Funny, familiar 'Barbershop 2' is a cut above, as sequels go

Despite having a new director, the sequel stays true to the original.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
"Barbershop 2: Back in Business" won't win any awards for originality -- it IS a sequel after all -- but fans of Ice Cube's 2002 sleeper hit aren't likely to mind. I know I didn't. Here's a case of familiarity breeding contentment, not boredom.
Virtually the entire "Barbershop" cast has been reunited, and they're once again in a charmingly cantankerous mood. There's shop owner Calvin Palmer (Cube); opinionated Eddie (series MVP Cedric the Entertainer); lone white staffer Isaac (Troy Garity); sassy looker Terri (Eve); ex-con player Ricky (Michael Ealy); and college student Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas), who's working for a corrupt local alderman. It's like revisiting long-lost friends, except that nobody wears out their welcome.
What it's about
The money woes that caused Calvin so much grief last time -- and almost made him sell out to an oily loan shark -- are a thing of the past. In this outing, the threat to his livelihood is even more frightening.
A greedy real estate developer is gobbling up all the property on Chicago's South Side in a gentrification crusade. Besides Kinkos, Blockbuster and Subway, there's even a "fake franchise version of a barbershop" (Nappy Cutz) staring Calvin in the face. Fearful that their beloved working-class neighborhood might lose its identity, Calvin and his loyal crew decide to fight fire with fire. "Doing the right thing" has never meant more, or to so many people.
Welcome new additions to the "Barbershop" ensemble include Calvin's onetime girlfriend, Gina (Queen Latifah), owner of the beauty parlor next door, and recent barber school grad Kenard ("Saturday Night Live" vet Kenan Thompson). Since politically incorrect motormouth Eddie was the breakout star of "Barbershop," we get to see a lot more of him in Part Two. Screenwriter Don D. Scott even supplies a backstory explaining how Eddie came to work for Calvin's dad back in 1967.
Scott, who cowrote the first film, clearly knows these characters inside out and has as much affection for them as the audience. (Maybe too much: At 106 slightly bloated minutes, "Barbershop 2" could have used some additional clipping in the editing room.)
New director steps in
Kevin Rodney Sullivan ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back") replaces Tim Story as director and doesn't miss a beat. Like before, the sociopolitical agenda -- the value of community in the inner city -- remains front and center throughout without ever dampening the entertainment quotient. In that sense, the "Barbershop" movies are a lot closer to 1976's rollicking vaudeville comedy, "Car Wash," than to one of Spike Lee's angry manifestos. (Which probably explains the first installment's crossover success.)
I'm not sure what plans -- network sitcom? Broadway musical? -- producers Robert Teitel and George Tillman Jr. have for their expanding series. (Latifah already has her own spin-off vehicle, "Beauty Salon," in the works.) Let's hope that any "Barbershops" turn out to be as enjoyable as the first two.
XWrite Milan Paurich at milanpaurich@aol.com.