“Give me one reason!” “Rodney King!”

Justin’s rating: Aaron Sorkin couldn’t keep up with this chit-chat

Justin’s review: I’m not even going to try to pretend that I was or am somehow plugged into the early ’90s hip-hop scene. I think the closest most of us suburban kids got was listening to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995 and then eagerly embracing Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise” shortly thereafter (which undid all of our progress). So all I knew going into Who’s the Man? is that it starred hip-hop stars Doctor Dré (the east coast one, not the west coast guy), Ed Lover, and Ice-T, and that the soundtrack became far more famous than the movie itself.

I also kind of think that the poster does absolutely nothing to sell the movie, unless you see overweight guys with bulging eyes standing back-to-back with comically small revolvers and think, “Ooh, that’s a good way to spend a Saturday night:”

I’ll admit that the title plays in well with the concept of the “first hip-hop whodunnit.” It’s a nice little double-meaning there. Dré and Ed (of Yo! MTV Raps) play, uh, Dré and Ed — legally different people who have the same names because we don’t want to tax our rappers with the burden of answering to something different.

The two are failed barbers who resort to becoming “the Man” — police officers — out of desperation for a paycheck. At the same time, their barbershop owner is murdered to make way to buy his property, and the duo see an opportunity to use their new authority and swagger to investigate the crime. They look for any opportunity to be rebellious, which leads to many funny little moments. The two absolutely unloading their revolvers into a single criminal during target practice had me chuckling loudly.

The Ref director Ted Demme tries to harness the chaotic energy of the hip-hop scene and just so many notable figures and groups, and at times it feels like he’s riding a bucking bronco. There’s so much cross-talk and profanity that I’m convinced he turned on the camera and let people do their thing without so much as a single directorial note.

But if you’re into the early ’90s rap scene, you’re going to have a great time with the music and notable names here — even some that I recognize, like Run DMC, Salt ‘n Pepa, Busta Rhymes, Kriss Kross, Naughty by Nature, Bernie Mac, and House of Pain. It’s a time capsule to an era that’s been lost and largely forgotten, so I appreciate that it’s preserved this moment for those who care to revisit it.

It’s definitely an unconventional setting for a classic whodunnit, but you know what, why not? The whodunnit is flexible enough that it can be plugged in almost everywhere. Plus, it gives us more ranty Denis Leary, who brought his sarcasm into every other movie in the ’90s.

From the outset, I thought this would be some sort of soft PG lame comedy with a couple goofs at the center, so it took some major adjustment to mentally handle the sheer barrage of swears, rap, and urban style of comedy. It also attempts to straddle the line between comedy and a murder mystery that leads to some whiplash.

But once I adjusted to the style of Who’s the Man? I found myself genuinely enjoying this film. It’s a little wonky and weird and genuinely funny, kind of like stumbling upon a party of old friends who can’t help but have a good time when they get together.

Intermission!

• That New Line Cinema logo is like the most comforting of old friends saying, “Hey, you’re about to have a good time”
• Remember when Colin Quinn used to be in a lot more movies?
• “Brenda’s got man business!”
• “Movin’ on up!”
• This is one very busy barbershop
• The Beverly Hillbillies conversation
• “Did you see him wrinkle my shirt, man?”
• “I am the proctor.” “THE WHAT?”
• The target range scene was hilarious
• Gentrification as a major theme in 1993 seems ahead of the curve
• If you can’t abuse your status to get $10 back from a guy who borrowed it from you, why be a cop?
• “You just decided to become a doctor?”
• “I want all crime and all drugs stamped out by six o’clock tonight.”
• The souped-up police car is pretty sweet
• “Hai!” “Hai!” “Hai!”
• Everyone dancing around the pimped-out cop car