All About the Benjamins
Bucum Jackson (Cube) is a bounty hunter with a lot of attitude and no interest in taking on a partner. Working at Martinez Bail Bonds, Jackson has unorthodox methods of tracking down low-life criminals, but they work, and one day he hopes to become his own boss and open up his own private investigation firm. Reggie Wright (Epps) is a slippery con artist who is avoiding the law, and Jackson. During a cat and mouse chase, the two stumble on a multi-million dollar diamond heist. Hiding from Jackson, Wright finds himself in the thieves' getaway van and ends up having to escape from them after they discover their booty is fake, much to the displeasure of their ruthless boss (Flanagan). When Wright meets up with his girlfriend (Mendes), he discovers that his recently purchased lottery ticket is the sole winner of $60 million. Unfortunately, his wallet, which held the ticket, was left in the thieves' van, so he persuades Jackson to help him get it back.
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- Cast:
- Ice Cube , Mike Epps , Eva Mendes , Tommy Flanagan , Carmen Chaplin , Valarie Rae Miller , Roger Guenveur Smith
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Reviews
Too much of everything
That was an excellent one.
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
Ice Cube is entertaining in this movie. There was nothing original about the plot, but the 2 main characters do keep your interests. And the title refers to money, as in $100 bills. It's all about the Benjamins (Franklin). Ice Cube is a bounty hunter out to get his man for some money, while the guy he's after just won the lottery. Only problem is he lost his wallet that had the winning ticket. To get it back, they have to deal with diamond thieves. One of the funnier scenes is in the beginning when Ice Cube uses a shock gun on a guy in a place you wouldn't want it to be used! FINAL VERDICT: I thought it was OK. I recommend it you are wanting to see some light hearted action comedy.
Half the time when I don't expect much from a movie, I become oddly surprised as it turns out to be much better than I assumed. But the other half of the time, I'm exactly right and the movie turns out to be just as bad as I assumed. This is a case of the latter. I was looking to be oddly surprised, but unfortunately this clunker is just as lame as it appears in the trailers. Prior to watching the film, I wasn't aware that Ice Cube co-wrote the script. After I saw his writing credit, I knew this definitely wasn't going to be topnotch material. Sure, I liked the first two "Friday" movies, but they're simply guilty pleasures. Cube may write some good rap songs, but he could probably never write a quality script. Also, this is an action movie. An action/comedy, yes, but comedy is what Cube specializes in. I'm not going to say it's his forte, because that would put him on parallel with Mel Brooks. Rappers can barely write comedies; they sure as hell can't write action movies! I hope and pray to God that Mike Epps doesn't become the next overnight comedy sensation. After the film came out, I heard people raving about him left and right. One thing's for sure: he's no, and I repeat NO, Eddie Murphy. I tolerated him in "Next Friday" and "Bait," and even got a few laughs from him, but now he's really getting at my nerves! He's filled with comic energy, but he doesn't know where the hell to focus it. You watch Eddie Murphy's invasion of the redneck bar in "48 Hours" and you compare it to any of the low-brow antics Epps pulls off in this movie, and THEN look into my eyes and tell me he's the next Eddie Murphy! I'll go as far as saying he's the black equivalent of Pauly Shore! I wonder if he's related to Omar. If he is, the talent gene sure as hell didn't get passed on to him. Every one of his lame one-liners mirrors any lines you hear from every other black comic that appears on "Comicview" or "Def Comedy Jam." Nothing but stale white stereotypes and cheap sex jokes. I don't detect a lick of intelligence in his humor. And I'm not saying this because he has such a foul mouth. Murphy's mouth is ten times filthier than his, but his humor is often at least somewhat intelligent (if you watch the films of his hayday like "Coming to America" and "48 Hours," and not some of his lame recent work like "I Spy" and "Showtime"). I can't blame Ice Cube much in the acting department. He's not a bad actor, though certainly not a great one. However, I do have the right to blame him for the material since he co-wrote the script. There's even a gag in which two old ladies swear and try to speak ebonics. That gag is about as moldy as a loaf of bread 3 years past its expiration date. Old white people acting black: not funny anymore! Get with the freaking program! And since there's not much of a casting call for senior citizens, these old-timers will probably accept any role that flies their way. If that's not taking advantage of the elderly, then I don't know what is. One of the film's minor saving graces are the appearances by beautiful Hispanic actress Eva Mendez. I remember her back from "Children of the Corn Part 5" which, needless to say, went direct to video. She seems to be appearing in more mainstream work (i.e.: "Training Day" and "Exit Wounds"). Hopefully, she'll receive much better scripts than these in the near-future. I don't mean to stereotype, but if there's truth to it, then what the heck am I supposed to do? Shy away from it for the sake of political correctness? This movie recycles the same material from almost every predominantly African-American comedy in recent years. And I'm not insulting Afro-Americans; movies like these are insulting them! These movies are making us think that only low-brow comedies like this can make black people laugh. That they can only laugh at jokes involving sex, toilet humor, misogyny or crude racial/ethnic stereotypes. I'm pretty sure there are blacks out there with a more refined sense of humor, but not too many black movies cater to their kind. My score: 3 (out of 10)
I was pretty surprised by this flick. It's an action film with a few shots of comedy that actually delivers where it counts. Ice Cube plays it pretty straight here (like all of his other movies, but that's why we love him), and Mike Epps seems to be channeling Chris Tucker. They play off of one another very nicely, though. The mostly formulaic storyline manages to throw them into some very interesting situations.Of particular note are the "first black President" joke and the torture sequence. And of course, the Cube has his usual cheerful facial expressions glowing throughout the film. Truly, don't miss it.
yep, that was one loud yawn. in this horrid little piece of celluoid i can see the beginning of a new generation of blaxploitation movies. only instead of people with huge afros going on about "jive turkeys" we hear from people with cornrows (Ice Cube's wearing really bad extentions in this flop) bouncing around saying things like "bling bling" and it's well..."all about the bengamins". looking for a plot are you? why would this movie need one, it had money, flashy cars, flashy apartments, flashy slang, flashy women (only acessories of course), sports endourcements, guns guns and more guns, that guy cicero from gladiator, and rap stars out the ying yang. mike epps once again plays the loud mouth "brotha" from the streets who's a con man...suprised. his "antics" get so annoying by the end of the movie you have to fight yourself to keep from throwing your television out the window. i'm suprised that a movie about nothing more than deep unfettered avarice could be taken very seriously. there was some schlock about a lotto ticket and diamonds but who really cares, pass this one up and go read a book instead.