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Friday (1995)
At the core of every great stoner comedy is audience participation—even if it’s just the vicarious chill of watching people get high for 90 minutes. But the secret sauce of Friday might be synchronizing the viewer-character connection one step further.
Sure, there’s a loose plot of Craig (Ice Cube) and Smokey (Chris Tucker) needing $200 by day’s end to pay back the neighborhood drug dealer. But the two friends spend most of the runtime sitting on Craig’s porch, mirroring the audience, waiting to be entertained. Their South Central neighborhood doesn’t disappoint, bringing a dozen eccentric characters and story arcs right to their feet, like so many comedic sketches with the unlikeliest hint of a job-free Rear Window.
If those passive pleasures aren’t enough, Friday soars every time John Witherspoon (as Craig’s dad) is on screen, embarking on unstoppable improv jags about his job as a dog catcher. Plus, you can enjoy Tucker rendering the most hyperactive character ever to smoke three joints at once and the first-feature inventiveness of director F. Gary Gray (Set It Off, Straight Outta Compton), who memorably affixes cameras centimeters behind bike pedals. Academy, Feb. 16–22.
ALSO PLAYING:
5th Avenue: Bottoms (2023), Antiporno (2016), Feb. 16-18. Academy: Deep Cover (1992), Feb. 16-22. Cinema 21: The Lady Vanishes (1938), Feb. 17. Cinemagic: Rogue One (2016), Feb. 15. Clinton: Ghost in the Shell (1995) with live score, Feb. 15. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), Feb. 16. Sambizanga (1972), Feb. 20. Hollywood: The Manitou (1978), Feb. 15. The Wizard of Oz (1939), Feb. 17. Cemetery Man (1994), Feb. 17-18. Scotland, PA (2001), Feb. 18. One False Move (1992), Feb. 19. Tomorrow Theater: Holy Frit (2021), Feb. 18.