Critic Reviews

Fast and raunchy, Friday After Next surely stands apart from other holiday-themed movies for its gleeful low-down humor and a raft of uninhibited characters involved in one outrageous predicament after another.

Loaded with priceless encounters that would seem incongruous in any other movie but play here as low-comedy facts of some parts of black life.

There's nothing sophisticated or inventive about it, but Cube has fun with his characters and first-time director Marcus Raboy drives the film with enough momentum and energy to make the gags flow together almost like a real story. That's enough to carry it through another Friday.

The movie's 85 minutes speed merrily along on a steady stream of outrageous antics, entertaining performances from seasoned pros (like John Witherspoon, as Craig's dyspeptic dad), and unforgettable introductions to new talent.

The trouble with movies like those in the "Friday" series is that their success can lead to a need to inflate their importance, inviting pretentious descriptions like "folkloric" when "Friday" is much closer to chitlin circuit comedy.

If you can’t laugh at stuff like this, there are still a few days left in the theatrical run of “Santa Clause 2”. I hear the reindeer are horny as hell.

I guess there's an audience for it, and Ice Cube has paid dues in better and more positive movies ("Barbershop" among them). But surely laughs can be found in something other than this worked-over material.

The third -- and thinnest and weakest and least funny -- installment in Ice Cube's popular Friday series.

Anyone who pays to see it will certainly feel as if he has been clipped.

The movie is altogether too infatuated with its ramshackle spirit. Most of the gags take after the characters -- they just sit there.