Calvin is a twenty-something black man who owns a barbershop in the Chicago ghetto. He inherited the barbershop from his father, who had inherited it from his father. Calvin and his wife are expecting a baby, and times are tough: the shop is losing money big time, and Calvin is flirting with the idea of selling the shop to a loan shark who wants to turn the place into a glorified massage parlor. Calvin is torn, though, because the barbershop is the heart and soul of the neighborhood, and one of its few remaining businesses. The shop means survival for the people who work there, but it provides services far beyond just getting a haircut. As one key character says, “If we can’t talk straight in a barbershop, where can we?”
This is the gist of Barbershop, which stands political correctness on its head (and has been criticized by the correctness gurus for doing so). Eddie, an elderly barber who is Calvin’s touchstone, shoots barbs at Rodney King, O.J., Martin Luther King, and Jesse Jackson. Eddie says the Montgomery Bus Boycott happened not because Rosa Parks wanted to lead a revolution but because her feet were tired. The movie isn’t primarily about social criticism, however. It’s about camaraderie, being there for others, making the right decisions. It’s about being your brother’s keeper.
Barbershop isn’t explicitly Christian, and it has some troubling language: the Lord’s name is taken in vain a few times, and there are sprinklings of four-letter words and puzzling statements like, “Jesus wasn’t a Christian; he was a Jew.” But underneath, the movie seems in tune with scriptural values. Eddie says, “Calvin, your daddy invested in people. He thought a little thing like a haircut meant something.” In other words, we’re to work for the Lord, no matter how big or small the task.
Barbershop, which stars Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer, has been compared to Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, and that’s a somewhat apt comparison. It’s a feel-good movie. Best of all, it gives us a glimpse of a culture we may not know very well. Shouldn’t we strive to know others like we know the Lord?
Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 ¼ stars
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