Dozens of so called “urban” movies hit the screens and shelves every year, and most are a testament to the ingenuity and flexibility of film. If you find some way to get an audience, and play to it, you can make a movie for peanuts. It doesn't have to be high art, it doesn't even have to be very good, but if you can get enough people to connect, you've got a hit.
Of course, some are better than others. 35 and Ticking certainly isn't the worst, but it does lack most of that ensemble magic that makes something like a Tyler Perry flick watchable. Instead, the usually funny Kevin Hart is left to do the comic relief himself, while the other threads of melodrama play out more or less independent of each other.
The story centers around a group of childhood friends as they push into their mid-thirties. Zenobia (Nicole Ari Parker) is single, because her standards are too high (meaning she's tall). Victoria (Tamala Jones) is married but the spark seems to have gone out of the relationship. Phil (Keith Robinson) is also married but his wife seems to be more interested in partying than in him and her children. And Cleavon (Hart) is an unemployed spaz whose only income comes from the local sperm bank.
Strangely, many of the scenes play out like a radio drama. with overlong conversations between two people in one place, with bits of improv thrown in. And so, the cast doesn't really gel enough to unite these various storylines. Things happen in one part of town, then another, then next door. They all share the same themes but it still feels more like a collection of scenes then a single movie.
The good thing is that the story doesn't go for excess or silliness or over-the-top stereotypes, and doesn't play stuff for laughs ahead of realism. So if it had been a smidge tighter, and maybe twenty minutes shorter, 35 and Ticking might have been a nice, realistic slice-of-life of a difficult (and under-represented) time in life.
Blu-ray special features:
A fairly short behind-the-scenes featurette, and some deleted scenes that no one's going to miss.
"35 and Ticking" is on sale September 13, 2011 and is rated R. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Russ Parr. Starring Kevin Hart, Meagan Good, Tamala Jones, Nicole Ari Parker.
