Barbershop 2: Back in Business (DVD)

Hated the first one and loved the second one, and now Barbershop 2 has come to DVD. I couldn't believe the response audiences had to the first installment of Barbershop as it took advantage of no one in its cast, but the sequel took everything wrong with the first film and made it right as it manages to keep you in stitches the whole way through.

Calvin is back and so is his crew of miscreants in Calvin Jr.'s Barbershop headlined by Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), whose story is just as much the focal point of the second film as is the main story of the new barbershop opening across the street, Nappy Cutz.

Nappy Cutz is part of a major chain of barbershops specializing in the higher standard of hair-cutting at a reasonable price and is threatening to put Calvin's shop out of business along with providing the stepping stone to taking over the entire neighborhood with more commercial business rather than the traditional neighborhood feel the area has grown comfortable with.

I expected very little from Barbershop 2 when I went into the theater and was pleasantly surprised, just as I was watching it again on DVD. Now I know it wasn't just my negative feelings going into see it the first time that improved my overall opinion.

The film is extremely funny and you can faithfully buy it and watch it multiple times. As for the special features they aren't exactly as impressive, but let's give them a once over right now.

First off you have two commentaries, one with four of the cast members (Cedric the Entertainer, Sean Patrick Thomas, Troy Garrity and Jazsmin Lewis) and the other with director Kevin Rodney Sullivan and the two producers, Robert Teitel and George Tilman Jr.

Now, cast commentaries are just as good as the people you have doing them, unfortunately besides Cedric the other three are not as important to the storyline as it would have been much better to have only had Ice Cube in there with Cedric, but I understand not everyone is always available. The one thing the feature did do that I had not yet seen with any other commentary is use picture-in-picture to actually show the four actors watching the film and commenting while the movie played in the background. It was pretty cool, but would have been better had they been a little more excited in what they were doing.

There are also two music videos on the disc, and I hate to say it but if you aren't Britney Spears parading around half-naked I don't really care, and quite frankly even that can get a little old. So, needless to say, music videos on movie DVDs just don't interest me too much.

Finally we have our usuals, deleted scenes and outtakes. These actually turned out to be pretty good, not to much, and not to little, and the outtakes were pretty funny.

For me, the special features didn't really matter, I like the movie enough to recommend you buy it regardless, as this movie was a welcoming improvement on the original installment.