Janky Promoters: Review By Solar XI

JANKY ['jan-ke\adj. shady, untrustworthy; dishonest, desp*cable.]

Ice Cube and Mike Epps are best known for their duo as cousins in the last two installments of the "Friday" series and in the 2002 comedy "All About the Benjamins". This time, the pair star as two shady promoters who try to bring rap star Young Jeezy to Modesto, California but also try to get out of paying him the full amount while ducking a theater owner and every other problem.

Russell Redds and Jellyroll are two very shady concert promoters who don't do very well at it. They, for one, don't have enough money to pay Jeezy or his road manager. Redds deals with Jellyroll's lack of focus which consists of everything else except the concert, while Redds is forced to choose between spending his wedding money or missing out on a sell-out show.

Ice Cube portrays Russell Redds, the eager, optimistic promoter who tries to get out of paying money to whom he owes. Epps plays the out of control, even-more-shady Jellyroll. Lil' JJ (Nickelodeon's Just Jordan) plays Redds' son Seymour who is an ambitious upcoming rapper who is, according to Russell, better than Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne and Kanye West put together. Seymour is the opening act for Jeezy. Young Jeezy himself is alright but nothing much because he plays himself, nothing like Harold & Kumar's take on Neil Patrick Harris. Lahmard Tate (who co-starred in Cube's Barbershop) plays Jeezy's road manager who is more demanding than Jeezy himself. Glen Plummer (Saw II) plays a drunken cop who's wife (Tamala Jones) is cheating on him with Jellyroll.

Director Marcus Raboy is at the helm. For those who don't recognize the name, he is probably best known for directing the Cube/Epps film "Friday After Next". He does well in giving a comedy. Sadly, not a lot of filmmakers can direct a comedy. There's nothing much to say about Raboy, honestly. He only has two feature film credits on his roster.

I enjoyed the film. It's almost like the Friday films but Craig and Day-Day have jobs. In the sense of Friday, the film takes place within a day. The film is hilarious within itself and will definitely keep you laughing. It has mature comedy that young kids won't understand like 'The Hangover". It's worth seeing and it's too bad it didn't get released in theaters.