Next Day Air (2009) Reviews

• Express delivery

  p-stepien2011-10-13

  Being addicted to the doobie may not be the best character trait when working for a courier service. Leo (Donald Faison) seems unperturbed, given his mother is the person who hired him. On another typical high Leo mistakenly delivers a package full of heroine to a bunch of slightly retarded wannabee gangsta / bank robbas / criminimal masterminds Brody (Mike Epps) and Guch (Wood Harris). This quickly causes a series of events which lead to the opening scene of the movies: Leo being surrounded by people with guns and a low tolerance for ineptitude. "Next Day Air" closely follows in the footsteps set out by movies such as "Snatch" or "51st State", although this time around it takes place entirely in the States with 80% of the movie occurring in two rooms. As can be expected it is a mix of unabated comedy with brutal gangsters, fast talking criminals and crazy sequence of events ending with a grand showdown finale to tie all the separate plots and characters together. Based on a very rudimentary plot the movie aims at delivering the package with the minimum necessary runtime. At just 84 minutes and no less than 9 main characters being involved there is no place for their development, background or emotional involvement. Instead we get a fast paced movie (which somehow manages to find time to have pointless detours into non-funny side scene attractions) with a lack of purpose. None of the character are able to catch your attention and involve you in the story, although Omari Hardwick (playing a drug dealer wanting out of business) does his sincerest best to bridge the script shortcomings. A sorely empty package filled with fluff, but at least the delivery is express so at least you won't waste a lot of time waiting for it to be over and done with.

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• Ghetto version of Guy Ritchie movies, but not a good one

  KineticSeoul2010-04-13

  This is like the ghetto version of some of Guy Ritchie's movies, since it tries to copy Guy's style and all and a bit of "The Pineapple Express". Some may enjoy this sort of comedy, but it just tries to show more of the black foolishness similar to Tyler Perry's movies, but at least Tyler Perry's movies are sometimes funny this is not. I agree with some of the reviewers that say this film tries too hard to be funny, it's true the creators of this film probably thought by making a bunch of guys acting all obnoxious and foolish would be humorous but it is not in this movie and there is no depth to it. I did like it's style of being all over the place and at the end it gets all put together, not very original but it was alright. I guess it's decent as a rental at best though as long as you watch it with a couple of friends. 5.6/10

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• it so much wants to be funny that it totally fails at it

  donfischi2009-09-07

  this movie was a very big disappointment. when i read about it the first time i thought it could be quite funny. the synopsis suggested a crime comedy mix with some nice twists and plenty to laugh about. but i was totally mistaken. the plot had no real dynamic and all the plot twists were not surprising at all, if you can even call them twists. add to that a bunch of stereotype characters with no depth and personality and you can imagine how captivated i was by this movie. i thank god that the total absence of good jokes and comedy didn't distract me form experiencing this absence of emotion in this great void of boredom. don't get me wrong. i didn't want to puke during the movie or something like that. it was only after i resurfaced from this sea of dullness that i realized how much of a big waste of time this movie was.

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• Na'mean?!??

  dutchbeats2009-11-13

  Hey what can I say I like stuff you don't have to think about! I was surprised how good this flick is; simple and well-paced with genuinely funny moments and actors. There is also some eye candy(as well as nose candy!) but hey, what do you expect from the film directing debut of the guy who makes videos for 50 Cent? It looks and feels like a Guy Richie movie so if you liked those you'll enjoy the 'American version' replete with slow motion shotgun blasted dude flying through the air in slow motion in the apartment. But if you think it's all about violence think again, this film is pure jokes and cameos(cassidy, mos def, debbie allen etc.)with lots of herb smoking and hard hip-hop backdrops. And besides, who hasn't fantasized about hog-tying and slapping the UPS guy? I know I have. Did I mention the dude from Family Matters is in it and totally kicks @##!?

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• Docudrama provides survival tips for visitors to urban America

  charlytully2009-06-15

  Sure, there is an attempt by script writer Blair Cobbs to have some sort of story or "plot" for this movie, set in the underbelly of today's urban America. And yes, of course director Benny Boom tries to elicit the most realistic or "believable" acting performances possible from such film veterans as Mike Epps, Mos Def, and Debbie Allen, all of whom appear in NEXT DAY AIR. But, when you get down to brass tacks, this flick is all about showing the nitty gritty life down in the trenches of U.S. inner-cities. This site, IMDb, has a feature available for most movies called "key words." I found the listings there particularly revealing for NEXT DAY AIR. The key words provided for this movie include "cocaine," "female nudity," "marijuana," "punched in the face," "pot-head," "drug dealer," "gang-banger," "cockfighting," "shoot-out," and "thug." Obviously, NEXT DAY AIR can provide a valuable key to survival in urban America for those visiting there from Switzerland or Grosse Pointe Farms.

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