Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)

"Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking your Juice in the Hood" is a parody of several U.S. films about being in the 'Hood', for instance "Boyz n the Hood", "South Central", "... See full summary »

Director:

Paris Barclay

Writers:

Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans

Stars:

Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shawn Wayans	...	Ashtray
Marlon Wayans	...	Loc Dog
Tracey Cherelle Jones	...	Dashiki
Chris Spencer	...	Preach
Suli McCullough	...	Crazy Legs
Darrel Heath	...	Toothpick (as Darrell Heath)
Helen Martin	...	Loc Dog's Grandma
Isaiah Barnes	...	Doo Rag
Lahmard J. Tate	...	Ashtray's Father (as Lahmard Tate)
Keenen Ivory Wayans	...	Mailman
Keith Morris	...	Dave the Crackhead
Craig Wayans	...	Thug #1
Casey Lee	...	Birthday Boy Thug
Joe Scott	...	Birthday Cake Boy (as Joe 'Nub' Scott)
Kim Wayans	...	Mrs. Johnson

Storyline

"Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking your Juice in the Hood" is a parody of several U.S. films about being in the 'Hood', for instance "Boyz n the Hood", "South Central", "Menace II Society", "Higher Learning" and "Juice". We follow Ashtray as he returns to the place he grew up in and meet his father and his basket-case friends. Crazy stuff happens. For example, Ashtray is older than his father and his best friend Loc Dog's grandmother is a trigger-happy old lady who blames her eccentric-looking kid for not being tough enough.

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Plot Keywords:

hood | parody | grandmother | cult film | children with same mother but different fathers | 

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Taglines:

Finally, the movie that proves that Justice isn't always Poetic, Jungle Fever isn't always pretty, and Higher Learning can be a waste of time.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, sexuality, some drug content and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

12 January 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Don't Be a Menace

Filming Locations:

S 7th Ave & Montclair St, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,800,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$20,109,115

Company Credits

Production Co:

Island Pictures, Ivory Way Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 94 min (2005 unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Early in the film, Shawn Wayans's character states that his father is only a few years older than him. While poking fun at the cliches in Hollywood movies about African-Americans, this is also making fun of the fact that Cuba Gooding Jr. is only 7 years younger than Laurence Fishburne, who played father and son in Boyz n the Hood (1991). Lahmard J. Tate, who plays Ashtray's father, is less than two years older than Wayans.

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Goofs

When Loc Dog applies for the Motors job, they call his name for an interview before he even gave them his application that he filled out.

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Quotes

Ashtray's Cellmate: If you hit a man, in time his wounds will heal. If you steal from a man, you can replace what you've stolen. But always cross in the green, never in between. Because the honorable Elijah Muhammad Ali floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. And always remember my brother, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, knick knack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone, two thousand, zero, zero, party, oops! Out of time, my bacon smellin' fine.

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Crazy Credits

Robert Schimmel is listed in the opening credits, yet he does not appear anywhere in the film, and is missing from the end credits.

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Alternate Versions

The Unrated version contains the following alternate scenes: Loc Dog's chat with the thug chick at the barbecue is extended; After Ashtray is released from jail Loc Dog, Preach and Crazy Legs play a game of Po'Nopoly; Loc Dog's dream is shown at the Old School scene; During Toothpick's drive by, instead of Ashtray running away he tries to save Dashiki, making more sense why he is suddenly lying on the ground; When grandma is said to have the "juice", she chops the guy's head off and puts it in her purse, referring to 'Dead Presidents'.

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Connections

Spoofs Above the Rim (1994)

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Soundtracks

Renee
Written by Mr. Cheeks (as T. Kelly)
Lost Boyz Publishing (ASCAP)
Performed by Lost Boyz
Produced by Mr. Sex and Tim Dawg (as Buttnaked Tim Dawg) 4 One Dread One Ball Head Productions
(P) 1995 Island Records, Inc., a PolyGram Company

User Reviews

I laughed until I was exhausted; not for those easily offended by black stereotypes

How many gags involving offensive portrayals of African Americans can one movie have? This film may have reached the limit.

There was not so much a plot as there was a series of jokes showing black people in a less than positive light. In the movie's first five minutes, two young black men are gunned down. A hysterical mother cries over the body of her 'baby' until she realizes the young man isn't hers, and then she quickly calms down and becomes quite indifferent.

Ashtray arrives in the 'hood' in a car driven by his mother, who wants Ashtray to live with his father. The mother will not be seen again, because, as she says, there can be no positive black women in this movie. The father actually appears to be younger than Ashtray, who recalls at one point in the movie that he used to change his father's diapers.

Ashtray meets a girl named Dashiki, who is described as having more children than Mrs. Wayans. He is introduced to those children, all sitting in a row, some not even black like their mother. Asked 'What do you say?', the children all reply in unison, 'Are you my daddy?' (Despite the presence of children, this movie should not be seen by anyone under the age of, say, 21. At least I saw an edited version.) Later in the movie, Ashtray must decide whether he wants to make a commitment to Dashiki.

About halfway through the movie, either I became immune to the jokes or the movie ran out of creative energy. Or maybe the writers just wanted to give us a rest, because it was desperately needed. But the laughs soon started up again. Some samples of the humor:

-A refrigerator was full of '40', an alcoholic beverage which it seemed everyone drank (even a baby bottle was filled with something the same color as '40'). A water cooler was refilled using '40'.

-In front of a Korean-owned grocery, one of several black men in a car pulled a gun on Loc Dog. Loc Dog had a larger gun. The man pulled out an even bigger gun. Loc Dog opened the back of his truck to reveal a missile labeled 'USSR'.

-At a party, one black man refused to dance with a beautiful black woman, deciding instead that he wanted a hideously ugly white woman.

-Loc Dog did everything possible to mess up his job interview, when his competition appeared to be Ivy League educated whites with the personality typically associated with Harvard. He got the job anyway. I won't say what job, but it suited him.

-A black cop and a white cop arrested Ashtray and Loc Dog just for being black. The black cop seemed to genuinely hate blacks without even seeming aware he was himself black.

-A road test for a driver's license included the license examiner robbing a bank.

I highly recommend this movie for anyone who just needs a good laugh and does not care about quality or being offended.