Next Day Air – Review

Reviews, Top Story

A crime caper that’s a good way to have 84 minutes stolen out of your life

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Image Courtesy of IMPawards.com

Director: Benny Boom
Notable Cast: Mos Def, Mike Epps, Wood Harris, Cisco Reyes, Yasmin Deliz, Emilio Rivera, Donald Faison

The problem with great, accessible films is that they spawn a legion of imitators. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was a brilliant crime caper that has spawned a handful of quality imitators and an armful of bad ones. Put Next Day Air into the latter category due to its execution, as it’s based on a fairly solid concept that should lend itself to easier comedy than it provides.

Leo (Donald Faison of Scrubs fame) is a delivery driver working for Next Day Air, your standard delivery company, in Philadelphia. Admittedly stoned through most of his shift on a regular basis, he inadvertently delivers a package of cocaine to a pair of inept crooks in Guch (Wood Harris) and Brody (Mike Epps). When Jesus (Cisco Reyes) and his girlfriend Chita (Yasmin Deliz), the rightful recipients, discover this they begin to worry. The box, from drug kingpin Bodega (Emilio Rivera), comes with the promise of death if he presumes it’s been stolen. What follows should be a crime caper with enough humor and violence to keep it interesting. In actuality the jokes are few and far between, leaving a weak plot to carry the film to lackluster results.

For Faison this is a disappointment, considering his pedigree on Scrubs. He never settles into the role for the most part; he feels like he’s giving an effort to make it good but the source material isn’t good enough for him to make it a gem. The script sets Faison, and the rest of the cast, up for several key one liners that fall remarkably flat as well. Considering that the more talented members of the cast like Mos Def only get what amounts to be extended cameos, the film relies on a number of moderately talented comedians to elevate material that isn’t good to begin with. It’s a recipe for disaster that cooks to fruition in a finale that feels weak and desperate.

Next Day Air is at its heart a weak rip off of Lock, Stock in that it tries to combine story-telling shortcuts such as flashbacks with some quirky camerawork. Whereas the latter did it with a terrific story and a talented cast, the former does it with weaker versions of both and fails quite spectacularly. In a weekend where Star Trek has opened to remarkable acclaim, Next Day Air is counter-programming to avoid.

FINAL RATING (ON A SCALE OF 1-5 BUCKETS):