CB4 Review

I loved this movie when it came out.  I bought the soundtrack and couldn't get enough of it.  I can still sing all of the lyrics to Straight Outta Locash.  And when people ask me what I'm going to do, I often say I'm going to go to South America and find Kurtis Blow.  I was a huge rap fan back in the day.  Then I stopped listening to hip-hop shortly after Tupac Shakur died.  If this movie was released now, I probably wouldn't be interested at all.  So, I'm glad I listened to a lot of this kind of music because it made me see this movie.  It's absolutely hilarious.  CB4 is a great satire of the Gangsta Rap explosion that hit in the late 80s and early 90s.  It delivers great jokes one right after the other.

That isn't to say that the movie doesn't have flaws.  From a technical standpoint it is riddled with them.  There's nothing too inspired about the directing or camera work.  The story isn't anything really new or innovative.  And the acting is pretty average leaning towards bad for most of the support which is weird because it is easily the best work Chris Rock has ever done.  The other two members of the group, Allen Payne and Deezer D are average too with Deezer probably being the better performer.  Payne just seemed a little too out of his element a few times for some reason.  Probably the most enjoyable performance though is from Chris Elliot as A. White, the documentary film maker.

But all the flaws aside, CB4 is great because it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is.  The sole purpose of this film is to make the audience laugh and enjoy themselves.  There is absolutely no other message.  If you try to see any underlying theme or moral, you will be disappointed.  In that, it is very successful.  As I alluded to, the only really superior part of this movie is the humour.  It is actually very well written with both over the top and subtle humour.  There is nothing highbrow about it.  You don't have to think to get any of the jokes.  Putting that in it would have absolutely ruined it.

So, when all is said and done, you have nothing more than a fun, hilarious 90 minute satire.  If that's what you want and like, see it.