Next Friday
Next Friday is a 2000 American stoner comedy film and the sequel to the 1995 film Friday. It is the first film to be produced by Ice Cube's film production company Cubevision. It was directed by Steve Carr and stars Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Don "D.C." Curry, John Witherspoon, and Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. The film was theatrically released on January 12, 2000, grossing $59 million worldwide and receiving generally negative reviews from critics. A third film, titled Friday After Next, was released in November 2002.
Next Friday | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Steve Carr |
Produced by | Ice Cube |
Written by | Ice Cube |
Based on | Characters by Ice Cube DJ Pooh |
Starring | |
Music by | Terence Blanchard |
Cinematography | Christopher J. Baffa |
Edited by | Elena Maganini |
Production company | |
Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $11 million[1] |
Box office | $59.8 million[1] |
Plot
After the events of the first film, Smokey has entered rehab to cure his marijuana addiction. Meanwhile, Craig's father Willie decides it would be safer for Craig to move to Rancho Cucamonga and live with his uncle Elroy and cousin Day-Day, who had won the lottery and were able to afford a nice house in a middle-class neighborhood. Elroy spends his days consuming large amounts of marijuana and making sex tapes with his wife, Auntie Suga while Day-Day works at a record store and tries to avoid his pregnant ex-girlfriend D’Wana and her violent sister Baby D. Day-Day shows Craig around the house and neighborhood, introducing him to his neighbor Mrs. Ho-Kym. While there, they witness another neighbor family, Joker and his two brothers, return home in their lowrider. Day-Day explains to Craig that actually after winning the lottery, all of the taxes and fees that were taken out only left them with enough to buy their house and car. However, a letter carrier delivers a delinquency notice that their house could be repossessed, but Day-Day is running late for work and unable to bring it to his dad's attention first.
Craig joins his aunt and uncle for a joint which is strong enough to make him pass out, and he later goes to visit Day-Day at work. While there, Day-Day finds D’Wana vandalizing his car with Baby D for the second time that day, and attempts to confront them, only to be physically attacked by Baby D. Pinky arrives at the store finding that it has been locked up while Day-Day and his friend/coworker Roach are in the back. After an armed scuffle with Craig in which Pinky mistook him for a robber, Craig gains the upper hand and holds Pinky’s gun on him, attempting to explain that he’s Day-Day’s cousin. When Day-Day returns and confirms this, Pinky fires both him and Roach. Craig, Day-Day and Roach then try to figure out how to resolve the delinquency issue so they can keep their house. Craig remembers seeing one of the Joker brothers carrying a hydraulic pump from their car inside, suspecting that they may be hiding cash inside. Craig convinces Day-Day and Roach to help him get inside the Joker’s house and see what’s inside the pump.
The trio drug the Joker’s guard dog Chico with an edible Roach had given them, rendering the dog unconscious. Craig then sneaks into the Joker’s house while the three brothers are partying with girls they brought home. Craig locates the pump and confirms that drug cash is hidden inside, taking some for himself. Narrowly avoiding detection by the eldest Joker, he slips into Karla’s room where he flirts with her before escaping out of her upstairs window. Meanwhile, concerned that Craig is taking too long, Day-Day and Roach knock on the Joker’s front door, which is answered by all three brothers armed with handguns and an assault rifle. The brothers take Day-Day and Roach hostage while trying to figure out what happened to their money.
After learning that Craig could be in trouble, Willie returns to the neighborhood while unknowingly hauling Deebo and his younger brother Tyrone in his truck, both having been tracking Craig down all day after they escaped from prison so Deebo could have revenge on Craig.
When Craig returns to Elroys house inquiring of the whereabouts of Day-Day and Roach, he along with Willie & Elroy deduce that they are still in the Joker brothers’ house. They then form a plan to get the two out while Auntie Suga informs them that if they aren’t back in 10 minutes she’d be calling the proper authorities.
The trio then sneaks into the backyard of the Jokers’ house, as Baby Joker is sent into the toolshed to get a chainsaw he was directed to retrieve, Willie knocks him out with a 2x4. This then lures out Lil Joker who Elroy incapacitates by tackling him, while also hurting his back. Willie then ties both of the younger Jokers up and puts them in the shed. Joker grows impatient and goes out to look for his brothers and notices Elroy still laying on the ground. This distraction is enough for Craig to engage him in a fist fight. As Craig has Joker distracted, Elroy recovers enough to free Day-Day & Roach from their bondage. As soon as the duo is free they try their best to help Craig in his fight with Joker, but the latter gains the upper hand and is about to shoot the trio before Deebo appears behind him and knocks him out, he then acquires the assault rifle and is about to enact his revenge on Craig, but Chico arrives and bites him in the arm to incapacitate him.
Soon after, the police arrive and arrest all three Joker brothers on drug charges and re-arrest Deebo and Tyrone for their prison break. Craig hands the cash from the pump over to Day-Day and his uncle so they can pay off their debt and keep their house, then Craig returns home with his dad, having learned the suburbs aren’t any safer than the hood.
Cast
- Ice Cube as Craig Jones
- Mike Epps as Daymond "Day Day" Jones
- Justin Pierce as Roach
- John Witherspoon as Willie Jones
- Don 'D.C.' Curry as Elroy Jones
- Tommy Lister Jr. as Deebo
- Jacob Vargas as Joker
- Lisa Rodríguez as Karla
- Tamala Jones as D'Wana
- Clifton Powell as Pinky
- Kym Whitley as Auntie Suga
- Sticky Fingaz as Tyrone
- Lobo Sebastian as Lil' Joker
- Rolando Molina as Baby Joker
- Amy Hill as Mrs. Ho-Kym
- Robin Allen as Baby D
- Michael Blackson as Angry African Man Customer
- Nicole Lydy as Ashley Nicole
- Michael Rapaport as Mailman with Tax Notice
- Chris Tucker as Smokey (archive footage)
- Faizon Love as Big Worm (archive footage)
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack, which featured appearances from Aaliyah, Eminem, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ice Cube, N.W.A., Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan, and Wyclef Jean, peaked at number five on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts, and nineteen on the Billboard 200 in 2000.
Release
In the United States, the film was released on Wednesday, January 12, 2000.
Reception
Box office
Next Friday grossed $14.5 million in its opening weekend in 1,103 theaters, averaging $13,114 per theater. The film grossed $57.3 million in North America and $2.5 million in the foreign box office, for a total $59.8 million worldwide.[1] The film is the most-successful in the franchise.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 22% based on 65 reviews, and an average rating of 4.11/10. The we site's critical consensus reads, "Next Friday lacks the fun of the original Friday. The movie is messy and plotless and relies on unfunny vulgar gags."[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[5]
Awards
- 2000 MTV Movie Awards
- Best Comedic Performance — Ice Cube (nominated)[6]
References
- "Next Friday (2000)". Box Office Mojo. May 26, 2000. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
- Sherber, Anne (May 20, 2000). "New Line Sets Up Huge 'Next Friday' Campaign". Billboard. Vol. 112 no. 21. p. 98.
- "Next Friday (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- "Next Friday reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
- "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Next Friday" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- Wolk, Josh (June 9, 2000). "The MTV Movie Awards". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 10, 2016.