Next Day Air

I recently watched Next Day Air (2009) on Tubi. The story follows a couple of small-time armed robbers who accidentally receive a package filled with cocaine. They decide to sell it off and turn their lives around-unaware that the intended recipients, the suppliers, and the police are all closing in fast.

Directed by Benny Boom (All Eyez on Me), the film features a surprisingly stacked cast: Mos Def (The Italian Job), Mike Epps (Next Friday), Donald Faison (Scrubs), Wood Harris (Remember the Titans), Omari Hardwick (Power), and Lauren London (ATL).

This cast is far stronger than you'd expect for a film like this, and the storyline had more twists and drama than I anticipated. I went in thinking it was going to be a comedy-but it really isn't. While there are some humorous moments and a few "buddy movie" vibes, it twists hard into shootouts, deaths, and a completely unexpected ending. The shift in tone left me wondering if the film knew what it wanted to be. Also, how did Mos Def make the cover? He's in like two scenes. 😂

In conclusion, Next Day Air left me wondering what I had just watched... but it wasn't awful. I'd give it a 5.5/10.

This sometimes funny sometimes serious comedy was more suspense than anything. This was a Guy Ritchie clone about money and drugs, and it was all put into motion by one slacker of a delivery guy.

Leo (Donald Faison), slacker and weedhead extraordinaire for Next Day Air, delivered a package to the wrong apartment. The package was ten kilos of pure cocaine. The recipients, Brody (Mike Epps) and Guch (Wood Harris), just so happened to be hustlers and thieves, so they more than welcomed the mistaken delivery. They would simply sell the product to Shavoo (Omari Hardwick), Brody's cousin who was known to move weight. The only problem with this plan is that the stuff belonged to Bodega Diablo (Emilio Rivera) and he wasn't going to merely forget about his ten kilograms of snow.

All of the events of this movie occurred in a 48 hour period. The movie was light and breezy half the time, and the other half of the time it was like a hard nosed drug movie. I think that was its biggest flaw. Commit to one side or the other. I would've preferred full comedy because that's how it billed itself and that's how it started. The casting was good for that with Mike Epps, Donald Faison, Mos Def, and Darius McCrary. All of them are very familiar with comedy.

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 @##!?

Of course it tries really hard to be funny (and fails quite a few times), but it still seems likable, because it tries to be different. Plus it seems more coherent than some other "gangsta" movies (though that does not mean that much now, does it). The actors at hand, try very hard and sometimes convince and are quite funny.

All in all, the action and the (thin) plot move forward nicely enough. Nothing great, but OK. And while you have glimpses of violence here and there, it's more a comedy than anything else. Still the ending might throw a lot of people of, for being so different, than anything we would expect from a movie like that. But then again, maybe that's exactly what we would/should expect ...

You need to have a good background of not only watching movies but interacting with diverse people to understand the story and humuor behind each narrative.