On B List of Movie Reviews
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Baby Boy (2001)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
5/19
5/19:
I had super low expectations coming into Baby Boy and decided to watch it only because the DVD was coupled with
Boyz n the Hood.
And boy...was I totally wrong. What a coincidence. Recently, I read two books by Jesse Lee Peterson, Scam and
The Antidote, about the current state of Black America: fatherless households, idle/joblessness, high rate
of incarceration, children born out of wedlock, multiple baby mamas, mooched-off mothers, males with feminine behavior or
Oedipal complex, black-on-black violence, gutter "language" called Ebonics, perverse definition of what being a man
means, angry black females, and lack of content in character.
Showcasing all of them, Baby Boy is a damning indictment against the black race. Contrary to what some people may
think, it's not a comedy like Friday or other similar crap films. It's raw, real, dysfunctional, and hard to watch.
What's interesting is how sex is used as a weapon to confuse and therefore control females.
Apart from John Singleton's brilliant writing which is filled with many highs and lows that have the ring of human truth,
the cast offers some of the best acting I've seen in a while. The following four should've been
Oscar-nominated: Tyrese Gibson (who's a splitting image of Terrell Owens), Taraji P. Henson, A.J. Johnson, and Ving Rhames.
Although I hate Snoop Dogg and don't ever pay attention to him, he's effective in playing a scary-looking guy with long,
grotesque arms which are gross to look at. Omar Gooding deserves some credit as Jody's blindly loyal "gangsta" friend. What
precludes Baby Boy from getting '10' from me is the last twenty minutes which comes off as too soft. Instead,
there should be a dramatic denouement like what happened in Boyz n the Hood to send a powerful message.
All in all, as harsh and heavy as Baby Boy is, it's an extraordinarily well-made movie.