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When you have Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Wood Harris and Mos Def together in one movie, there’s no reason said movie should fall flat on its face. Next Day Air is billed as an action comedy, but every time I saw the trailer I couldn’t figure out if it was either.
Leo (Donald Faison) is a stoner and deliveryman who one day delivers a package to the apartment of Brody (Mike Epps) and Guch (Wood Harris). They’re two moronic thieves who discover the package is a large stash of coke, and they decide they’ll get rich by selling it to Brody’s drug dealer cousin, Shavoo (Omari Hardwick). Of course, this leads the intended recipients of the package, Jesus (Cisco Reyes) and his girlfriend Chita (Yasmin Deliz), to search for it before a drug lord (Emilio Rivera) jumps into the fray.
Leading up to the action-packed ending is an aimless story with flashbacks, inept banter and under-utilized characters. A lot of the movie’s time is spent on “filler” talk; characters wave guns around and talk smack that amounts to nothing, until all the thugs and drugs wind up in the same room.
The setting of Brody and Guch’s cramped apartment is run-down and cheap, the perfect place for a bunch of bumbling lowlifes connected to the drug package to cross paths. Moviegoers get an interesting look at how paranoid the drug game can be when people involved can’t trust their own blood.
Dim-witted behavior provides all the humor in Next Day Air because the dialogue simply can’t. The movie acts as if it wants to be edgy and funny at the same time, but it focuses too much on trying to be gangsta and ignores the a fact it’s not maximizing its “funny” potential.
Don’t get me wrong; there were funny moments. However, not allowing Epps and Faison to fully unleash their comedic talent on the audience is where the movie slips up.
Though their roles are limited compared to the rest of the cast, Donald Faison and Mos Def work with the time they’re given and are still awesome when they’re on screen. Yasmin Deliz also brings delightful energy to Chita in a movie that doesn’t provide as much action or comedy as it should.
Kary Bowser is a producer for the Matt & Ramona radio show (107.9, The Link). Read more of Kary’s reviews at kbowser.wordpress.com. Email: kbowser@mattandramona.com.
