Honestly, I’m shocked there were no Academy Award nominations in the acting categories.

Still, there’s no denying the excellent work from Gooding and Chestnut. My second favorite performance goes to Laurence Fishburne without question! He’s always been an actor of incredible talent and presence. As any will point out, the performances are top notch, with most agreeing (myself included) that Ice Cube steals the movie as Doughboy. I’m not sure there’s much else I can really add to the many other reviews that praise this film. It’s not the kind I can watch over and over, but it’s one I definitely revisit every so often. It’s a movie that I’ve grown to appreciate more and more as I get older (I’m 33 at the time of writing this), and easily one of the best directorial debuts I’ve ever seen.

Some works of fiction aren’t meant to be an easy sit. It’s not an easy sit at times, but as one of the tag lines on the posters say, it ain’t no fairy tale. I first saw this on DVD when I was in high school (circa 2003 or 2004) and remember liking it a lot.

Boyz n the hood plot