Doesn’t Deliver, Not Even Close

Upon sitting down in the movie theater, I was psyched with anticipation to view the comedy “Next Day Air”. How quickly my mood changed to a feeling of dread after five minutes, as I knew I was in for 75 more minutes of pure boredom. Good films start out with the right tone and keep going throughout. This one never got out of the gate! It played more like an idea for a film that was never developed. If anyone can find any jokes then please tell me where they are hidden; and if you think that passed out guy on the couch that wakes up occasionally to threaten everyone is a joke, then our ideas of humor clash big-time.

Mos Def is the recognizable talent in this film from; “Be Kind Rewind” (2008), “Cadillac Records” (2008) and most notably his successful music career as a rap artist .  He plays a delivery guy Eric, whose co-worker Leo played by (Donald Faison, you may recognize Faison from the television show ‘Scrubs’ he’s been on for 8 seasons) has a major problem as he can’t stop smoking weed while on the job. In the opening scene, we view Faison being ‘chewed out’ by his boss for being high on the job and we soon discover that his boss, the owner of the delivery company is his mom. Ok, this film’s supposed to be a stoner comedy? If so, then where are the comical drugged out scenes or jokes for that matter? You won’t find any, because there are none. “Pineapple Express” (2008) is an example of a hysterically funny stoner comedy that had me laughing all the way to my car long after the credits rolled.

The basic premise of the film is that Faison, the delivery driver inadvertently delivers a package containing concealed bricks of cocaine to the wrong address. The address is supposed to be across the hall in this dumpy apartment building. The package ends up in the hands of two second-rate punks; Brody (Mike Epps) and Guch (Wood Harris). When they open the box and discover ten bricks of high quality cocaine, the wheels are set in motion for the new ownership which includes a shady deal to sell the coke on the streets, ASAP.

Soon, Faison has been notified by the intended delivery guy that his package is MIA and the string of events that follows are; you guessed it, everyone’s trying to get their hands on the missing coke. By this time, we really don’t care about anyone in this film and are hoping for an ending to this painful comedy and pronto.

All of the characters continue to race around in circles with big guns, hoping to out-smart each other; but we know there’s no chance for that as all of these characters are ‘dumb as doorbells’. The ending is a ridiculous shoot-out which leaves most everyone dead and the best part is none of the characters get up for that last dramatic ‘I’m really not dead moment.’ At this point we are thankful they stay down and don’t subject us to more lack luster film making. What a miserable waste of talent is what I left the theater thinking to myself.

Sarah Adamson © 2009