Friday is a humorous, almost comic approach to the subject of the urban nightmare in the USA for film buffs. It is Friday in South Central LA and most people are waiting for the long-awaited weekend – with the exception of 22-year-old Craig Jones, who is once again unemployed and spends his time with his slightly weird friend Smokey on the veranda, smoking joints and watching life go by on the streets, and occasionally also in the neighbour's garden. Unless the attractive Debbie comes by, his father wants to have it out with him in the stinking toilet, or bullets start flying, because Smokey has again failed to pay for his soft drugs on time. Of course, this film does have a message, which goes something like this: real men don't shoot – they punch. At least you stay alive, and there is always a winner. When the attractive Joi stands up courageously to one of the more unpalatable characters in the neighbourhood and ends up with a fist in her face, Craig is moved to put what he has learned into practice. It's not so important whether or not it is true that baseball bats and bricks on the head are less harmful than a bullet through the belly. A feel-good film with humour that is sometimes flat but never silly, and which is somewhat far removed from being politically correct. But then, what comedy is still a comedy when measured in PC terms?

Deutsche Version

Other movie by director F. Gary Gray: Set It Off