Baby Boy
There's this psychiatrist...a lady named Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. She has a theory about the black man in America. She says that because of the system of racism, the black man has been made to think of himself as a baby...a not yet fully formed human being who has not realized his full potential. To support her claim, she offers the following: First...what does a black man call his woman? Momma. Second, what does a black man call his closest acquaintances? His boys. And finally, what does a black man call his place of residence? The crib.—Opening narration
Baby Boy is a 2001 movie directed by John Singleton as a sort of follow-up to his smash Boyz N the Hood, and while it wasn't as acclaimed, it still received generally positive reviews.
The movie concerns Joseph "Jody" Summers, a young, selfish, immature black man in South Central LA who wants to live large but doesn't have a job. He's got two children by two different women, Yvette and Peanut, and has been living with his mother Juanita for several years. As Jody deals with the increasing pressures of adult responsibility, he also contends with his troubled best friend Sweetpea and new adversary Rodney. And then there's his mother's new live-in boyfriend Melvin, a reformed gangsta who agrees with Juanita that her son should grow up, move out, and move on.
Tupac Shakur's Hail Mary plays in one scene and he was set to star in the movie before his murder.
- Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male: More or less played straight. Yvette (Taraji Henson's character), in a fit of rage, starts swinging her hands toward her boyfriend Jody (Tyrese's character). While one could certainly understand why Yvette's upset, what with Jody's constant cheating and lying, that does not excuse her violently wailing at him to the point of punching him in the eye really hard. So when Jody fought back after failing to restrain Yvette, he smacks her in self-defense, which anyone has the right to do. Of course, the movie unfairly paints Jody's actions as a Moral Event Horizon moment.
- Coming of Age Story: In a way yeah, only the protagonist is over 20 years old.
- Mr. Fanservice: Jody and Mevlin.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted in the first post-opening credits scene, in which Yvette aborts what would have been her second child with Jody. She's still treated sympathetically, as she's heartbroken during the procedure.
- Hollywood California: Specifically, Watts.
- Immodest Orgasm: The sex scenes in this movie are rather... loud.
- Jerkass: Jody has his moments early on, but Rodney is a better example as the film's villain figure.
- Kick the Dog: Or more accurately, Kick The Fort. Rodney kicks down his ex-girlfriend's son's pillow fort, to drive home that he is not at all a pleasant guy.
- N-Word Privileges: Many of the characters have them, and they certainly use them. Now cook a nigga some food.
- Playing Against Type: Omar Gooding (normally a sitcom actor) as the dark, brooding, and somewhat sadistic Sweetpea.
- Rape as Drama: Late in the film, Rodney attempts to rape Yvette, but only stops when her young son comes into the room.
- Scary Black Man: Juanita's new boyfriend Melvin appears like this to Jody for much of the film. Of course, he is played by Ving Rhames.
- Spiritual Successor: To Boyz N the Hood.
- Wall-Bang Her: In an early scene, Melvin does this to Juanita... but quickly ends up changing to "the African Squat Fuck", in which he squat-hops across the room, while he's screwing her.
- Your Cheating Heart: Jody is known for this. When confronted about this by Yvette, he admits to it but states that he fucks other women and makes love to her. Yeah, that makes a lot difference. He had stopped cheating at that point but told her he still was since he figured she wasn't going to believe him anyway.