REVIEW: ANUVAHOOD AKA FRIDAY

  

http://www.anuvahood.com/

I wasn't going to write a review on the new UK parody movie Anavahood, as I understand fully that this movie isn't for my age demographic (I would say this is aimed at anyone under the age of 23).  But then I thought, half of the people that actually feature in the movie are within my age group, so why the hell not!  I like movies as much as the urban "yoof" of today.

Went to see the movie with my home girl and fellow blogger, Janice from Madnews.biz.  The two of us really didn't know what to expect, but we both thought that the movie would probably parody Noel Clarkes previous movies, Kidulthood and Adulthood, being as the writer, director and leading man, Adam Deacon, starred in both of Clarkes films (no word on if the two have kissed and made up yet!)

The promotion of the movie has to be given a "hand clap", its been pushed heavily and very cleverly, hitting all the right social media sites to engage the demographic that they are aiming for.  Facebook, Twitter, Grime Daily, double page spreads in the Evening Standard, co-signs from all the top boys of the "Grime" scene, the works. Even my mum knows about the movie, but that may be purely because she recognised Richard Blackwood in trailer (she still refers to him as "dat deh pretty bwoy from Choice FM, him funny yu see!")

Normally, when I watch a movie, I absolutely must have my sugar popcorn (not toffee, that's gross!) in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Alas, this couldn't be done, as I just had a filling put in (friggin dentist!), so the normal sugar rush that I get while watching a movie was sorely missed, and I really wished that I had my popcorn, as certain things that I witnessed during this film could have been forgiven due to my imminent sugar rush.

As I said before, the leading man is actor and writer of the movie, Adam Deacon. He plays "wotless" K (aka Kenneth) who has dreams of doing "Bigga tings!" and is constantly "On this ting!" and needs for his fellow "wotless" friends to also be "on this ting" and not be on a "Hype ting!" as he's a "Big man on the endz!" Yes, remember it's a parody of Urban "yoof", so that is pretty much all the vocabulary you will hear throughout the entire movie, so if street slang annoys you, this is definitely not the film for you.

The movie consists of "K" and his mates TJ (Jazzie Zonzolo), Lesoi (Michael Vu), Enrique (Ollie Barbieri) and Bookie (Femi Oyeniran) spending a large chunk of their time on their council estate doing nothing other than trying to punch above their weight by telling each other they can get any girl on "da road!", thinking of ways to make money ("Ks" current job at "Laimsburys" is too low brow for him, which he promptly leaves) and getting "bitch slapped" on a daily basis by local estate bully, Tyrone (played by Ritchie Campbell).  Other appearances in the movie comprise of the familiar UK notable faces of Lethal B, Jammer, Richard Blackwood, Linda Robson (Birds of a Feather), Eddie Kadi, Jamie Winstone, Ashley Walters and a host of others.

Adam Deacon with Femi Oniyeran, Ollie Babieri, Jazzie Zonzolo and Michael Vu

There were some laugh out loud moments in the movie, but what I was slightly annoyed with, was the amount of actual scenes that were ripped from the 1995 movie, "Friday" (starring rapper Ice Cube and comedian Chris Tucker).  Now I know that the demographic that this movie is aimed at, will probably have never have heard of "Friday", much less seen it. But the main reason that Friday was such a smash, was because it had never been done before.  

Trailer for Anavahood

At times, I sat through the film with that "De Ja Vu" feeling, due to certain scenes that were almost exact to scenes in Friday.  From the menacing music that introduces Tyrone the Bully (same music used to introduce bully Debo played by Tiny "Zeus" Lester, that's the name of the bully in Friday), to the scene where "K" climbs into Tyrones window to get his items back that Tyrone "jacked" from him, all while Tyrone and his chick are getting it on (same scene in Friday), to the crack head (played by Ashley Walters) that runs them down for money (the crack head in Friday also approaches "Smokey" aka Chris Tucker on a daily basis) to the fact that "K" quits his job (Ice Cube character Craig, doesn't quit, but he gets fired) to "Ks" mum telling him to get a job (Ice Cube dad played by John Witherspoon was forever telling him to get a job!) to "K" trying to get money to help his mum pay off the bailiffs (Craig and Smokey aka Ice Cube and Chris Tucker spend the entire movie trying to get money to pay of some drug dealers, as idiot "Smokey" smoked all the weed ), somewhere in Anavahood, K also loses a stash of weed (and smokes some of it off), which he has to give back, or the dealers will "f@ck him up".

 

Ice Cube and Chris Tucker as Craig and "Smokey" in Friday

Its one thing to take inspiration from something, but to almost copy a movie from scene to scene is quite another. I felt that Adam really sold himself short.  To be fair to Adam, when he first announced that he would be making a spoof urban movie, he did mention that it would be like "Friday", but for me, as I have seen Friday before (one of my favorite black movies), Anavahood just didn't work.  I rate Adam as an actor, but I think he missed a golden opportunity to put a real stamp on UK movie making, as there were so many scenarios that he could have written for Anavahood, that would not have shared any exact similarities to Friday, thus separating himself from such an iconic movie and giving himself the chance to write something that could have been totally orginal.

Trailer for Friday

Were always "bangin" on about how we either want to be on par or "different" from the US, but then we take one of the most known "black" American movies and copy it.  How many times have I heard certain notable folks from the "Urban" scene say "Nah blud, we ain't Americans, we ain't from there, were doing our own ting!" Errr, really?"  How can you develop your own UK identity when you have taken from a very well known American movie? 

Whilst other critics will down this movie because of the sexual innuendos, the violent end scene between "K" and Tyrone (another scene from Friday), the slang (which actually didnt bother me at all), again its a "parody". I was more annoyed that I sat through a poor mans version of Friday, and for me you can NEVER re-do an iconic movie and make it better, so its best you just don't touch it.  I'm sure this will make a ton of money, as the under 23 "yoof" will rush to see it.  So I'll end by saying, sorry Adam, I wanted to like it, but I can't get excited about a plot and characters I have seen before. I'm just not on a "Hype ting!"

Rating 5/10