All About the Benjamins (2002) review

Dir. Kevin Bray

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★½

All About the Benjamins is the ideal mix of gaudy, early aughts style and the natural chemistry between its leads, Ice Cube and Mike Epps. It exists on a plane where cockamamie meets compelling, and it pleasantly doesn’t try to do what its contemporaries did in shoehorning a political subtext, or a terrorist subplot. This is an action-comedy about two dudes trying to get what’s theirs in an unpredictable and unjust world. The end result is something you can enjoy, providing you don’t expect the answers to deep questions.

The plot involves two men on separate ends of the social hierarchy joining together in the name of stacking greenbacks in harmony. There’s Bucem (pronounced “Book ’em,” Ice Cube), a bounty hunter trying to get enough cash to start his own P.I. firm, and Reggie (Mike Epps), a petty crook who hires old ladies to help him rob corner-stores. Reggie’s girlfriend (Eva Mendes) trusts he’ll make life better for both of them, but one wonders from where that trust stems in the first place.

Luckily, Reggie has a lottery ticket worth $60 million. Unfortunately, he misplaced the ticket in the possession of a bevy of diamond thieves led by Tommy Flanagan. Bucem sees the diamond bust as a way to fast-track his plans at his own firm. Both would see their fortunes tremendously improve if these goons were brought to justice, so the two join forces to bicker, bond, and bring justice to the streets of Miami.

All About the Benjamins is rife with action set-pieces, inconsistently directed by Kevin Bray (who’d later go on to direct Walking Tall), but many at least harboring energy. Much of the film relies on the charismatic forces of Cube and Epps, and you could do far worse when asking two personalities to carry a movie. Cube barks his lines. Epps delivers his plans with all the conviction of a disillusioned snake-oil salesman who doesn’t even believe his own lies. The dynamic is as old as time.

One aspect of the film that keeps it in check is the diamond heist isn’t some multi-leveled con. This is a film that doesn’t take the Bad Company route in polluting the screenplay with tangents and empty plot-threads involving everyone from the FBI, the CIA, the FFA, and the NCAA. It also doesn’t come with the kind of overwrought violence and menace of something like Bad Boys. In some ways, All About the Benjamins recalls a time in American cinema when a perfect serviceable, self-contained actioneer could be made on the basis of its likable leads without hoop dreams of being a franchise or a pivotal piece of social commentary.

Starring: Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Eva Mendez, Tommy Flanagan, Carmen Chaplin, Valarie Rae Miller, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Anthony Michael Hall. Directed by: Kevin Bray.