'Next Day Air' fails to mix ultra-violence, crime

Let's consider Benny Boom's "Next Day Air" one more piece of hard evidence against ever letting rock video directors handle narrative features.

Boom, director of such videos as "50 Cent: The Massacre - Special Edition" and "Mobb Deep: Life of the Infamous," strives for a Tarantino-esque blend of situational humor and stark violence, something like Tony Scott's cheerily murderous "True Romance."

But the graphic, bloody violence in Boom's urban crime movie doesn't mix well with the deliberately dopier aspects of "Next Day Air," especially Yasmin Deliz's over-the-top homage to Rosie Perez, and Donald "Scrubs" Faison's lighthearted take on his weed-addicted delivery man.

Faison's character, Leo, still lives at home with his mama (original "Fame" star Debbie Allen), who runs the package delivery business where he works. Leo delivers a large box to a Philadelphia apartment, not knowing that it contains a whale-load of high-grade cocaine. (Apparently, even the drug trade has been forced to cut costs and go with standard package carriers.)

Leo unwittingly gives the box to the wrong apartment, because of a missing numeral on the door. The drugs were supposed to go to high-strung Jesus (Cisco Reyes), who freaks out to his hotter-than-a-skillet girlfriend Chita (Deliz) when it doesn't arrive.

Leo gave it to the apartment down the hall where two loser roomies named Brody and Guch (Mike Epps and Wood Harris) and their constantly sleeping compadre Hassie (Malik Barnhardt) are resting from pulling off a pathetic bank job. The only thing they stole was the video recording tapes, because Brody thought Guch told him, "Get the tape!" instead of "Get the safe!"

Yes, they are that stupid.

The kingpin who sent the drugs, Bodega (Emilio Rivera), packs up his hulking henchman Rhino (Lobo Sebastian) and takes off for Philly to take care of business personally.

Meanwhile, Brody and Guch can't wait to get some cold cash for their hot coke, so they call up Brody's dealer cousin Shavoo (Omari Hardwick) and his nameless bodyguard Darius McCrary) for a quick sale.

Having set up all these hostile factions to converge simultaneously in Brody's apartment, first-time screenwriter Blair Cobbs' script indulges in a harsh, violent confrontation that only the comic relief characters survive.

The only thing messier than the shootout scene is Cobbs' dialogue, a collection of stilted verbal clichés ranging from the overused "Trust me!" (three times), "My bad!" (once) and the ever-popular "That's what I'm talkin' about!" (a whopping four times).

Had Quentin Tarantino or one of his many devotees directed "Next Day Air," that might have elevated Cobbs' material to a tolerable level of a bruised black comedy.

But Boom orchestrates a ker-thudding cinematic symphony of dissonant tones, leaving one to yearn for the whimsical stylings of Ron O'Neal's 1972 drug dealer opus "Super Fly."

"Next Day Air"

Rating: 1½ stars

Starring: Donald Faison, Mos Def, Mike Epps, Wood Harris, Yasmin Deliz

Directed by: Benny Boom

Other: A Summit Entertainment release. Rated R (drug use, language, nudity, sexual situations, violence). 90 minutes