Boyz n the Hood

John Singleton
1991

John Singleton's breakout debut feature (which has birthed a seriously inconsistent career) is one of those iconic zeitgeisty chunks of drama destined for awards and acclaim. By examining the black community of South Central Los Angeles, particularly it's youth, Singleton combines local color with a dose of classic tragedy. What I wasn't expecting (especially considering the dreadfully corny fashions) is how good everyone looks. With the exception of Cuba Godding Jr., who looks just as dopey as his performance is naive, pretty much all the ladies are looking great, Ice Cube's got the rad Raiders cap gangsta look nailed, and Larry Fishburn 's paragon of parental excellence is the supreme highlight with his masculine intelligence framed behind glasses and suspenders. There's a lot of goofy cinematic touches here like football star Ricky scarfing down various snackfoods in every scene, Ice Cube's permanent forty, and the dubbed use of overvoice narration when Tre tells a tall tale of sexual conquest. Singleton gets dangerously close to making the picture overly precious, but his personal honesty, and dedication towards raising awareness and creating social change is too competently handled and powerful to rag on. Also Furious Styles is one of the coolest movie names ever.