Baby Boy (2001)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

John Singleton

Writer (WGA):

John Singleton (written by)

Release Date:

29 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

This is the story of Jody, an unemployed young black man, who's been living with his mother for several years...

Plot Keywords:

Family Relationships | Thief | Gunfire | Murder | African American

Awards:

1 win & 14 nominations

Cast

Tyrese Gibson	...	Joseph Summers
Taraji P. Henson	...	Yvette
Omar Gooding	...	Sweetpea
Tamara LaSeon Bass	...	Peanut
Candy Ann Brown	...	Ms. Herron (as Candy Brown Houston)
A.J. Johnson	...	Juanita
Ving Rhames	...	Melvin 'Mel'
Snoop Dogg	...	Rodney
Angell Conwell	...	Kim
Kareem J. Grimes	...	Do Dirty (as Kareem Grimes)
Tracey Cherelle Jones	...	Sharika
Kaylan Bolton	...	Joe Joe
Kylan Bolton	...	Joe Joe
Freez Luv	...	Cake Man
Mo'Nique	...	Patrice

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, language, violence and some drug use.

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:16 | Italy:T | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #38090) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

11th Avenue / Vernon Avenue, Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

Jody listens to a lot of Tupac Shakur songs and has a mural on his wall of him. Tupac Shakur was supposed to play the role of Jody.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the scene where Jody and Yvette are at the drive through and she finds the box of condoms, on the shot showing the drive through window a person's head pops up slowly and then goes back down again.

Quotes:

Sweet Pea: I'm not going to use the b-word. I just call y'all unstable creatures.

Movie Connections:

Features "Larry King Live" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Talk Sh*t 2 Ya

"Baby Boy" has value beyond stereotypes

I really liked "Baby Boy." But maybe that's because I'm as white as they come. I've just read some other User Comments here, and whether John Singleton does or does not dish-up nothing but stereotypes about blacks, I won't debate. Look, I totally dug this film because of other reasons. While watching "Baby Boy," I had two thoughts: 1) that I don't relate to the 'black' culture presented, but 2) this didn't matter because I did relate TOTALLY to a lot of the issues at the core of this story. Psychological and emotional issues about growing up, about cheating, about love, about undesirable characters working their way back into your life and screwing everything up. And so on. OK, I understand Users' complaints here about "stereotypes," but I say to them, "Don't worry about it... this white guy kind of thought the same thing, too, and so this movie didn't paint a picture for me of 'what all blacks' lifestyles must be.'" Dudes, all I saw were universal themes about, like I said, about love, about becoming a responsible adult, and all that. White people go thru exactly the same shi.. stuff. Those universal themes just happened to be wrapped up in some kind of black wrapping paper. This viewer set that paper aside, and appreciated the gift inside. This movie really pressed some emotional buttons with me, and I appreciated it. [And by the way, we white people don't assume that all black people see all white people as the characters we are presented as in films: all the terrorists, rapists, mid-western nerd housewives, financiers, CEOs, trailer-trash, etc etc etc. Why do (some of) you assume we think ALL blacks "are" as presented in films such as "Baby Boy"? We don't. Period.]

In fact, I could relate to the issues of this film's men AND women. So, this script was universal in that way, too. Anyway, here's all what I really wanted to say about this film: All these emotional issues were brought to life by EXCELLENT performances. (I say Ving Rhames is one of our best actors working in America today. He is consistently excellent; I never see him "acting," I always only see him "being" his character. And his performance here in "Baby Boy" was Oscar-worthy, if you ask me).

I had no idea, until the ending credits, that "Baby Boy" was written and directed by John Singleton. Honestly, while watching it (on cable) I was convinced that it must have been written by a woman, because it so perfectly expressed such poignant emotional moments. Of course, the actors - and Singleton as director - can also share credit for those moments. Also while watching, I had the thought that "this is well-directed; who did this?" I guess my point here is [and this comment may annoy some Users here] that "Baby Boy" offers proof of Singleton's talents as one of those very good filmmakers who actually DESERVES the accolades critics and "industry" people give him. [Although, I never saw "Higher Learning," which Users here say stunk.] Anyway, not the BEST film ever, but a solid 3 out of 4 stars. [Okay, one more word about the acting in this flick: I'm an actor myself, and many of the performances here made me LOVE acting... there were nice meaty scenes and speeches here, and always so well done that it made me proud to be an actor. (Especially one monologue by Mr Rhames -- phenomenal, Sir!). Bravo to all this cast.] Perhaps the best overall thing I can say about "Baby Boy" is that it left me wanting to see it again.