Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer headline an all-star cast of characters in "Friday" director Tim Story's enjoyable African-American comedy "Barbershop" about the ups and downs of running a hair cutting salon in Chicago. Calvin Palmer (Ice Cube of "xXx: State of the Union") inherited the barbershop from his father who had established it back in 1958 and survived the Chicago riots intact unlike all the other surrounding businesses. If you want to know about the history of Calvin's barbershop, you have to watch "Barbershop 2: Back in Business." Meantime, this origins epic establishes Ice Cube's character. Apparently, he didn't see himself as a barber and he blames his father for being too free and easy with his customers and running the business down. In reality, Calvin learns from his wife Jennifer (Jazsmin Lewis of "Deliver Us from Eva") that he is principally responsible for driving them into debt with his hare-brained schemes, particularly opening a recording studio. Naturally, Calvin sees things completely different and he makes a big mistake when he sells out to the local loan shark, Lester Wallace (Keith David of "Cloud Atlas"), for $20 grand because he cannot afford to pay the bank. Calvin realizes the enormity of the deal that he has cut with the devil when he understands how much the barbershop plays in the life of the community. Unfortunately, when he tries to give Wallace back his money, Wallace informs him that he has until 7 pm to pay up an additional $20 grand if he wants to own the place himself. While Calvin and his fellow barbers are weathering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, two crazy thieves smash a pick-up backwards into a grocery store across the street and drag off an ATM machine. J.D. (Anthony Anderson of "Exit Wounds") and Billy (Lahmard J. Tate of "Jason's Lyric") are two numb skull thugs who take the ATM and dream about the $50-thousand dollars that they will find in the ATM. The misadventures of J.D. and Billy as they struggle to crack open the ATM alternate with Calvin's woes. The dialogue between the barbers in the barbershop provides most of the laughs while Lester Wallace's lethal loan shark constitutes the film's chief villain. Everything works out in the end for Calvin and company. One interesting subplot concerns a white barber with an African-American woman and a vehicle. Isaac Rosenberg (Troy Garity of "Bandits") is the white barber who argues that he is blacker than some of his co-workers. Eventually, Isaac fits in with the other barbers. "Barbershop" qualifies as an amusing comedy, and some of Cedric the Entertainer's dialogue, especially his rants about African-American Civil Rights sensations sounds politically incorrect. The characters are individualized. Tim Story doesn't wear out his welcome with the antics of the protagonists, and "Barbershop" is a good comedy.

always comparing, this is not as funny as bad Santa or the classic, Airplane! but i seriously could NOT stop laughing on this movie. Eddie cracks me up with his discussion on racism and Jesse Jackson. "Man fu@% Jesse Jackson!" This is more than just a comedy, it has a meaning to it. one of the few comedies with a meaning to it, and a good one. if you liked Friday, next Friday, any of Anthony Anderson's films of any comedies, check this out! i watched this over and over the first time i bought it. i HIGHLY recommend this movie to any movie buff or anyone period. Tim Story's best film by far with the only films i know by him being fantastic 4, which i hated and taxi, which was OK. 10/10

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)From the Sisyphean (say what?) misadventures of a kind of black Laurel and Hardy duo (Anthony Anderson and Lahmard J. Tate) who steal an ATM machine with no money in it that they can't open, to the white dude who thinks he's black, to Cedric the Entertainer who thinks that Rosa Parks got too much credit for parking her butt on the bus, to sexy and saucy Eve who always loves the wrong guy, this is one fine piece of entertainment. And Ice Cube as Calvin who owns the shop ain't so bad himself, although he sure has to frown a lot.Well, he's got troubles right here in the Windy City. He's always got an entrepreneurial scheme up his sleeve that just doesn't quite work out which causes him to fall behind in his property taxes. Now this might not be such a big deal but the barbershop has been in his family for three generations and it serves as a kind of neighborhood club where people can hang out and shoot the breeze. It's a beloved kind of place. Enter Lester Wallace the loan shark with muscle who makes Calvin an offer he can't refuse. Well, he does refuse it or at least he tries, but Wallace ain't the kind of dude to take a refusal.Can Calvin save the barbershop? That's the question of the main plot line, but what really makes this movie such a treat are the barbershop mini-stories that are neatly tied together and the fine repartee. And what makes THAT work is that everything in the film is seen from a point of view inside the black community and not from somebody else looking in (which never works, but is often tried). Add a warm and redemptive ending, and there ain't nobody cryin'.But see this for Tim Story who directed and got it all right, and for Mark Brown, Don D. Scott and Marshall Todd who wrote the neat and very funny script.

While this was supposed to be about Calvin's barber shop, I enjoyed the misadventures of J. D. and Billy and the stolen ATM, which became relevant only toward the end of the movie. As for what took place in the barber shop itself, I enjoyed those scenes only part of the time.I thought Cedric the Entertainer did a great job, not only with comic lines but also in a couple of dramatic scenes. Of course some of what he said was offensive, but it was probably realistic. I say 'probably' since I'm white and don't really know the culture.One well-done scene involved Isaac, the one white barber, and one of the black barbers who had a racist attitude. And another one of the best scenes involved an angry woman, a baseball bat, and a car.I liked Dinka, who was from Africa. How could anyone not like him? Well, apparently in black culture, in addition to light-skinned blacks being prejudiced against dark-skinned and vice versa, there are some American blacks who are prejudiced against African immigrants. At least that was the case in this movie. Some really harsh comments.Ice Cube did a good job. I think most of the actors did. There were some characters I didn't like and that may have clouded my opinion of the acting performances, but overall a lot of talent was shown here.