Baby Boy

John Singleton has released what he believes to be the third in a series of films that talkcand discusess the inner workings of the african American life. Here Singleton tries to tell a story, but the plot is so weak that it falls upon deaf ears. Does that mean that Baby Boy is unwatchable...no. Its watchable, but unlike the movies before it...you won't really walk away with anything....but dissapointment.

In "Baby boy" Tyrese stars as Jody, a man who has his two baby's mothers, his mom's new boyfriends, and no real job to deal with while at teh same time living under the roof of his mother. He's afraid to grow up, and choose one of his women to stay with. Of course, he begins to move a lot closer to that case when he finds one of his baby's mother's old lovers is released for jail..and he has it out for Jody.

This movie lacks any real character development. Its like an extended and dramatized version of "Next Friday". We are to assume through dialouge and actions that Sweatpea (Omar Gooding) is a volatile character that has been in and out of jail numerous times. Of course, none of that is really said..you have to infer it. Snoop Dogg's depection of Rodney is great, and almost makes you forget that he's the legendary rap artist. Unfortunately, the scenes with Snoop are either way to short, or taken as a form of comedy..and really cause Jody's advesary to be taken a little lightly. Then we have several things in the plot that are brought up, then dropped like a dress worn that still has the tag on it. Jody's "job" in the movie shows how Jody earns a little cash, and then the audience is basically told to forget any an all recollection of those events. What happened to the job? If it wasn't important, why even include it? Which makes me question a couple of scenes in the film, and why the title track "Baby Boy" had to be played behind each and every scene.

This film isn't bad, its just misguided. The scenes between Tyrese and his mother, and Tyrese and his baby's momma are wonderful..but the rest of the film lacks any real heart. Unlike Boyz N The Hood (or Poetic Justice to a lesser extent), Baby Boy doesn't tell/show us anything new about the urban life. It just regergitates the same cliche's we've always had about the hood, and the life surrounding it. Baby Boy just goes on for 2 hours to show a bunch of guys on screen. The plot is so weak that you can almost miss the "climax" of the film if you're not paying close attention. You'll sit there when the film is over asking yourself..."was that it?!?".

I honestly can't say I liked this film, nor would I recommend it to anyone. It has some good messages and points spread periodically throughout the film (mainly in this first third), but for the most part its nothing more than an extended MTV video where they can show Snoop & Tyrese while playing "Baby Boy" over and over again in the background. This movie is bad, and if you have to see a good John Singleton film....see Boyz in the Hood or "Poetic Justice". "Baby Boy" just fails on so many levels that its almost laughable. Maybe Singleton was tyring too hard. No matter what it was, "Baby Boy" appears to be just a film made to make cash off of a director's name, music from the soundtrack, and make a good new film for the urban community. Two out of three ain't bad, and I can be sure to tell you that it's not the latter.

Rating: 1/2 out of four.

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