It seems that in order for Ice Cube to be effective as an actor, he has to assume the role of a character in an urban comedy, such has been the case with movies such as Friday and its sequel Next Friday. The urban comedy appears to be Cube’#146;s calling. Mixing outrageous humor with stories about fellows of modest means looking for their one break in his newest film Barbershop, Cube follows his pattern of past success.

That Cube should have found his cinematic niche making comedies is surprising since he usually looks like someone who just received the worst news of his life, but his seriousness can come in handy. Cube plays the role of Calvin, who inherited a Chicago barbershop from his father. Calvin doesn’t like cutting hair. His business is about to go under, and he needs money fast. All of his get-rich-quick schemes have come to nothing.

The comedy is set against this seemingly hopeless situation. There’s no way out for Calvin, and yet he manages to make matters even worse for himself by selling the shop to the local crime boss and then going back on the deal. He has creditors and a mobster (David Keith) after him, and he’s the easiest guy in the world to find–he’s stuck behind a chair all day.

For those who want to take Barbershop seriously (and fortunately no one in the movie takes it seriously at all), it is a picture that contrasts the bleakness of inner-city life with the bend but not break mentality of its people. In a sense, that’s what Cube’s movies are always about. Here, as in the Friday movies, the jokes are big and rude and vulgar and very funny.

Most of the best laughs come from inside the barbershop, which is presented as a makeshift community center. The group within the barbershop itself is quite diverse and interesting in its own sense. There’#146;s the upwardly mobile college student (Sean Patrick Thomas), the ex-con (Michael Ealy), the female barber (debut of another rap star, Eve) and the white barber who talks like a rapper (Troy Garity). Everybody gets on everybody else’s nerves, but in the midst of it all you get the sense that this is a kind of family.

Perhaps the best of all these characters is Eddie (the ‘old-timer’), an old barber with no customers, who spends all day gassing about his opinions. Eddie is played by soulful Cedric the Entertainer. He’#146;s done up in intentionally ridiculous age makeup and delivers some of the funniest monologues in the movie. Particularly funny is a bit where he tells barber shop patrons the three things black people need to admit.

One of the most hilarious subplots in the movie involves two morons (played by Anthony Anderson and Lahmard Tate), who steal an ATM and then find themselves lugging it all around Chicago, futilely trying to open it and looking for a place to stash it.

All in all Barbershop turned out to be an enjoyable experience. My expectations going into the movie were not that high, as I expected another run-of-the-mill average comedy. I was quite surprised that Barbershop turned out to be a cleverly written and humorous film, however. The film’#146;s soundtrack is also adequate mixing hip-hop and beats that give an overall flavor to the movie. Director Tom Story does a good job of providing laughs that make up for any inadequacies the film may offer. I give it 3 stars out of 4.