Next Day Air

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.

This is like the ghetto version of some of Guy Ritchie's movies, since it tries to copy Guy's style and all and a bit of "The Pineapple Express". Some may enjoy this sort of comedy, but it just tries to show more of the black foolishness similar to Tyler Perry's movies, but at least Tyler Perry's movies are sometimes funny this is not. I agree with some of the reviewers that say this film tries too hard to be funny, it's true the creators of this film probably thought by making a bunch of guys acting all obnoxious and foolish would be humorous but it is not in this movie and there is no depth to it. I did like it's style of being all over the place and at the end it gets all put together, not very original but it was alright. I guess it's decent as a rental at best though as long as you watch it with a couple of friends.

5.6/10

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 movie was a very big disappointment. when i read about it the first time i thought it could be quite funny. the synopsis suggested a crime comedy mix with some nice twists and plenty to laugh about. but i was totally mistaken.

the plot had no real dynamic and all the plot twists were not surprising at all, if you can even call them twists. add to that a bunch of stereotype characters with no depth and personality and you can imagine how captivated i was by this movie. i thank god that the total absence of good jokes and comedy didn't distract me form experiencing this absence of emotion in this great void of boredom.

don't get me wrong. i didn't want to puke during the movie or something like that. it was only after i resurfaced from this sea of dullness that i realized how much of a big waste of time this movie was.

Admittedly comedies are difficult to do. Timing inflection presentation..but I love a zany story/plotline ie.clue/death at a funeral/tropic thunder/hangover etc. This movie had what I like easy fun "stoooopidness" lol