John Singleton's new tale in the middle class 'hood alternates as a compelling family drama and an unrelenting, sometimes savage, critique of the urban African-American male. Singleton pulls no punches from the outset, likening the film's main character, Jody (in his early twenties), to a baby not only by use of the theories of crackpot Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, but by way of a first scene that shows Jody, as a grown man, warm in amniotic fluid. He has two children by two women; the mothers of his two children harass him, but cater to him; he still lives at home; plays Daddy only when it is fun; comes and goes as he pleases; does not have a job; allows his own mother to baby, feed, and financially support him; has sex when and with whom he wants; and otherwise, lives a life a only a bit rougher than one of Peter Pan's lost boys.
What makes this film so different, and sometimes, uncompromisingly harsh, is that Singleton gives not one second to establishing root cause. Unlike earlier films, racism, oppression, and poverty play no overt role, and, Jody's world appears to be one of affluence. His mother's house is nice, one girlfriend works and supports herself well, the other appears to live in her mother's mansion (the grandmother drives a Benz). Instead, Singleton hammers home that Jody is not a man, his girlfriends spit it at him, his mother insinuates the fact. Singleton has Jody fixing the bikes of the neighborhood kids, and living in the kind of bedroom normally reserved for a 13 year old boy.
Then, Jody's mother begins to date Ving Rhames, an ex-con who adores her, wrestles earnestly with his own violent tendencies, runs his own business, and impedes on Jody's idyllic world. Simultaneously, Jody's girlfriend is imposed upon by just-out-of-prison Snoop Dogg. Jody is forced by these twin pressures to become a man, a traditional, Fred MacMurray type man. He must accept Rhames, leave the crib, defend and save the mother of his child, and accept his responsibilities.
The film is a bit long, and the symbolism is very strong (Rhames, at one point, takes the gun from Jody's hand and gives him a blanket (oh, if only Jody had a Daddy!), but Singleton has grown as a filmmaker, and I recommend the picture.
Grade: B.
