First off, there is no one in the movie named Benjamin. Benjamin comes from Benjamin Franklin, whose face is on a $100 bill. The opening scene is Ice Cube, as a bounty hunter (Bukum, pronounced Book-em), going into a red neck trailer park to capture his bounty. The yahoo has the proverbial Confederate flag hanging from his wall and is watching old slightly racist Loony Tunes. As it turns out this is an NRA trailer park and Ice Cube is shot at by the yahoo's girlfriend (foot is in a cast) as well as some old lady next door. As he collects his bounty we discover he is not in full employment, but semi-freelances. The secretary at the bail bond's place wants to be Ice Cube's partner, although he would rather go alone. His next gig is to bring in Mike Epps, a petty con man. During the chase Epps and Bukum end up at a murder scene over some diamonds. Now to make this more interesting it seems Epps has a winning lottery ticket worth $60 million, but through a series of events it ends up in the hands of the murderers. Ice Cube is leery about Epps' story and uses him to go after the murderers.The movie is funny and keeps moving. The character of Epps as a talkative, cowardly, pretending to be brave con artist compliments the series role of Ice Cube. The movie drops the MF bomb and frequent use of the "N" word. Gansta rap as a background is used 3 times as far as I could tell: opening credits, ending credits, and the climax scene.

Though it may appear as a Friday style film, All About the Benjamins is far from the comedy franchise as possible. Instead of being a slacker, buddy comedy, it's an action cop film similar to 48 Hours or Beverly Hills Cop. It isn't necessarily bad, but it takes a path I didn't expect. How could you blame me for mistaking it was a straight forward comedy? It's in a four pack that includes all Ice Cube movies, and it stars Mike Epps as well. The same characters that portrayed Craig and Dey Dey are in a movie that is included in a Friday four pack. Can't be that far off.Sadly, it takes the path and cliché of every cop movie out there. There's explosions, swearing, two friends, etc. It gets old very fast. There's not much new or fresh utilized here. If there is a low six star movie rating, this is the one. It's not a five star film, but it's not a seven or eight star film. It's kind of tilting on the edge.Bucum (Cube) is a bounty hunter who's goal is to get money to open his own investigation firm. Reggie (Epps) is a con artist that somehow escaped Bucum's clutches three times. After winning big on the lottery, but losing the ticket in the back of a van with diamonds thieves, Bucum and Reggie have no choice but to work together to get the thieves and retrieve the lottery ticket so Reggie can claim his riches.It reminds me of a film I watched not too long ago called Lottery Ticket that also stars Cube, about a young man trying to survive a weekend with a $370 million lottery ticket the whole neighborhood is aware of. The only difference is the ticket never leaves the man's possession. In this one they need to get it back.The film has frequent chases and action moments, but I find them unappealing and just a little much. I would have liked less of the over exaggerated, played out action sequences and more of the witty dialog. Ice Cube and Mike Epps made a great duo in Next Friday and Friday After Next, and had numerous dialog scenes in the film that were utterly hilarious and clever. This film relies too much on action movie clichés, and a drawn out plot. You know they'll retrieve the ticket, and most likely fight towards the end. The suspense is none.You may say it's my fault for comparing the film too much to Friday, but I'm not analyzing the film based on my first impression. I'm grading on behalf of the film's plot, characters action scenes, and suspense. The film had everyone of those in decent context. But so decent they were forgettable.Starring: Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Eva Mendes, Tommy Flanagan, Carmen Chaplin, Valarie Rae Miller, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Anthony Michael Hall. Directed by: Kevin Bray.

Co-written, co-produced and starring Ice Cube. You know, I never considered it, but he's one hell of an actor. Ice Cube is the best thing about Ghosts of Mars and he owns Friday and Next Friday. Here, he's a bounty hunter in Miami whose prey loses a winning lottery ticket in the middle of a diamond theft by an evil criminal mastermind.Michael Epps (Omar's brother maybe?) is quite good. The chase for the diamonds and the lottery ticket is reminiscent of some of those old Bill Cosby/Sidney Poitier flicks from the 1970s and yet it never really tips into the comedy realm but never loses that urban thriller edge either. The ending however was a little too The Whole Nine Yards for me.Great action sequences, nasty villains and good guys to root for. Look for Anthony Michael Hall as a white trash trailer park deadbeat. Not a bad rental.

"All About the Benjamins" falls into that category I call "something else" movies. As in, when you watch it, you should be doing something else, e.g., paying bills, talking on the phone, drinking with friends, trying to nail the girl you invited to your place, etc. Do not give it your undivided attention, because it doesn't deserve it.It seems like everyone realized they weren't making a very good movie and phoned it in accordingly. The direction is so vague you'd swear it was done by remote control from a helicopter. No one, even the normally enjoyable Ice Cube, ever breaks a sweat trying to get this movie off the ground.If you held this flick up to your ear, you'd hear the ocean. Easy come, easy go. Stay away, or have that "something else" on deck.