‹ All movies

The Rewatchables ·

Friday

year 1995decade 90sdirector F. Gary Graygenre Drama
host Donnie Kwakhost Hannah Giorgishost Justin Charity
All 14 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 22:05

Red getting his chain snatched by Deebo

Picking one scene is called difficult because the first hour is basically a rewatchable hour; Craig getting high is nominated first, since you wait the whole movie for him to finally take a puff, and Smokey's angel dust flashback is noted as funny but a little problematic.

Red getting his chain snatched by Deebo is nominated as the classic bully scene: when Deebo approaches, Smokey rips his own chain off and puts it in his back pocket, while Red only tucks his in and says so, which is not thorough at all; the Bernie Mac pastor scene and Bye Felicia are also nominated.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 53:36

"You ain't got to lie, Craig"

Rather than read fifteen minutes of quotes, each host gives a favorite; the first is 'you ain't got to lie, Craig', said by Joy when she accuses Craig of infidelity, funnier on an adult rewatch because she has a man in bed with her while saying it, making her a hypocrite.

The film

Friday (1995)

Directed by F. Gary Gray · Drama

91 minutes

IMDbLetterboxdJustWatch
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Ice Cube Craig Jones
Chris Tucker "Smokey"
Nia Long Debbie
Anna Maria Horsford Betty Jones
Regina King Dana Jones
John Witherspoon William "Willie" Jones
Bernie Mac Pastor Clever
Angela Means Felisha
Faizon Love "Big Worm"
Lawanda Page Jehovah's Witness
DJ Pooh "Red"
Tony Cox Mr. Parker
Kathleen Bradley Mrs. Parker
Reynaldo Rey Red's Father
Ronn Riser Stanley
Meagan Good Kid #2
F. Gary Gray Store Employee
James Bose Smith Chris "Lil Chris"
WC Drive-By Shooter
Michael Clarke Duncan Craps Player (uncredited)

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

17:21

Casting What-Ifs

DJ Pooh was the original Smokey until New Line balked; Tommy Davidson and Chris Rock were considered for Smokey; Tomm...

DJ Pooh was the original Smokey until New Line balked; Tommy Davidson and Chris Rock were considered for Smokey; Tommy Davidson was also to play Ezal; Angela Means's agents wanted her to pass on Felicia

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:21Read transcript
  • The script was written with DJ Poo (as transcribed) as Smokey, but New Line would not sign off because he was not a big enough star, which one host calls a smart move; Chris Tucker, not yet established but on the rise, auditioned for Cube and the rest is history.
  • Pooh as Smokey would not have worked, but he killed it as Red, a lovely part, especially the way he jangles back to the car after asking about his beach cruiser.
  • Tommy Davidson and Chris Rock were also considered for Smokey; Rock is rejected as too New York, more famous than Tucker in 1995 but not computing in the role, and his doing Tucker's physical comedy would look like overacting, Tucker reading as a younger, more exuberant spirit where Rock can be hardened.
  • Tommy Davidson was also supposed to play the crackhead Ezal; Angela Means, who plays Felicia, has said her agents wanted her to pass because she was so pretty and should have played the pretty girl, which one host finds fair.
  • A hypothetical recast: Viola Davis as Mrs. Jones, the comedic but strict mother Anna Maria Horsford plays; Davis rarely gets comedic, motherly roles and is pushed into intense crying parts, so the hosts wonder what the role would have looked like with her in 1995 or in a reboot, though whether she was old enough twenty years ago is questioned.
Share this discussion More Casting What-Ifs answers
34:26

Half-Assed Internet Research

Shot on F. Gary Gray's old block at 126 and Normandy (as transcribed), with the Red knockout in front of his childhoo...

Shot on F. Gary Gray's old block at 126 and Normandy (as transcribed), with the Red knockout in front of his childhood house; Gray directed Cube's It Was a Good Day video; a Crip neighborhood, so nothing red appears; clothes from the Slauson swap meet; cast paid about $5,000 each on a $3.5 million budget that grossed $27 million; Kathleen Bradley was the first Black Barker Beauty; Smokey's 1976 Ford Pinto was spotted on Western Avenue with the lockup sound added in post; Chris Tucker ran uninvited into the knockout shot; Anthony Johnson drew on relatives for Ezal; Craig's firing was based on Cube's UPS cousin

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:26Read transcript
  • The movie was shot on director F. Gary Gray's old block, where he lived in junior high, 126 in Normandy (as transcribed), and the scene where Deebo knocks out Red is in front of the house Gray grew up in; asked whether Gray ever owed someone $200 or knew a Deebo, the answer is that he directed but did not write it, and it is mostly Cube.
  • Gray directed Cube's It Was a Good Day video and other Cube videos, which is how they connected; the neighborhood is a Crip neighborhood, so nothing red appears to avoid the ire of local gangs; nearly all the clothes were bought at the Slauson swap meet, where a host used to go.
  • According to John Witherspoon the cast all got paid around $5,000 each, some of it reportedly out of Cube's pocket; the budget is put at $3.5 million against $27 million grossed, with mostly unknown actors; the hosts wonder about residuals and feel Witherspoon should eat out on the film forever, which he pretty much does.
  • Kathleen Bradley, Miss Parker from across the street, was the first Black Barker Beauty on The Price Is Right and was spotted there by a casting director; Smokey drives a 1976 Ford Pinto, called the best character and the ugliest car ever in a movie; Gray saw it on Western Avenue and knew it was Smokey's car, and the lockup sound was added in post.
  • The best shot of the Pinto is the slow shot of Smokey parking in front of Craig's house after the store where the crackhead gets him to buy a 40, the one long look that shows how broken the car is and makes the broke character feel real; a host relates, having grown up driving a 1989 Nissan Pathfinder despite being born in 1987.
  • Chris Tucker was not originally in the 'you got knocked the fuck out' scene and just ran into the shot, all the more reason nobody else could have played the role; Anthony Johnson, who played Ezal, drew on a brother and sister who were on crack, which is dark but may have fed a more compelling performance.
  • From Wikipedia: Craig being fired on his day off was based on Cube's cousin, who worked for UPS; a host believes it, calling UPS and USPS evil organizations, which draws the joke about beef with the mail and a Stamps.com ad.
Share this discussion More Half-Assed Internet Research answers
44:52

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Does Deebo come back and beat them up later? Why would someone steal that many boxes, and did Craig actually do it?

Does Deebo come back and beat them up later? Why would someone steal that many boxes, and did Craig actually do it?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:52Read transcript
  • Whether Deebo comes back to beat them up later is floated, then half-answered by the existence of sequels, which the asker did not watch.
  • Why anyone would steal enough boxes to get fired, and whether Craig is even guilty, is never addressed; the hosts love that the film refuses to answer, and it fits Craig being on the straight and narrow without being a square, a dude who would steal boxes for no reason.
Share this discussion More Probably Unanswerable Questions answers
46:09

Picking Nits

Chris Tucker's smoking looks fake while Craig's looks real; Cube's voiceover appears only twice; the pivot to the mes...

Chris Tucker's smoking looks fake while Craig's looks real; Cube's voiceover appears only twice; the pivot to the message and Witherspoon's speech is inelegant; the drive-by feels unnecessary to one host; Debbie's attraction to Craig is unearned; Felicia as the roving crackhead type; the credits spell the name Felisha; the $200 Big Worm plot is not urgent

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:09Read transcript
  • Chris Tucker's smoking does not look right: he holds the smoke in his mouth, the telltale sign of a non-smoker, while Craig, the supposed non-smoker, actually inhales and exhales; it is noticeable when Craig takes the joint and leans back, but not off-putting, and a first viewing before ever smoking would not catch it.
  • Cube's voiceover appears at the beginning and once in the middle, when they go to rob the house next door and he says not to always get him into shit, then never returns; it feels like a detective-noir intrusion they forgot to cut.
  • The film flips around the hour mark into Witherspoon's speech after Chekhov's gun; F. Gary Gray is quoted wishing there were more of a transition to the message, which crashes in and is inelegantly executed, and a host agrees the film pivots into an after-school special when the gun and the drive-by arrive.
  • The events in the movie could stay the same; what makes it feel after-school is John Witherspoon's speech. — Justin Charity
  • The speech about not needing a gun and taking an ass-whipping is played; the fix proposed is an acted rather than spoken vehicle for Witherspoon, not a black-and-white flashback of a younger Witherspoon losing a fight, but a pensive beat as Cube confronts Deebo before dropping the gun and decking him, a scene instead of a speech.
  • One host did not mind the speech much, only because of loving Witherspoon giving it; the drive-by, with Uzis spraying and people jumping on cars, felt unnecessary to that host, while another counts it among favorites because it is so sharp and sudden in a laid-back stoner movie, even if poorly lit at night, a last-minute reminder that things are still real.
  • A final nitpick asks whether Debbie would be that attracted to Craig when he did little to earn it, with the joke that it was conveniently written into the script by Cube; a prior neighborhood relationship blossoming is believable.
  • Debbie falling for Craig over one day is not believable, so the ending feels unearned and abrupt even though it is only her saying she will call tomorrow, a reminder that a man, specifically Ice Cube, a first-time screenwriter, wrote it.
  • Felicia, and the Bye Felicia meme, prompt the observation that many nineties movies have a roving crackhead character, often a light-skinned woman, used for comic relief and pathos, begging for money with an uncomfortable sexualized undertone.
  • The real nit is the spelling: the credits spell the name Felisha, so everyone writing 'Bye Felicia' is spelling it wrong, and they should check IMDb, or do half-assed internet research.
  • Early on, before nits were officially open, the $200 owed to Big Worm was called neither urgent nor necessary as a plot device, answered that it brings amazing lines and confrontations and Faison Love (as transcribed) in hair curlers.
Share this discussion More Picking Nits answers