Barbershop 2: Back in Business

Starring: Queen Latifah, Ice Cube

RS: 2of 4 Stars

2004 Comedy

Don’t get me wrong. There is fun to be had in the sequel to the 2002 hit starring Ice Cube as Calvin, who inherits a Chicago barbershop from his father. But a dutiful mood -- call it sequelitis -- has descended on the place. The plot about gentrification of the hood and a Nappy Cutz chain threatening to put Calvin’s shop out of business feels like a TV sitcom in a mid-season slump. And the appearance of Queen Latifah, as a beauty shop owner, looks like what it is -- a setup for a spinoff movie called Beauty Shop. It’s still a kick to listen in on the gang as hair is cut and talk tumbles out with good-natured glee. Michael Ealy, Eve, Troy Garity and Cube all have their moments. And Cedric the Entertainer still steals scenes as the loudmouth Eddie. But even Eddie’s comments -- his jokes about Rosa Parks in the first film got him a wrist-slapping from Jesse Jackson -- have been toned down. It’s feels like the New Puritanism (recently repped by the outcry over Janet Jackson’s "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl) is seeping in. But in the barbershop? Say it isn’t so.

PETER TRAVERS
(February 6, 2004)