So last night after getting home from work, I plop down on the couch, pop open a tall boy of PBR, and dig into some leftover Thai food. Whilst flipping through the channels, I come across a bit of satire I haven’t seen since my youth.  I’m talking, of course, about;

Don’t Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood.

This is an early effort from the Wayans brothers (“In Living Color”) and in a pretty broad parody of  all those gritty films of the early 90’s that showed the world what life was really like as a gang member in the “hood”,  Boyz In The Hood being the most obvious target.

This films has it all…drive-bys, gang fights, slow-motion death scenes, pregnant teenagers, weed-smoking grandmas, crackheads desperate for a fix, hysterical moms holding their dead sons in the middle of the street, some slammin’ hip-hop (or more accurately, Rap) music, midgets, gangsters from the “Old School” and teenagers just looking for a chance to get out of the ‘hood.  Oh, and a totally tricked out wheelchair.

Finally, a film with a real “….MESSAGE!”

Better than the low brow “Scary Movie” series, and MUCH better than any of the other “MOVIE” satire films that have come out over the last couple of years, but not as good as any satire Christopher Guest has ever done, this is about as good as  The Naked Gun 2 1/2, or Hollywood Shuffle.  Worth A Second Look.

GRR