The second and most recent “Barbershop” movie came out in 2004, so it’s reassuring to learn that Ice Cube is still cutting hair on Chicago’s South Side after all these years.
“Barbershop: The Next Cut” revisits a very likable franchise and finds life left in the old formula. The blend of humor and social observations is pretty much intact, but somehow things haven’t gone stale.
Ice Cube’s character, Calvin, still runs the place. But now he shares space with a beauty shop, and he juggles his usual cast of cut-ups with his responsibilities as father to a troubled teen (Michael Rainey, Jr.).
The film saves a lot of its commentary for the gang violence bloodying the streets around Calvin’s shop. He and his cutters decide to instigate a weekend-long truce between rival gangs, turning the tonsorial parlor into a safe space.
As the synopsis suggests, these “Barbershop” films have always been in the can-do spirit of old Frank Capra movies. But Ice Cube and director Malcolm D. Lee (“The Best Man Holiday”) don’t miss any opportunities to lighten the mood.
This includes more unwanted opinions from Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), the senior member of the staff, who doesn’t actually cut much hair but makes up for it with political commentary. He claims to have once cut Barack Obama’s hair, an unlikely boast that leads to one of the funnier end-credits sequences in memory.
Cedric doesn’t have quite enough to do, nor does Regina Hall as Calvin’s co-owner. Instead, the film detours for some comedy involving saucy stylist Draya (Nicki Minaj) setting her cap for married barber Rashad (Common).
This is the biggest movie role yet for Minaj, and she’s already a master at the art of comic shade-throwing. There’s also funny patter from head-cutters played by Lamorne Morris (“The New Girl”) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (“The Mindy Project”).
Whenever there’s a lull, the movie can cut to old pros like J.B. Smoove, as a wheeler-dealer of indeterminate status at the shop, or Anthony Anderson, as a restaurateur whose “non-profit” status seems suspiciously designed to pad his own pockets.
“The Next Cut” is regularly funny, but it’s up-front about delivering messages. This movie wants its audience to think, and there are pointed conversations about the state of racism in America, whether Obama has been a good president for African-Americans, and how to revive neighborhoods like Chicago’s South Side.
This film is less abrasive than Spike Lee’s “ChiRaq”— another take on Chicago and race — but it makes similar points. These comedies want to take more than a little off the top.
“Barbershop: The Next Cut” 3 stars
The third installment of the “Barbershop” series finds Calvin (Ice Cube) still cutting hair on Chicago’s South Side, but increasingly worried about neighborhood gang violence. As usual, there’s lots of social commentary in this enjoyable comedy, and plenty of room for cut-ups like Cedric the Entertainer and Nicki Minaj.
Rating: PG-13 for language, subject matter
Showing: Alderwood Mall, Everett, Monroe, Marysville, Pacific Place, Thornton Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall
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