Part of the reason this movie got such awful reviews could be because going in, it would be reasonable to expect a movie with this subject matter to be slightly more grown up in terms of the comedy, when in reality, it's basically early Sandler quality material, and no one really comes along to save it as it just keeps on the same steady pace of dullness the entire way.
Co-writer and star Eddie Griffin is awful as usual, but Anthony Anderson and Michael Imperioli both given decent, if rather uninspired, performances in their leading roles. Imperioli is a fine actor and Anderson is generally good for at least a laugh or two, but the material fails their talents. John Amos ("Good Times") is good, but most of the supporting cast is useless or, at best, unmemorable. Paula Jai Parker and the Sklar brothers turn in notably unfunny performances.
The character development is atrocious. Most notably, Dominic (Imperioli) is supposedly a player, but apparently we're just supposed to take their word for it. G (Anderson) is lazy, which we're supposed to get out of him being late for work once. Lonnie (Griffin) is the only one whose character appears on screen to be what we're being told it is, but his storyline is so predictable and lazy that it doesn't really matter.
Bottom line: If you're looking for a way to waste an hour and a half without thinking or even needing to really pay attention at all, you can do worse than this movie, but it's the epitome of a movie that TBS is going to inevitably show 30 times a year. It tells very little story, all of it you can see coming a mile away, and you might chuckle a couple of times. It might not be as bad as I had thought it was going to be, but it's still bad.
Co-writer and star Eddie Griffin is awful as usual, but Anthony Anderson and Michael Imperioli both given decent, if rather uninspired, performances in their leading roles. Imperioli is a fine actor and Anderson is generally good for at least a laugh or two, but the material fails their talents. John Amos ("Good Times") is good, but most of the supporting cast is useless or, at best, unmemorable. Paula Jai Parker and the Sklar brothers turn in notably unfunny performances.
The character development is atrocious. Most notably, Dominic (Imperioli) is supposedly a player, but apparently we're just supposed to take their word for it. G (Anderson) is lazy, which we're supposed to get out of him being late for work once. Lonnie (Griffin) is the only one whose character appears on screen to be what we're being told it is, but his storyline is so predictable and lazy that it doesn't really matter.
Bottom line: If you're looking for a way to waste an hour and a half without thinking or even needing to really pay attention at all, you can do worse than this movie, but it's the epitome of a movie that TBS is going to inevitably show 30 times a year. It tells very little story, all of it you can see coming a mile away, and you might chuckle a couple of times. It might not be as bad as I had thought it was going to be, but it's still bad.