the film are what in my opinion made the film stand out.

The actors and actresses seemed to be extremely devoted to their roles and the characters they were portraying. Personally, I am more of a fan of Nicki Minaj rapping to her hit albums than on the big screen. Her performance on the big screen seemed to be mediocre and she portrayed a character most women could not put up with because of her persistence to have relations with Rashad, a married character in the film; however, it was not a big disappointment to me because she is new to acting. In many scenes she was very monotone, tedious and she didn’t seem as into her character as others did.

The extreme talent seemed to lie in Calvin, as always, and Eddie. Their versatility of humor and authenticity was shown all throughout the film, and they were dedicated to portraying their character the best way they knew how.

All in all, this movie was a success tying in to the previous two films. After all those years without making a film, many had low expectations for this movie because the cast had an amazing bond for the previous films, but they were so long ago. When first hearing there were more cast members added, I didn’t know if that was a good move because of how well the previous cast acted together. It was great to see the cast start where they left off, and still have the close knit bond they did years ago to create a marvelous film, and hopefully we will see where this cut leads the Barbershop to next.