All About the Benjamins [Blu-ray]

Director: Kevin Bray Kevin Bray

Overview

Rap star and actor Ice Cube produces, co-writes, and stars in this comic crime thriller that reunites him with his Next Friday (1999) co-star Mike Epps in the 48 Hrs. (1982) mold. Cube plays Bucum Jackson, a Miami bounty hunter for Martinez Bail Bonds who's tired of his dangerous, unprofitable profession and wants to start his own private investigation firm. Lacking stake money, Bucum is forced to hunt down a small-time grafter named Reggie Wright (Epps), a fast-talking confidence man who's crossed his path before. Except that this time, Wright tries to avoid his pursuer by hiding in a van being driven by a pair of murderous diamond thieves who've just made off with 20 million dollars worth of stones. They're in the employ of lethal crime lord and yacht broker Williamson (Tommy Flanagan), someone that neither Reggie nor Bucum is anxious to cross, but it seems that Reggie left his wallet in the van, a wallet containing a winning lottery ticket worth 60 million dollars. The hunt is on for big money as the mismatched duo tries to outfox a wily syndicate for both the ticket and the precious gems. The directorial debut of music video director Kevin Bray, All About the Benjamins (2002) co-stars Eva Mendes, Carmen Chaplin, Valarie Rae Miller, Jeff Chase, Roger Guenveur Smith, Anthony Michael Hall, and Lil' Bow Wow.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/11/2021
UPC:	0826663217520
Original Release:	2002
Source:	Shout Factory
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	16,674

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ice Cube	Bucum
Mike Epps	Reggie
Tommy Flanagan	Williamson
Carmen Chaplin	Ursula
Eva Mendes	Gina
Valarie Rae Miller	Pam
Jeff Chase	Mango,Actor
Roger Guenveur Smith	Julian
Gino Salvano	Mickey
Tony Ward	TJ
Dominic Chianese Jr.	Roscoe
Anthony Michael Hall	Lil J
Antoni Corone	Capt. Briggs
Anthony Giaimo	Martinez
Bob Carter	Mr. Barkley
Evelyn Brooks	Ms. Steinberg
Joan Turner	Ms. Scharfenberg
Julie Ann Beres	Sharhari
Lil' Bow Wow	Kelly
Robert Macbeth	Store Owner
Barbara Barron	Mrs. Barkley
Oscar Isaac	Francesco
Jodi Wilson	Lil J's Girlfriend
Allen Choate	Newsstand Attendant
Marianna Astakhova	Customer
Kevin Bray	Criminal
John Murphy	Composer

Technical Credits

Ronald Lang

Ice Cube

Ron Lang

Ronald Lang	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Ice Cube	Screenwriter,Producer
Kevin Bray	Director
Matt Alvarez	Producer
Tom Bahr	Stunts
Toby Emmerich	Executive Producer
Felicia Fasano	Casting
Anne McCarthy	Casting
Matt Moore	Executive Producer
Claire Rudnick Polstein	Executive Producer
James Roberts	Special Effects
Mary Vernieu	Casting
Ron Lang	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Mike Epps	Executive Producer
Mark Weber	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

With its engaging central duo caught in an underworld of bounty hunters and diamond thieves, All About the Benjamins at best resembles a good modern blaxploitation flick -- the kind that brings guilty pleasure, not discomfort. At its worst, though, it's a ludicrous, outsized caper story revolving around two different booties of 20-plus million dollars. Forget about Benjamin Franklin, who's on the thousand? Also forget about the Puff Daddy song of the same name, and the fact that the title sounds so 1998; Benjamins looks like a 2002 movie, especially during some crackling action sequences that have the kinetic energy and bouncy camera of Ridley Scott's later work. That's a pretty high compliment to pay video director Kevin Bray, but he only reaches that level in flashes. The rest of the time he's forgetting that it should all make narrative sense, that two thugs can't be tossed off the side of the boat and then disappear from the story, that a guy with a missile launcher can't pop up and vanish without explanation. Still, the inclination is to forgive Benjamins some of these faults, because Ice Cube and Mike Epps deliver the goods more often than not, achieving mindless popcorn entertainment with crossover potential. Cube is a known commodity by this point, but Epps gets his best showcase to prove he can sling high-speed, streetwise bull that's different enough from his contemporaries to be distinctive. Even when the plot points are patently fake, these two manage to keep it real.

All Movie Guide

An entertaining, if somewhat standardized, action movie.

Boston Globe - Jonathan Perry