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Parents' Guide to

Next Day Air

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Violence overshadows humor in urban action comedy.

Movie R 2009 98 minutes
Next Day Air Poster Image

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Kids say (2 ):

NEXT DAY AIR's trigger-happy scenes effectively kill the comedy. First-time feature director Benny Boom and writer Blair Cobbs have made an urban homage to Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, but their films, unlike this one, expertly mix humor and violence. This movie's a waste of talent that includes the entertaining Yasiin Bey and Harris, whose amazing work as a Baltimore drug kingpin on HBO's The Wire seems far, far behind him. Faison, for his part, seems to be channeling an idiot version of his lovable Doctor Turk.

Seeing yet another veteran of The Wire in a subpar flick begs the question of whether there will ever be another creative vehicle for a minority cast that doesn't devolve into caricature -- like Deliz's Chita, who wears tight clothes and practices Santeria, or Epps' Escalade-obsessed thug. The newbie filmmakers get extra points for effort -- especially for attempting the always-hard-to-pull-off "Mexican stand-off" -- but the result is just C-level.

Movie Details

  • In theaters: May 8, 2009
  • On DVD or streaming: September 15, 2009
  • Cast: Donald Faison , Mike Epps , Wood Harris
  • Director: Benny Boom
  • Inclusion Information: Black directors, Black actors
  • Studio: Summit Entertainment
  • Genre: Drama
  • Run time: 98 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: pervasive language, drug content, some violence and brief sexuality
  • Last updated: February 25, 2023

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