Janky Promoters

I like Ice Cube - hell, everyone likes Ice Cube. Crossing over from the rap / hip hop music genre, this likable hardcore rapper surprised everyone by stepping into a promising film career that begun in the 1990s with Boyz n the Hood. A bankable actor, writer, director, and producer, who's specialized in snappy hip movies and predictable family fare, Ice Cube continues to make us wonder just what he'll do next.

This is one film that probably read much better in the early stages of creation. The Janky Promoters is so bad that one feels sorry for the cast – themselves all pretty much MIScast, who had to suffer through Marcus Raboy's tame direction and Cube's weak screenplay. Janky might have done better with the star behind the camera and some solid actors sprinkled among the novice cast.

And someone should tell executive producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein to stop profiling when casting movies with an urban setting and an African-American story. The Janky Promoters is replete with one stereotype after another, from the big-booty slut to the one-dimensional rapper Bow Wow parody. Enough already! Thankfully, many of Ice Cube's better moments can be rented, especially my favorite, the Friday trilogy. And it's nice to know that we can still look forward to other Cube experiences, hopefully chosen more wisely.

I totally loved this movie.. Ice Cube , Mike Epps, and Young Jeezy just flat out made me laugh all the way thru,, our story goes that there are 2 buddies who bill themselves as amateur music promoters, and well they actually get their shot at it to promote a Young Jeezy concert.. things start to fall apart.. 1000 dollars is needed to get the ball rolling and our characters are about flat broke,, they try all kind of schemes to get the money,, stealing from their girlfriends.. anything at all that they can do to get the money,, a lot of their plans misfire and they are on the verge of not being able to promote Mr Jeezy, you will have to watch and see if the boys can get their act together and make everything okay in the rap music world... ton of laughs..well worth the price of admission.

Racial stereotypes and the accoutrements of hip-hop culture come in for some gentle ribbing in "Janky Promoters," a fairly innocuous though still relatively entertaining comedy written by and starring Ice Cube.

It's a tale of two second-rate music promoters (Ice Cube and Mike Epps) trying to stage a rap concert in Modesto, California, and the many personal and financial hurdles they have to jump over to pull it off. It's not a slashing satire by any stretch of the imagination, but a game cast (including an entertaining Young Jeezy who brings a great deal of charm to his portrayal of himself) and a few genuinely funny moments make up for its overall blandness.

I watched this movie hoping the negative reviews were making it sound worse than it really is, and I was right. The movie is actually a good movie, or pretty decent. I didn't expect this film to be like the Friday films, which I also am a big fan of. But instead, just watched it because I like Ice Cube and Mike Epps. Being a fan of both, this movie was just more clowning, good story, and funny entertainment. I don't know why people are saying its stereotypical. I mean, who cares.. its just fun.

Nice character development and overall well written. Its got its high and low moments, and an ending that is kinda predictable but I didn't think that took away anything from the film. If you like Ice Cube and Mike Epps, give it a watch.

Janky Promoters starts out strong by introducing very humorous and personality filled characters, but quickly falls apart when the real plot comes forth. I'm a fan of African American comedies, especially Ice Cube's Friday franchise. I was also praising the recent remake of Death at a Funeral that was done with nearly an entire black cast not too long ago. But after seeing Janky Promoters and All About the Benjamins, I'll be sure to fully read the plot of the next Ice Cube movie I catch on Television.

"Janky" is a slang word. It's an adjective that describes something dishonest, untrustworthy, or just plain bad. I eventually had to click "Add to Dictionary" because I was so sick of that red line that appears under "mispelled" or unrecognized words on ProBoards. What a predicament. Oh well, I never give a movie a poor review because of it's title. But I'll usually ridicule it for a bit. That sounds like more fun.

The plot is slim; two concert promoters Russell and Jellyroll (Cube and Epps) land themselves in hot water when they book Young Jeezy for a concert. The problem is the twenty grand they were supposed to give to him to perform, they spent on clothing and accessories. They must recover the money, or get the worst night of their lives.

There isn't a whole lot going on of interest. The biggest letdown is definitely the cast. Ice Cube and Mike Epps have worked in a number of movies together. Epps became the second wheel in Next Friday when Smokey (Chris Tucker) refused to come back for both sequels. In the middle of Friday, Epps/Cube did a so-so unrelated film together called All About the Benjamins. It was fair, but not something I could see myself watching again. Same with this.

My point is Janky Promoters has two comedic actors that deserve way better than this. I'm shocked Janky Promoters 2 is already in the works. To my knowledge, this film was released in theaters VERY limitedly. It got minimal viewing, and was released to DVD. This, apparently, is in it's unfinished state. Cube said that it was released without his knowledge while he was planning a wider release. Whether this is finished or not, I doubt a few minor changes would've benefited it.

About the sequel? Why would you make a sequel to a film that flopped majorly and did extremely poor? It only made a little over $9000 with a $10 million dollar budget. I guess Jeezy, Cube, and Epps have a respectable net worth that one flop can't hurt too much.

Janky Promoters doesn't do it's job of being a good comedy. It's a movie with small giggles, and poor acting. With names like Ice Cube and Mike Epps stamped on the DVD cover you'd think the film would be hilarious. But just like All About the Benjamins, it's so cute and harmless it's forgettable. What a shame. This could've been a very funny, three/three and a half star film. It's like a movie that doesn't take itself seriously. Sort of like...Last Resort? Starring: Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Young Jeezy, and Darris Love. Directed by: Marcus Raboy.