Movie Scene
At the Movies: 'Baby Boy'

By Anthony Breznican
AP Entertainment Writer

BABY BOY The Columbia Pictures release is rated R for language, nudity, drug use and violence. Running time: 129 minutes.

The plight of Jody (played by musician-model Tyrese) echoes themes found in far superior recent films like "The Brothers," "The Best Man" and "The Wood," about bright, young black men who have a fear of growing older and committing to family life.

But Jody doesn't just want to stay young and independent; he thinks of himself as a carefree man-child (hence the title) who lives with his mother when not impregnating some of the neighborhood women.

Meanwhile, a violent gangsta (Snoop Dogg) gets paroled and makes Jody's life hell by moving in with one of Jody's girlfriends and their young boy. The rapper saps the movie of whatever energy it has and spends most of his screen time lounging and mumbling.

After listening to the other characters in the movie holler and sermonize for two hours about how Jody needs to become a productive adult, Jody decides to kill a man who, for some inexplicable reason, is out to kill him.

Afterward, we see Jody weeping in his bedroom. The next scene, the final one in the movie, we see a smiling, content Jody as he talks with his mother (A.J. Johnson) about how good things are now that he's a grown-up.

Then the credits roll, leaving a plethora of questions in their wake:

What changed Jody? The murder? Would he kill again? What about his two babies by two different mothers? How does he reconcile those relationships? What about his philandering? Does he stop that? What's he going to do now to take care of them? Will he get an education?

It seems like the audience gets dragged through the tedium of this slacker's life only to get a smiley-faced sitcom ending.

Singleton, who showed such skill in the heartbreaking gang drama "Boyz N the Hood," doesn't seem to have anything to say.

The film's biggest sin is wasting Ving Rhames, who plays the frightening ex-con boyfriend of Jody's mother. He and Tyrese have several creepy scenes together, but, like the rest of the cast, Singleton never allows them to add up to anything.