Retro Film Review: Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
One of the more interesting 1990s Hollywood trends - and probably the only one that had something do with originality, artistic integrity and genuine passion - was the series of films made by young black American directors depicting the harsh realities of American inner cities. As it happens with all such trends, public was soon oversaturated with films that had resembled each other. Throughout Hollywood history, such process culminated in parodies. In case of those films, the parody could have been made only by black film makers, because in "politically correct" decade anything else would be equal of racism. Thankfully, there were enough talented black film makers for such task, finally completed in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, 1996 comedy directed by Paris Barclay.
Script for Don't Be a Menace was written by Phil Bauman and two members of very talented Wayans family - Shawn and Marlon, who also appear in lead roles. Shawn plays Ashtray, young black man who returns to his old "hood" and starts hanging with his loser friends like ultra-violent Loc Dog, played by Marlon Wayans. From there plot – or what goes for plot - descends into series of gags inspired by the best remembered moments in films like Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, South Central etc. Some of those gags work, some don't, but this film is generally entertaining to those with some familiarity with the titles mentioned above. On its own, this film fails, but this is the fate suffered by most of 1990s Hollywood comedies, including Wayans brothers' later works in Scary Movie series. In this film, however, Wayans' brothers had somewhat more familiarity with the subject and the older brother Keenan Ivory Wayans to take lessons from; I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka, his 1988 parody of 1970s "blaxploitation" films, obviously served as a model for them. Don't Be a Menace won't enter film history textbooks, nor it belongs to the better among 1990s Hollywood parodies, but it would nevertheless represent pleasant hour and half for most of those who watch it.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on October 21st 2003)
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