February 17, 2004 > Barbershop 2: Back in Business

by Susana Nuñez

Calvin and his crew are back and funnier than ever in this sequel to the original comedy hit Barbershop. The line-up, including the always over-the-top Eddie, (Cedric the Entertainer) still has the same chemistry, if not more, that audiences saw in the first film when it made its debut in 2002. And of course, who could forget the essence of the barbershop; the risky and outrageous conversations. With its up-to-date quality, no one who has made the headlines lately is free from Eddie and the crew's hilarious discussions, including recently scandalized artists such as R. Kelly.

Along with Calvin (Ice Cube) and Eddie, the Barbershop's very own snob Jimmy is back (Sean Patrick Thomas), as well as the temperamental Terri (Eve), the token White/Caucasian barber Isaac (Troy Garity), the soft-spoken thug Ricky (Michael Ealy), and the big lovable Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze). In the last film, Calvin had been facing financial trouble and was in danger of losing the barbershop that had been in his family for years, yet luckily manages to recover it. The issue he and the crew now face is a little more complex, involving not only their business, but also the community.

All is well on the South Side of Chicago, where Calvin's Barbershop resides, until the neighborhood the crew once knew begins to lose its identity. Big businesses and franchises, including a new haircut franchise called Nappy Cuts, are beginning to buy the family-owned businesses that have been well known and loved by the community for years. Coincidentally, they've moved in across the street from Calvin's Barbershop, and with their top of the line haircutting instruments, Nappy Cuts has become a threat to the barbershop.

Owners are selling their small-time family businesses left and right to allow the "regenerating" of the neighborhood to take place, but Calvin isn't selling his shop to anyone, especially Nappy Cuts. It's time for the crew to take a stand for the neighborhood they love, but with powerful businesses above them and the intrigue much of the community has with the "regenerating" project, even the crew may not be able to bring the neighborhood restructuring to a halt.

Producers Robert Teitel and George Tillman Jr. returned to produce the sequel. Script writing began just two weeks after the original Barbershop's release. Tillman and Teitel realize that with a community like the one in the film, there's always an abundance of material to work with, since at the barbershop, anything goes. The barbershop is the pillar of the neighborhood, where anyone can say anything; where the rich, the poor, black or white both go; in the end, everyone needs a haircut. At the barbershop, going in for a haircut means coming out with not only the latest "do," but the latest scoop on politics, dirt on anyone and everyone, and a whole lot of laughs. With guest appearances by the very talented Queen Latifah, who plays the role of Gina and works at the beauty parlor next door, as well as Kenan Thompson as Kenard, who by some miracle earned a barber's license, audiences will find it hard to find a dull moment.