All About the Benjamins

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For anyone who may have seen the movie 'Next Friday' - the follow-up to the 1995 stoner flick, 'Friday', you've seen the chemistry between the tough-as-nails Ice Cube, and the jittery but hilarious Mike Epps. I have to admit that while their movies aren't amazing, they generally make for a fun time. They're not going for any Oscars, they know their audience, and that's satisfactory enough for yours truly.

'All About the Benjamins' gives us bounty hunter, Bucum (Ice Cube), pronounced "book 'em", which I hope isn't supposed to be a coincidence. In pursuit of con man, Reggie Wright (Mike Epps), the un likely pair find themselves working together in order to locate a stash of diamonds that Bucum is after, along with a missing, winning lottery ticket that Reggie is after. Along the way, Gina (Eva Mendes) and Pam (Valarie Rae Miller), Reggie and Bucum's respective significant others, join them in the search.

Added to the batch of characters is our villain and diamond thief, Williamson (Tommy Flanagan) who's a bit over the top at times, but every time he was, I laughed a little. But it's that kind of laugh that you know not everyone would join you in - almost awkward in a way.

This one kind of exists in the same vein as something like 'Bulletproof' or 'Nothing to Lose' - a comedy duo action movie that doesn't exactly shine, but it can make for a fun time, nonetheless. There's nothing entirely new or different about it, but it doesn't exactly fall under "guilty pleasures" either, 'cause it's really not that bad.

So, we've got a short review here on a movie that's a bit of a throwaway. I can't imagine ever owning it on DVD or blu-ray, but if it comes on TV, I might still sit and watch it for something to do. It offers some decent laughs, some decent action without going full Michael Bay (although this was Kevin Bray), but completely lacks any sort of wow factor. I say this about a lot of movies, but once again, this one is kinda just "there". Something to watch in passing as opposed to something to get excited for.

3/5

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