Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)

Boring

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

It probably would have helped if I'd seen all (or at least some) of the movies that this parodies, but as it stands, DON'T BE A MENACE is consistently funny enough on its own. From the Wayans' Brothers, DON'T BE A MENACE parodies/spoofs just about every "hood" movie from the 90's, like BOYZ N THE HOOD, MENACE 2 SOCIETY, etc. Shawn Wayans stars as Ashtray, a 19-year-old who moves in with his younger (than him) father, and Marlon Wayans as Loc Dog, one of his friends. If there's one big weakness, it's that there's not really a plot to speak of, meaning that the film plays like a series of skits rather than a cohesive story. That being said, there were a lot of laugh-out-loud moments and funny running gags. The best ones, to me, were Keenen Ivory Wayans as the mailman who pops up from time to time and says "Message!" whenever the "preachy" moments come. Also, everyone (and I mean everyone) drinks only malt liquor. Generally, the humor that works the best has to do with pointing out stereotypes in these types of movies (and life in general), rather than the scatological stuff which was often a little too gross for me. Thankfully, it wasn't relied upon as much as it is now in movies of this ilk, but fart jokes and foul-mouthed grannies will only get you so far. For those types of jokes, they were funny the first few times, but became a little tiresome later. This is also an extremely quotable movie, with such memorable lines as, "Break yo self, fool!" So, while I haven't seen really any of the movies this parodied, I have seen other Wayans' Brothers movies and this compares favorably to those. I'd consider this the last genuinely good spoof from them, even if the story structure is all but nonexistent. It doesn't really live up to Mel Brooks (but honestly, what can?), but as a distillation of 90's urban movie clichés, DON'T BE A MENACE is on fairly solid ground.

Nearly all movies are about other movies.Nearly all life acts are from movies; nearly all stereotypes are from acts.The Wayons merely close the loop: movies where the acts are stereotypes of stereotypes. They really know what they are doing, disguising it as social commentary. But that you get enough of in the first five minutes. Check out how many jokes are about acting, about every third one.And then check out what they did next, with "Scary Movies," which takes the circle one more loop.I admit that I'm a fan. They seem to be the only ones who can do what Zucker used to: serve up what are generally called spoofs.I think it is because they start knowing that the target isn't bits of movies, but the bits we use in inventing the stories of who we are.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood is hilarious. The first time I saw this, I caught a few minutes of it on HBO. I had to do something, so I only got to see a few minutes, but in those few minutes I was laughing more times per second than I had ever laughed before. Through that one time when I only saw a few minutes, I knew I had to see this from the beginning.This is a spoof of films that take place in the ghetto. The films it spoofs include Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, Juice, South Central, Higher Learning, Poetic Justice, and other films. Part of the reason I laughed so hard is because I had seen most of those movies, and I knew them well enough. If you haven't seen any of those movies, you probably won't find this to be funny. If you want to see any of those movies in order to understand this, the main ones you will have to see are Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society. I laughed so hard when I saw this. It seems as though every second something funny happens. The movie follows Ashtray, a young man who is sent to live with his father in order to learn better and have more of a chance to succeed in life(think of Boyz N the Hood). Strangely, his Father is younger than he is. Little things like that make this movie very funny. Some other funny characters are Ashtray's cousin Loc Dog, Loc Dog's trigger happy Grandmother, their crippled friend Crazy Legs, and a desperate drug addict with some of the funniest lines in the movie. Funny things happen with these characters, such as when we first see Loc Dog's Grandma, she is swearing just about every word. A couple of minutes later, she smokes a huge joint, which is also hilarious. The look on her face, and her mannerisms in that scene are priceless. Another funny scene with Grandma is when she and another elderly woman are having a break dance competition in church. The character Crazy Legs was formerly the best dancer in the hood, until he was paralyzed from the waste down in a drive by. He has these little stubby legs that are about half the size of normal legs. In one scene he has a dream that he is a dancer in the video for MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This." That scene is so funny, it had me laughing for quite a while. This movie is not for everyone. Anyone who is offended by racial stereotypes will probably not enjoy this movie, as there are a lot of racial stereotypes in many scenes. Another reason this isn't for everyone is because not everyone is into this type of humor, and not everyone has watched the movies that this is a spoof of. If you are into this type of humor, and you have seen the movies that this is based on, then I'm sure you'll love it. If you like movies like this, then it is a must see. If you aren't into this type of movie, then you will probably spend better time watching another movie.

I've been wanting to see this movie for a while and I finally did. I thought it was hilarious!The Wayans Brothers take off movies so well.I thought this was a fabulous take off of all the hood movies.All the jokes were very smart, original and funny.The acting was good. They made a really good parody of all the hood characters.I felt some characters were too over the top though, but nothing that bad.I'm sure anyone will find this funny, but only if they've seen some of the hood movies. If they didn't then some of the jokes will stupid.Overall I thought it was a marvelous take off of all the hood movies. An entertaining movie and must see for hood movie fans!Keep up the good work Wayans!