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Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
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Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
The Wayans family were dominating movies and television in the 1990's achieving various degrees of success, from the classic variety series In Living Color to the Scary Movie franchise that rang in the new millenium. One of their earlier big screen efforts was a raunchy and over the top satire of the 90's urban drama called Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, which, though still providing sporadic laughs, has not aged very well and is definitely beginning to rust around the edges.
This film is a satire of those growing up in the "hood" movies that populated movie screens in the 1990's with a plot that appears to be a perfect melding of Boyz in the Hood and Menace II Society, where we meet a restless teen named Ash Tray (Shawn Wayans) who is sent by his mother to live with his father (who is apparently the same age as Ash Tray) and hooks up with his old pal Loc Dog (Marlon Wayans) for a series of allegedly outrageous adventures including Ash Tray's romance with a single mother of 7 and Loc's confrontation with a dangerous group of gang bangers.
[IMG]https://miro.medium.com/max/2625/1*WV-ycBmD7YBCmDMo6JnSPg.jpeg[/IMG]
The screenplay by Shawn and Marlon Waylons, and Phil Beauman is not only a petty accurate knock-off Boyz in the Hood and Menace II Society. but also affectionate winks to films like Poetic Justice, South Central, Juice, Dead Presidents and a very amusing takeoff of on my favorite scene from the Adrian Lyne film 9 1/2 Weeks that was easily the funniest scene in the film, not a great accomplishment.
This film's limited appeal comes through from the opening scenes, aimed at a very specific demographic. This film is clearly aimed at the African American movie-going population and a lot of what goes on in this film is not going to be funny to white people. I'm pretty sure the moment when a woman opens her refrigerator to reveal nothing in it but 40 once bottles of beer or the guys at the barbecue with their pants pulled down past their underwear, that most white folks won't be terribly amused.
Director Paris Barclay does keep things moving at a nice clip, sometimes moving a little too quickly,causing the audience to lose a lot of several amusing visuals offered along the way. It wasn't until the final act of the film that I noticed that the leading lady's address was 6969 Penetration Drive. Shawn Wayans is charming as Ash Tray but Marlon Wayans continues his reputation as one of the planet's most annoying screen presences with his ridiculous Loc Dog. There are some funny bits thrown in along the way by Antonio Fargas, Lawanda Page, and a set of cameos by the stars' older brother Keenan Ivory Wayans, but this film is just sort of a time capsule to the 90's that just doesn't play too well in 2020.
The Wayans family were dominating movies and television in the 1990's achieving various degrees of success, from the classic variety series In Living Color to the Scary Movie franchise that rang in the new millenium. One of their earlier big screen efforts was a raunchy and over the top satire of the 90's urban drama called Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, which, though still providing sporadic laughs, has not aged very well and is definitely beginning to rust around the edges.
This film is a satire of those growing up in the "hood" movies that populated movie screens in the 1990's with a plot that appears to be a perfect melding of Boyz in the Hood and Menace II Society, where we meet a restless teen named Ash Tray (Shawn Wayans) who is sent by his mother to live with his father (who is apparently the same age as Ash Tray) and hooks up with his old pal Loc Dog (Marlon Wayans) for a series of allegedly outrageous adventures including Ash Tray's romance with a single mother of 7 and Loc's confrontation with a dangerous group of gang bangers.
[IMG]https://miro.medium.com/max/2625/1*WV-ycBmD7YBCmDMo6JnSPg.jpeg[/IMG]
The screenplay by Shawn and Marlon Waylons, and Phil Beauman is not only a petty accurate knock-off Boyz in the Hood and Menace II Society. but also affectionate winks to films like Poetic Justice, South Central, Juice, Dead Presidents and a very amusing takeoff of on my favorite scene from the Adrian Lyne film 9 1/2 Weeks that was easily the funniest scene in the film, not a great accomplishment.
This film's limited appeal comes through from the opening scenes, aimed at a very specific demographic. This film is clearly aimed at the African American movie-going population and a lot of what goes on in this film is not going to be funny to white people. I'm pretty sure the moment when a woman opens her refrigerator to reveal nothing in it but 40 once bottles of beer or the guys at the barbecue with their pants pulled down past their underwear, that most white folks won't be terribly amused.
Director Paris Barclay does keep things moving at a nice clip, sometimes moving a little too quickly,causing the audience to lose a lot of several amusing visuals offered along the way. It wasn't until the final act of the film that I noticed that the leading lady's address was 6969 Penetration Drive. Shawn Wayans is charming as Ash Tray but Marlon Wayans continues his reputation as one of the planet's most annoying screen presences with his ridiculous Loc Dog. There are some funny bits thrown in along the way by Antonio Fargas, Lawanda Page, and a set of cameos by the stars' older brother Keenan Ivory Wayans, but this film is just sort of a time capsule to the 90's that just doesn't play too well in 2020.