Parents' Guide to Janky Promoters

The title of this film, Janky Promoters, delivers on what it promises. It's 85 unpleasant minutes of watching foolish, dishonest people make bad decisions. They then struggle with the highly predictable, yet utterly unexpected, ugly consequences. We could love strivers from the projects facing financial obstacles, but these guys lie to everyone, including each other, making them difficult to root for. They are unlikable, so it's tough to care about their struggles. One character steals money from his girlfriend, the other buys a fake expensive watch with money needed to make the concert happen. The tension that emanates from their bad decisions is uninvolving because, well, who cares about these two? If the gun-toting drug dealer they swindled out of $20,000 goes after them, we don't care. If the girlfriend gets mad they stole money from her account, we don't care. If the spoiled and arrogant rap star doesn't get the audience he expected, we don't care.

There is a half-hearted attempt to bring into perspective the disadvantages Russell is trying so unsuccessfully to overcome. His mom has been in jail and will probably return there as she's been "slinging crack since the '80s." Here, for seemingly comic purposes, a high-stature Black artist, Ice Cube, who wrote the script, recognizes self-defeating behaviors that may arise from growing up in the projects and he makes fun of them. The lesson, he seems to be implying, is that his characters do not learn from their mom's errors, nor do they learn from their own. Russell rents a van to pick up the rappers and the rental company has made a note that the last van Russell rented was trashed, so they add a cleaning fee before he even takes possession this time. Still, he does try to pass on whatever wisdom he's gleaned as when he tells his untalented son, "Talent don't make money. Money make money."