Friday is the rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience.

Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off.

Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament.

Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they are being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty call" environment of '90s African American comedy

Starring: Ice Cube, Chris Tucker

Director: F. Gary Gray

Encoding: Region 1 (US and Canada only)

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen

Rated: R Not for sale to persons under age 18.

Studio: New Line Studios

DVD Features: Production notes

Theatrical trailer(s)

Seven deleted scenes

Q & A interviews with Ice Cube, director F. Bary Gray and producer Patricia Charbonnet

Music video "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" by Dr. Dre

Music video "Friday" by Ice Cube

Widescreen anamorphic format