Slacker Fest: Friday

Maybe the most nuanced, interesting storyworld of the slacker canon

Welcome to Slacker Fest, where we document our research and analysis of mass media’s “slacker” archetype, part of our effort to broaden the genre with a slacker film of our own.  Find our master list of entries here. Previous entry: Boudu Saved From Drowning

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Here’s another film I underestimated.  I’d seen Friday before, and enjoyed it as a goofy comedy, but didn’t think there was much substance there.  Rewatching it now, with this blog’s themes in mind, I see not only an innovative approach to plot, but also a nuanced (dare I say tender?) perspective on the interactions between marginalized slackers and their unforgiving environments. 

The basics

Release year:  1995

Premise:  Follows the Friday of a man who’s just gotten fired from his job and, instead of heeding his father’s demand to search for a new one, gets tangled in his best friend’s debt to a local drug dealer (among other hijinks that come with living in South Central Los Angeles). 

Auteurs: F. Gary Gray (director), Ice Cube (writer, main actor), and DJ Pooh (writer, minor actor).  They wanted to depict the lighthearted element of living in the hood, something they felt the gritty, menacing “hood films” of the time missed.  Knowing this intention proved key to me fully appreciating this film.

Most* notable characters:

*There are so many notable characters in this movie, a testament to its cultural staying power.  I’m listing the ones that appear in this review.

• Craig Jones, the slacker

• Smokey, Craig’s drug-peddling best friend (also a slacker)

• Big Worm, the drug dealer who threatens Smokey and Craig

• Deebo, the neighborhood bully feared by all

• Debbie, a friend of Craig’s sister, Craig’s love interest

• Willie and Betty Jones, Craig’s tough but caring parents

• Joi, Craig’s (correctly) jealous girlfriend

• Felisha, an addict who went on to become an internet meme

Meet the (main) slacker:  Craig Jones

Craig doesn’t give off classic slacker vibes.  Unlike the typical archetype, he’s not outwardly laid back or funny–not on this Friday, at least.  Today, he’s surly and in conflict with his entire neighborhood.  

But though he doesn’t seem fond of goofing around, he’s not very driven either.  He’s not particularly bothered by his unemployment, and doesn’t mind asking everyone around him to loan him money.  The bulk of his stress comes from his life being threatened by Smokey’s criminal entanglements.  Understandable! 

If Craig is closer to the “Dante” frustrated slacker-type, his sidekick, Smokey, is more in the classic stoner mold. 

His world: a marginalized neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles

For the setting of a goofy comedy, this world is complex and contradictory.   Yes, people dunk on each other with commands to get a job (“The word of the day is J. O. B.!” – Craig’s dad).  But there is more understanding and tolerance of unemployment in this neighborhood than in your typical slacker’s world. 

It’s telling that no one in Friday waxes poetic about big goals or dreams. Everyone’s just trying to survive and have a little fun along the way. Funny enough, you could argue that the biggest workhumper (aside from Craig’s dad) is the local drug dealer, Big Worm, tells his underlings “you’re not applying yourself” as justification for later trying to kill them.  

Don’t get me wrong, people here value jobs.  Craig’s mom denies him a loan and refuses to feed him more than cereal because he doesn’t have one.  But what’s important is that she still feeds him.  There’s no talk of shame, being a bad person, or anyone being put out on the street.  This is a community that understands that there are broader situations, and so is willing to carry each other when push comes to shove.  The vibes are, all in all, loving.

Of course, I don’t want to downplay the violent and unforgiving elements that also live here.  In this world, you’re constantly up against people who have no tolerance for “playing.”  As a frustrated Craig tells Smokey about Big Worm:

“That’s your problem.  Ain’t nobody playing but you…you think that man’s playing about his money?  Name one person in the hood that play like that.”

While this isn’t a workhumping world per se, there’s a survival pressure to repress the slacker’s usual playfulness and goofiness.  

I love that it’s the film’s nominal workhumper, Craig’s dad, who most tenderly expresses sadness at Craig having to grow up surrounded by more violence than he did.  Maybe that’s why Friday’s characters don’t spout workhumper buzzwords at each other–their violent backdrop does the pressuring for them, and any extra chastising would just be piling on. 

What does our slacker want and what’s in the way?

Before we get to what Craig wants deep down (beyond the straightforward money he needs to avoid getting shot, of course), it’s clear that he sees his neighborhood as what gets in the way.  His refrain is “I’m always caught in the middle of something,” and it’s true that he has a knack for letting others sidetrack him.  He’s also, ironically, constantly frustrated by how broke everyone around him is. 

Craig’s deeper, defining desire is unclear.  It’s decidedly NOT a job, but it may be the same sense of respect from the community that a good job tends to bring–respect often achieved through having means, toughness, or both.  The movie doesn’t really concern itself with making his inner life clear, but it’s noteworthy that his climactic “growth” moment is beating up Deebo, winning his neighbors’ respect in the process. 

How does the film define a “slacker” in broader terms?

I’m kind of at a loss on this one.  Going by Craig’s speech above, I guess it’s someone who “plays” in a world that demands a near impossible standard of serious focus and effort, upon penalty of death?  

Basically, if your environment is menacing enough, anyone who’s at all human is suddenly “slacking.”

Could anyone other than a White Black dude pull off slacking in this story world?

Oy, Felicia

Most if not all men in this world have a little slacker in them, which is nice to see.  The local pastor has a relatable taste for weed and sex.  Minor Mexican characters have clear joie-de-vivre, especially when it comes to lacing weed.  Even Craig’s dad has enough sense to come home and indulge in some TV when he gets injured at work.  

As usual, it’s the women who get the short end of the stick.  Every female character either studies or works or otherwise has her life together.  The only exception? Felisha (of “Bye, Felicia!” fame), an addict who has gone on to become one of the most derided and mocked characters in cinema history. I mean, goddamn Smokey of all people feels justified in telling her “to borrow a job, with your broke ass.” 

Felisha doesn’t fare well even when compared to the other drug-addict in the film, a male who is at least shown to be resourceful and somewhat witty.  She’s decidedly pathetic, on the receiving end of everyone’s scorn (as well as Deebo’s violence, which btw no seems to give a fuck about). And like I said, this includes the audience’s scorn: thirty years later, people even disrespect the real-life actress who played her.  Rough.

Does the film “approve” of slacking?  Is it a broader anti-job statement?

Friday unambiguously makes the point that slacking is not a viable option in this world, but it also depicts slackers through a funny, loving lens. And on this Friday, at least, they all get away with it. 

I’m gonna say yes, it approves of slacking, and longs for a world that nurtures it.

What does the film see as “the enemy” in broader terms?

In one word, violence.  Our slackers’ two main antagonists, Deebo and Big Worm, both use violence as their main calling card.   These are the guys you “can’t play” with for fear of your life. 

More broadly, you could say the socioeconomic forces that have made this neighborhood a pressure-cooker where slacking and/or “playing” is lethal.  I feel like a bummer writing this.  Ice Cube wants this to be a JOYFUL movie breakdown, and I’m failing him. 

Walt Wiltman’s favorite line

Chris Gardner’s work-humper take

“What on earth is this man doing, asking the women in his life for money?  Does he have no sense of manhood?  Has he at least tried selling his blood yet?  And why hasn’t he just marched into the financial sector and befriended some bankers?  

Come to think of it, why haven’t they all?  If the whole neighborhood just showed up downtown with a little eagerness and a commitment to never take bathroom breaks, I’m sure those nice white bankers would gladly give them all internships.  No one would be spooked and call the cops or defund public transit or expertly lay out a highway to make access to downtown harder for them.  I’m certain of it.”

Are there any slacker-like innovations in the technique of the film itself?

Plot / Setting

First, there’s the cartoonish treatment of inner-city struggles and violence.  For example, the slapstick botched drive-by attempt on Craig and Smokey (followed by how casually Smokey patches things up with Big Worm in the morning).  It’s over-the-top unrealistic in the way only 90’s movies dared to be.  

My normal reaction would be to condemn a film for “making light” of these issues, to the point that I would have found it, to put it bluntly, minstrel-ish.  But after reading Ice Cube’s stated desire to show a more joyful side of the hood, I’ve come to appreciate this tone choice as in line with Tricia Hersey’s take on the importance of dreamspace (I swear I’ll do a more involved breakdown of this soon). This movie serves as an exercise in carving out joy and imagination in difficult circumstances, instead of being spiritually beat down by them.  

I also want to highlight the decision to have Craig and Smokey spend the whole film either at their homes or on the stoop.  Though they scheme non-stop about their next move, they never make a move.  The story comes to them.  Friday figured out how to make passivity interesting and entertaining.  

(I also appreciate that, despite the literally life-or-death deadline they’re under, our guys make time to chase women.  Tricia Hersey would be proud of this commitment to a little pleasure, even in the face of death itself.)

Cinematography / Camera use / Color / Mise-en-scéne

Visually, this film has a bright, cheery color palette, almost like a typical 90’s/2000’s music video.  It may just be a nod to LA’s bright color palette, but it definitely adds to the movie’s “lighthearted” “dreamspace” quality.

Editing / Pacing

Sound / Music

What would I want to keep for our slacker film?  What do I want to leave behind or improve?

Keep

• The contradictions and nuances of its film world.   It’d be easy to cast our slacker’s world as cartoonishly work-humping.  It’s more interesting to put them in a world that cares for them, yet feels the need to put immense pressure on them because they see it as a matter of survival.  

• Friday’s ambitions to innovate on genre, in its case pushing back against “hood film” bleakness by committing to staying light-hearted even when depicting the worst situations. 

  • Since deciding to go down the route of an immigrant slacker film, I see our film as doing the same in regards to typical immigration films and, more broadly, neorealist gritty-poverty films.  Maybe not in the main ways this film does, since it enjoyed an actual budget to control things like color palette, but emulating its more accessible choices. For example, breaking the fourth wall every once in a while for comedic effect.

Leave

The punching down.  I refuse to have a Felisha character whose actor gets shit on thirty years down the line.

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If nothing else, Friday shows the interesting possibilities for genre innovation that arise when you lean with gusto into a specific community or identity, as opposed to trying to make everything “universal” and commercially viable.  Respect.

Next up: Slacker