Tyrese Gibson (top) in "Baby Boy."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Tyrese Gibson and Ving Rhames Director: John Singleton Rated: R, with profanity, sex, violence and drug use Length: 125 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(June 27, 2001) -- In his uneven new relationship drama, Baby Boy, writer-director John Singleton revisits the Los Angeles turf of his seminal 1991 film Boyz N the Hood, but with a new cast of characters.

Once again, the film surveys the lives of young men on L.A.'s mean streets, but this time the central figure is a lackluster 20-year-old who has impregnated two girlfriends, has no job, and still lives at home with his momma.

And Singleton's message reflects the filmmaker's own maturity in the decade since the release of Boyz. Spread rather interminably over more than two hours, the message is simple: Grow up.

Singleton takes on the black male search for identity, and basically suggests they're whiny babies. (He opens the film with a fantasy portrait of a grown man in the womb, and points out that young black males call women "momma," their friends "boyz," and their home "a crib."

Though it's a daring and commendable message, Singleton has trouble focusing it. The point he makes could more efficiently and entertainingly be made in a half-hour sitcom.

R&B star and model Tyrese Gibson plays the childish, unambitious Jody, who still lives at home with his 36-year-old mother. He spends his days riding his low-rider bicycle, or borrowing the car that belongs to one of his two girlfriends, or building model airplanes in his bedroom, or hanging with his even more aimless and volatile buddy, Sweetpea (played by Omar Gooding, brother of Cuba, who starred in Boyz.)

For more than two hours we see Jody in up-and-down relationships with his surprisingly patient mother (A.J. Johnson); Mom's new boyfriend, a muscular, tough-as-nails-but-good-hearted ex-con (well-played by Ving Rhames); the two openly competitive women in his life (Taraji Henson and Tamara LaSeon Bass), and his friend, Sweetpea.

When the women complain enough about his unemployment, he gets "a job" (selling women's clothing stolen off the back of trucks), but he's still reluctant to seek independence.

He's finally forced to take some sort of stand when he decides he truly loves Yvette (Henson), a point driven home when Yvette's grungy old boyfriend (ominously played by Snoop Dogg) comes home from prison. But, of course, that's also the point the guns come out.

Though the film has been called a companion piece to "Boyz N the Hood," rather than a sequel; it offers nothing of the emotional impact of that breakthrough movie. On the other hand, Singleton has developed a sense of humor, and a few comic set pieces help counter the urban angst.

So, while a film addressing the nature of manhood in the modern urban black community has merit, Singleton's film doesn't provide many answers. But, at least it's clear that moving out of momma's home is a necessary first step.