Cast: Tyrese Gibson, Adrienne-Joi Johnson, Ving Rhames, Taraji P. Henson, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tamara LaSeon Bass, Omar Gooding
Director: John Singleton
Producer: John Singleton
Screenplay: John Singleton
Music: David Arnold
U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures
For director John Singleton, Baby Boy represents a return to his old cinematic stomping ground. The film, described as a "companion piece" to his debut feature, Boyz 'N the Hood, is set in the same rough-and-tumble Southern California neighborhood as the 1991 motion picture, although the tone and intent are radically different. Baby Boy doesn't deal with gangs or gangland violence (although there is one drive-by shooting); instead, it concentrates on the relationships between parents, children, and lovers in a segment of modern-day society where the concept of the so-called "nuclear family" has long since imploded.
In terms of dramatic impact, Baby Boy falls somewhere in between Singleton's most powerful efforts (the aforementioned Boyz 'N the Hood, Rosewood) and his failures (Poetic Justice, Higher Learning), and is certainly an improvement over the testosterone-propelled Shaft. Baby Boy uses well-developed characters to address real issues, then cheats a little with resolutions that are too facile. The film's ending is disappointing in that it belongs in a different, more standard feature than in a movie attempting to make a statement about the ills and inequities of society.
Singleton's thesis is that many adult black men are trapped in a state of perpetual emotional infancy. They call their women "mama", their friends "my boys", and their place "the crib." Jody (Tyrese Gibson) is a classic example of this. Despite being 20 years old and having fathered two children by different women, Jody has been unable to cut the apron strings. At one point, his 36-year old mother, Juanita (Adrienne-Joi Johnson), notes, "Why are you so afraid to grow up and leave the nest?" Indeed, he still lives at home when he could easily stay with Yvette (Taraji P. Henson), the mother of his son. Things come to a head when Juanita's new boyfriend, Melvin (Ving Rhames), a reformed gangster, moves in and rubs Jody the wrong way, while, at the same time, Yvette begins to tire of her boyfriend's seemingly endless philandering.
The movie's strength is that it is involving - a result that is in large part due to the vibrancy of the characters. Strong performances, many from largely unknown actors, abound. Especially noteworthy are Taraji Henson as Yvette and Adrienne-Joi Johnson as Juanita. Singleton is less confident writing women's parts than men's (females in this movie fall into two categories: angelic and long-suffering or shrewish), but these two give life to what could easily become one-dimensional types. Ving Rhames approaches his role with the quiet power of a slumbering volcano. And, in the lead, Tyrese Gibson expresses all the conflicting emotions warring within Jody. This character's drama is the drama of many young men trapped by limited economic potential and uncertain family ties. Ultimately, Baby Boy is the story of one man's growing up. The cast also includes rapper Snoop Doggy Dog as a bad seed ex-boyfriend of Yvette's and Cuba Gooding Jr.'s younger brother, Omar, as Jody's volatile best friend.
The movie is neither hard-hitting nor gritty (both qualities which could be ascribed to Boyz 'N the Hood). In fact, the quotient of melodrama occasionally approaches soap opera levels. But there is a twofold key to Baby Boy's success: it almost always seems real (at least until the end) and it addresses meaningful issues. In a consumer environment when it's often unpopular to take any kind of social stance, Singleton is bucking a trend. The movie asks us to think, observe, and consider - characteristics that are not popular among the many movie-goers who like to disengage their brains and watch all the pretty explosions. (Once in a while, that's fine, but all the time?) Baby Boy is not original, but, in its presentation of familiar issues, it is provocative and involving, and capable of holding an audience's attention for the full 128 minute running time.
© 2001 James Berardinelli