Barbershop (2002) - Story's tiring, overrated chatterbox hit

♥♥

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year 

A collection of endeared stars align curbside on this poster for Tim Story's Barbershop

Calvin is a dreamer, but his dreams cost money, and therefore the barbershop that he has inherited from his father is nearly bankrupt. Now he decides to sell it, - but is that the right decision?

Barbershop is written by Mark Brown (The Salon (2005)), Don D. Scott (House Party: Tonight's the Night (2013, video)) and Marshall Todd (Woke (2020, TV-series)) and directed by Tim Story (One of Us Tripped (1997)).
Ice Cube (Ride Along (2014)) is pretty good as Calvin, and Anthony Anderson ('Til Death (2006-07)) has comedic chops, - but unfortunately he is mostly tasked with yelling in Barbershop. The same type of problem goes for Eve (Flashbacks of a Fool (2008)), who doesn't seem to be doing anything at her job besides hollering aloud about apple juice and other matters.
Cedric the Entertainer (Dance Fu (2011))'s character is a tiring know-it-all who talks incessantly; and similarly to the film's languid story, he moves around in grounds that are very close to self-parody while often dripping more or less truthful 'wisdom' into the mortar.
The major problem for the plot in Barbershop is that Calvin is dead tired of his shop, - SPOILER but then changes his mind about it anyway. Where the new-found realization comes from on this apparently normal day in the small chatterbox that we look in on is a mystery. The staff soon becomes extremely tiring for the audience as well (as they are for Calvin), and it is involuntarily funny how very few customers the barbers have, and how exceedingly rarely they seem to actually get paid in proper money. - What kind of a business is this? ...

 

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2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 77 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.41 times its cost)
[Barbershop premiered 7 August (USA) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place in Chicago, Illinois from ? - January 2002. The film opened #1 to a 20.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it was #1 for a second weekend and then spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5), grossing 75.7 mil. $ (98.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 230k $ (0.3 %) and New Zealand with 51k $ (0.07 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. The film spun a franchise; the first sequel was Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004), and after that came a spin-off, a TV-series and in 2014 a second sequel. Story returned with Taxi (2004). Cube returned in The Bernie Mack Show (2002, TV-series) and theatrically in Friday After Next (2002). Barbershop is certified fresh at 83 % with a 6.59/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Barbershop?

Coraline (2009) - Selick's otherworldly masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

The fantasy-inspiring, great poster for Henry Selick's Coraline

Coraline's parents have moved her to a new, large house. There's only one nerdy playmate in the neighborhood, until Coraline finds that there is a different, wildly adventurous world hiding inside the house...

Coraline is not a conventional kids animation with a clear moral, but instead a visually magnificent, fairytale-like horror so crazily created that I almost couldn't believe that it existed, as I saw it first. - The colors (which go from B/W to color), the designs and the seamless mix of techniques (like puppet stop-motion, digital compositing and CGI) will knock you out of your couch in amazement.
Coraline is unusually rich on originality and real, nightmarish horror, (meaning also that it isn't appropriate for kids under age 6-8, depending on the child.)
The voices, by Dakota Fanning (The Motel Life (2012)), Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives (2004-12)), Ian McShane (Deadwood (2004-06)), John Hodgman (Mozart in the Jungle (2014-)), Jennifer Saunders (Shrek 2 (2004)), Keith David (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) etc., are also lively and inspired. Inspired is the word that most defines Coraline, which is also very odd and surreal.
Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach (1996)) adapted Neil Gaiman's (Stardust (1999)) 2002 novel and directed the film. He also directed the successful, (yet grating) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which many (wrongfully, also due to wrongful advertisement) think that Tim Burton directed, - he didn't.

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 124.5 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Coraline came in 3rd in the US with a 16.8 mil. $ opening weekend. Its US run ended at 75.2 mil. $ (60 % of the total gross), - meaning that it was mostly outside America that Coraline should have been better welcomed. It was Oscar- and Globe-nominated as Best Animation, (unfortunately losing to Pete Docter's Up). Coraline eventually became commercially successful with DVD sales (45 mil. $ profit), a video game and soundtrack.]

What do you think of Coraline?