Baby Boy (film)
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| Baby Boy | |
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 Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | John Singleton |
| Produced by | John Singleton |
| Written by | John Singleton |
| Starring | Tyrese Gibson Omar Gooding Taraji P. Henson A.J. Johnson Snoop Dogg Ving Rhames |
| Music by | David Arnold |
| Cinematography | Charles Mills |
| Editing by | Bruce Cannon |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 29, 2001 |
| Running time | 129 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16 million |
| Box office | $29,381,649 |
Baby Boy is a 2001 American urban drama film written, produced, and directed by John Singleton. It has been considered a sequel of sorts to Singleton's earlier, more famous work Boyz n the Hood released ten years earlier. The film follows bicycle mechanic Joseph "Jody" Summers as he lives his everyday life in the suburbs of Los Angeles.
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[edit] Plot
Immature young man named Jody (Tyrese Gibson) lives with his mother Juanita, who is 36, (Adrienne-Joi Johnson) in South Central Los Angeles. He spends most of his time with his unemployed best friend P (Omar Gooding), and does not seem interested in becoming a responsible adult. However, he is forced to mature as a result of an ex-con named Melvin (Ving Rhames), who moves into their home. Another factor is his children - a son with his girlfriend Yvette (Taraji P. Henson) and a daughter with a girl named Peanut, who also lives with her mother. At the beginning of the movie Yvette has an abortion that Jody forced her to have. Yvette constantly asks Jody if he will ever come live with her and their son, but Jody avoids the subject and comes and goes as he pleases. Jody also continues seeing and having sex with other women, including Peanut. This becomes an issue between him and Yvette as well, especially since Yvette and Peanut do not get along. When she discovers his cheating they get in a heated argument which results to Jody slapping Yvette in the face. After this, Yvette changes the locks on the door. This infuriates Jody and they get into an argument. Their son comes out of his room and runs to the door. Yvette grabs him and cradles him while he yells, "I wanna see my daddy".
Eventually, Yvette's gangster ex-boyfriend Rodney (Snoop Dogg) is released from prison, and returns to the neighborhood to move in with Yvette, much to her dismay. Rodney doesn't care for Yvette and Jody's son and wants to impregnate Yvette himself. Rodney attempts to rape Yvette in front of her son. She tells him, "So you're really gonna rape me in front of my son". Rodney pauses for a minute the pushes her son out of the way and walks out of the room. Jody Jr. aka JoJo then says, "I want my daddy." Yvette then cradles her son and replies, "I know baby, me too". For the next couple of days Yvette lives in fear and disgust of Rodney being there and misses Jody. Rodney, who realizes this, steals the money from her wallet and takes off in her car to go and find Jody. Rodney tries to kill Jody in a drive-by shooting; however, he is unsuccessful with both efforts. After this Yvette kicks Rodney and his friends out of her apartment. While at Sweetpea's house playing cards, Yvette and Sweetpea's girlfriend Kim step outside. Yvette then goes and sits beside Jody. When Jody ignores her she throws the chair back and runs off. Jody goes after her. She then tells Jody about everything she's been going through, even about Rodney trying rape her. Jody then hugs Yvette and says that hes been missing her. Jody and Sweetpea confront Rodney, and as he attempts to escape, Jody shoots him in the ankle. Sweetpea urges Jody to kill Rodney, but he refuses, at which point Sweetpea kills Rodney himself. Feeling guilty for Rodney's death, Jody prepares to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head, but thankfully Melvin catches him and takes the gun. After reflecting on the death of Rodney and how he put Yvette and his son in danger by not being around consistently, Jody finally moves out of his mom's house and in with Yvette. Jody has now become a mature man, realizing that his mom's relationship with Melvin is a stable one and that he has a family of his own that he needs to protect and take care of. Afterwards, Jody and Yvette get married and she becomes pregnant with Jody's third child and her second child with him. Sweetpea decides to turn over a new leaf and gets baptized, putting his old life as a street thug behind him.
[edit] Cast
- Tyrese Gibson as Joseph "Jody" Simmons, an unemployed bike mechanic.
- Omar Gooding as Sweetpea, Jody's best friend.
- Taraji P. Henson as Yvette, Jody's girlfriend and the mother of his son.
- Snoop Dogg as Rodney, Yvette's ex-boyfriend and the film's antagonist.
- Ving Rhames as Melvin, Juanita's ex-con boyfriend.
- Adrienne-Joi Johnson as Juanita, Jody's mother.
- Elmo Tawnie as Tippy Top second cousin on Jimmy John's side
- Mo'Nique as Patrice, Juanita's best friend.
- Angell Conwell as Kim, Sweetpea's girlfriend.
- Tamara LaSeon Bass as Peanut, the mother of Jody's baby daughter.
- Tawny Dahl as Pandora, Yvette's coworker and a pursuer of Jody.
- Tracey Cherelle Jones as Sharika, Yvette's best friend.
[edit] Development
- The lead role was originally written for Tupac Shakur in 1996, but when he died, production for the film was put on hold. Jody listens to many of Shakur's songs and has a picture of him on his wall.
- Singleton originally wrote the role of Rodney for Ice Cube.
- The cast won a special award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2001. The film was also in the running for the Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize.
[edit] Box office
The film opened at #5 at the North American box office making $8.6 million in its opening weekend.
[edit] Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on June 19, 2001 by Universal Records. It peaked at #41 on the Billboard 200 and #12 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
[edit] External links
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