Review of Next Day Air (2009) by Chads — 09 May 2009

[***SELF-POLICING SPOILER ALERT***] Pothead bank robbers who forgo the money in the safe and steal security tapes instead, by way of their absolute incompetence, announce themselves as lightweight criminals, potentially, fun-lovin' ones.

The opening caper in "Next Day Air" sets the audience up for a stoner action comedy: the black "Pineapple Express". But during one of the film's many flashbacks, Brody(Mike Epps) acts more like a crackhead bank robber when he severs another man's tongue.

Too gangsta, perhaps? Yes. Too gangsta, by half. Played for laughs, Brody heard it wrong again(at the bank, needless to say, he was supposed to grab the green stuff), and sheepishly holds the tongue tip in his hand.

His inclination for brutal violence is unexpected, a total buzzkill; it changes the tone of "Next Day Air", therefore killing the comedy in the process. Wrong move. Here's another. Although Jesus(Cisco Reyes) shows no outward signs of being stoned, the drug seller takes an uncommonly long time to figure out that Leo(Donald Faison) delivered the parcel to the wrong apartment(the courier had an empty handtruck).

The pedestrian plotting doesn't stop there. "Next Day Air) acts as if it's running on a shoestring budget since Brody and his colleagues conduct their drug deal in such close proximity to the cocaine bricks' rightful owners.

During pre-production, the filmmaker should have made budgetary allowances for one more locale. The final shootout is more than inevitable; it's contrived. But the film has energy, if not logic.