BOYZ N THE HOOD. Directed and written by John Singleton; produced by Steve Nicolaides for Columbia. Starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut. Rated R.
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Boyz N the Hood is full of exuberance, but it's a real downer of a movie. All the more so, since it's depressing not because of some construction of the scriptwriter's, but because it appears to mirror the real world.
It's full of profanity, too, with some (but not many) scenes of shocking violence. So this movie is not for all tastes. But, make no mistake, it is a well-made film. The acting ranges from capable to excellent. The narrative, while a bit jerky near the beginning, is ultimately quite compelling. In other words, it's good entertainment, as well as having value as a kind of anthropological study of a way of life unfamiliar to many viewers.
Set in lower-middle-class, largely black, south central Los Angeles, a neighborhood where gunshots regularly interrupt study time and the sound of police helicopters overhead is a constant soundtrack, Boyz N the Hood is basically the story of three teenage friends. Tre (Gooding) is obviously the one who is on the right track toward adulthood. He has a job, plans to go to college and, most important (as writer-director Singleton sees it, at any rate) he lives with his father.
Brothers Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Chestnut), on the other hand, live with their mother and are not such good role models. Doughboy drives a fancy car but is never seen to be working, and has been in and out of prison. Ricky does a little better, being a talented football player who hopes to go to USC on a scholarship, but who is already a father at 17.
These characters are interesting people, but the most interesting one (perhaps because Ice Cube is the most charismatic actor) is Doughboy, the least admirable. It's not unusual for a rogue to be more fun to watch than the straight-and-narrow character. And Doughboy's character has more depth than you might expect especially given his name. But since Tre is obviously supposed to be the focus the movie, it's a little disconcerting for him to be continually upstaged.
Singleton's message about the importance of father figures is a valuable one, but it's somewhat overstated in Boyz N the Hood. Tre's father (Larry Fishburne) does a good job of raising a responsible adult. But can only males do this? Such questions may detract somewhat from this movie's impact. But it still packs quite a wallop.
August 21, 1991