What a difference a door makes. At least, that’s the premise behind Next Day Air, the laugh-filled film debut of music video director Benny Boom. When a package meant for one set of gangsters in a Philadelphia tenement accidently gets delivered to the gangsters next door, it sets in motion a comedy of errors providing enough laughs to make this a comic package worth opening.
The plot is incidental here. Leo (Donald Faison), a chronic-loving delivery man, spends so much time in a cloud of marijuana smoke, he’s one toke away from losing his job. Unfortunately, he ends up in charge of delivering a package hiding 10 kilos of coke that Mexican drug lord Bodega (Emilio Rivera) is overnighting to his underling Jesus (Cisco Reyes) and his sassy girlfriend Chita (Yasmin Deliz) in the City of Brotherly Love. Before you can say “sign here,” Leo has dropped the package off to the wrong address -- a gang of inept bank robbers. (Instead of taking the money during a recent heist, due to a miscommunication, they steal the surveillance tapes) Upon discovering the drugs, Guch (Wood Harris), “the brains” of the gang proclaims they are “a gift from God.” His partner in crime, Brody (Mike Epps), suggests selling the drugs to in his cousin Shavoo (Omari Hardwick). Shavoo arrives with his right hand man (Darius McCrary), who is so secretive he won’t even tell people his name. We just call him Buddy. Complications delay the exchange, giving Bodega and company enough time to track down Leo and the missing package. This sets up the climatic face-off and a violent resolution where everyone seems to meet a fitting final fate.
Don’t spend too much time scrutinizing Next Day Air. Its paper-thin story line relies too much on contrivances and incidentals to move it forward. Instead, the fun comes from sitting back and just enjoying the array of colorful, quirky characters first time scripter Blair Cobbs has created. Harkening back to such comedies as Friday and Car Wash, the ensemble cast makes these lowlifes both funny and engaging, You can’t help but like them despite their nefarious endeavors. Each of the players gets a chance to shine. In addition to the above, this includes humorous cameos from Mos Def, as Leo’s laconic colleague, and Debbie Allen, who makes the most of her one scene as Leo’s boss first and mommy second. Director Boom makes the most of his music video background, instilling the proceedings with a lively lyrical rhythm that mixes equal parts of style and silliness to create just the right comic tone.
You just wish Boom had had a little more restraint in other aspects of the film. In its quest to be raw and real, Next Day Air certainly earns its R rating. It is riddled with far more obscenities than are needed and the violence, especially during the finale, leans toward excessive. But when you realize that the carnage does make a point and that many of the characters get exactly what they deserve, it ultimately doesn’t detract from the comedy. If you’re in the mood to laugh, Next Day Air should deliver the goods.
Friday, May 8, 2009
