REVIEW:
It’s not Boyz N The Hood, (by the same writer/director,) but this is the closest thing John Singleton ever did to that movie, and is almost like a follow-up. This is the grown -up version of that movie if you will, which is to say that this is like visiting those characters ten years later when they are in their twenties, instead of high-school age. But this is also the more comedic version, whereas that film was a realistic and dramatic portrayal of life in the hood.
Baby Boy tells the story of Jody, a man with two different children from two different women, both of which he still spends time with regularly. And Jody doesn’t live with either of them. He still lives at his mother’s house, which is a real source of conflict when his mother starts seeing a new boyfriend, and they don’t exactly want Jody around so much. The story is fine, but it’s also a little too simple. That’s especially noticeable when a whole new conflict gets introduced in the second half, including a violent antagonist. The comedy is what really makes this thing work. Every actor is bringing something to the rebel here, when it comes to comedic chops, and the way the dialogue bounces off their tongues seamlessly.