3536. Friday (1995)

Starring: Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Nia Long

Director: F. Gary Gray

Running Time: 91 mins

Friday is an American film about two friends living in the hood who find themselves in trouble after a local drug dealer comes after them.

An enjoyably small-scale movie, Friday is a nice bit of adolescent nostalgia that, while not exactly the most hilarious film ever made, combines a rosy-eyed portrayal of its setting with a pair of delightfully energetic performances from Ice Cube and Chris Tucker.

I can’t say that I was falling off my chair laughing at Friday, but where the film really succeeds is in its portrayal of a characterful, zany neighbourhood and two men who watch the world pass them by from their front porch.

The story follows Ice Cube and Chris Tucker as they go from misadventure to misadventure over the course of a bizarre Friday, unfolding at a leisurely pace as the two lead actors’ charisma bears much of the load when it comes to entertainment.

Both Ice Cube and Tucker are a lot of fun to watch here, with the contrast between the pair’s on-screen personas working nicely in establishing their friendship, and adding all the more flair to the chaos that ensues as they realise they’re about to become the target of a vicious member of the local community.

It’s a slacker comedy that moves around in a befittingly meandering way, and although that doesn’t make Friday the most consistently funny or engaging watch, it all plays nicely into the film’s easy, laid-back portrayal of the neighbourhood in which it takes place, offering a far more human vision of the hood than many films that came before it. So, that’s why I’m giving Friday a 6.9 overall.