Barbershop 2 - Back in Business (2004)

Critic Reviews

• Todd McCarthy, Variety

  Provides enough solid, character-based amusement to put customers in the chairs and send them out content with services rendered.

• Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

  This sequel is overstaffed with a cast that's underserved by Don D. Scott's schematic script and Kevin Rodney Sullivan's crude direction.

• Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

  [A]s funny as the original.

• Charles Taylor, Salon.com

  Like going out for a bad meal with a group of people you love being with. You're happy to be in their company; you just wish you didn't leave feeling hungry.

• Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

  Heartstrings will be tugged and ribs tickled, particularly thanks to Cedric the Entertainer.

• Desson Thomson, Washington Post

  It's a warm, often funny reunion of the sassiest, chattiest characters ever to buzz a brother's head.

• Nell Minow, Common Sense Media

  Great message delivered in an edgy hip-hop movie.

• Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed

  I could barely get over how I would have rather been watching the first film than this.

• Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile

  It's the kind of set-piece ensemble that has proven immensely successful as a sitcom formula but tends to struggle to meet the demands of a movie.

• Kam Williams, Princeton Town Topics

  Schoolyard jokes about religious faiths, genetic traits, and sexuality which only work if you enjoy laughing at people because they are darker-skinned, or curlier-haired, or perverted, or have emigrated from another continent.

• Anna Smith, Time Out

  Inane banter soon takes over and is not helped by an unlikely, flashback-heavy subplot about Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) and a lost love.

• Kevin Carr, Film Threat

  It ain't high art, but it is a fun flick.

• Tony Medley, tonymedley.com

  Barbershop 2 is a weak, too rarely humorous, too long bore.

• James Plath, Reel.com

  This time it's all about story--a clichéd plot that settles into dull familiarity shortly after the promising high-energy pre-title and title sequences

• Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  The red, white, and blue barber's pole is getting a little rusty, but fans of the wholesome franchise probably couldn't care less.

• Nick De Semlyen, Empire Magazine

  The banter is tighter and funnier, and Calvin's musings on the importance of community seem more heartfelt.

• Jamie Russell, BBC

  This smart, feisty comedy is still ghetto-fabulous enough to make you laugh until your short, back and sides ache.

• Stephen Himes, Film Snobs

  A direct hit on Jesse Jackson.

Read all 18 critic reviews