3 Strikes Reviews

How did a basically decent, good-natured guy like Rob (Brian Hooks) wind up at the top of the LAPD's most-wanted list less than 24 hours after being released on parole? Well, it's like this... Rob's buddy Tone (Faizon Love) was supposed to pick him up, but Tone got busy with a freaky little gal from the Chick 'N' Strip and sent his buddy J.J. (De'Aundre Bonds) to supply the ride. J.J. was driving a stolen car, so when the cops tried to pull him over he came out shooting. Rob's panicky flight was caught on the squad car's dashboard video camera, and J.J. — who's in the hospital with a bullet in his behind — is more than happy to blame Rob for the whole mess. The case belongs to Detective Jenkins (David Alan Grier), the laziest excuse for an investigator on the force; but once the media gets hold of the story Jenkins has to get off his butt and start sleuthing. And on top of everything, Rob's parents are still bent out of shape about the last time the police came around and kicked the door in, and his jealous girlfriend Juanita (N'Bushe Wright) just might wallop the life out of him before the cops have a chance. Writer/director D.J. Pooh, a rap impresario, isn't much interested in tight plotting or flashy style; he just lets his cast amble through a dopey, laid-back series of comic encounters. The echoes of FRIDAY, which Pooh co-wrote and acted in (he plays both a taxi driver and a smartass newscaster here), are no coincidence. But while FRIDAY was charmingly loose and crammed with sharply observed characters (in the "what a character!" sense of the word), this picture is just shapeless and shrill. It's disposable, forgettable and aimed at an audience that doesn't care.