Director Benny Boom cut his teeth on music videos for 50 Cent and other hip-hop artists, and brings his affinity for short form to bear - the movie is a quick succession of short, punchy vignettes, covering each of the shaggy dog story's several factions.
The Epps/Harris stickup men are in the midst of deconstructing their latest bungled holdup when 10 kilograms of powder finds its way to their door. Epps' character contacts a drug-dealing cousin who agrees to buy the drugs, but the dealer hits a snag at the self-storage center where he does his banking (this is a funny interlude that makes a nod or two to Quentin Tarantino).
In Los Angeles, a sadistic gangster (Emilio Rivera) grows increasingly angry at the snafu, and puts pressure on his terrified Philadelphia contact (Cisco Reyes), who's equally intimidated by his bossy girlfriend.
Lives are at stake, but the actors understand that Boom is playing everything for laughs, and they deliver plenty. Faison's dope-addled monologues are a hoot (Mos Def has a funny cameo as Faison's colleague) as is most of the discursive patter given the characters by scripter Blair Cobbs.
It's hard to make a movie that ends with blazing guns and dead bodies and still send the audience away laughing, but "Next Day Air" finds the right drive-in movie tone.
You won't be able to see it at the Sam, but you probably won't have to worry about mice, either. *
Produced by Scott Aronson, Inny Clemons, d*rected by Benny Boom, wr*tten by Bla*r Cobbs, mus*c by The Elements, d*str*buted by Summ*t Enterta*nment.
