Yes, it would seem as if a lot can indeed 'go down' between Thursday and Saturday. In fact, so much can 'go down' between these dates that people can systematically loose partners, gain partners, receive a lecture about life from a parent, get involved in a drug dealing problem, survive a drive by, fire a pistol AND prove your own masculinity by engaging in a fist fight. Perhaps it's because the world in which this is set is so far away from the world in which I live in now that I didn't love Friday; but that isn't to say I, or anyone else, cannot enjoy it.

What I like about Friday is that it adopts a tone that tricks you into thinking it will be awful before pulling a 180 and coming across as rather smart. There is a terrible, terrible moment quite early on when two friends Craig Jones (Cube) and Smokey (Tucker) watch in awe as an attractive girl jogs by. She smiles at them and everything goes in slow motion, giving us as an audience plenty of time to take in all the naturally beautiful things on offer. The second time this happens is when another attractive female is scantily clad in her front garden, washing the grass. The slow motion kicks in again and the water sprouting from the hose is, I suppose, a metaphor for something else as we are given the chance to take in what we are seeing.

But these are clichéd and disgusting ways in which to shoot women for a film and yet, director Gary Gray knows this. This leads me to think it's deliberate because later incidences and scenes will be so absurd and so somewhat clichéd that you will actually chuckle a little. By the time the two hapless heroes are out front observing a van driving slowly toward them; noticing this; shouting 'Drive By!' and ducking behind a palm tree as gunfire enrages, you might be forgiven for thinking that it's all for fun after all. But Friday is still an enjoyable film and at its centre, it has some themes and some messages whilst maintaining a realistic aesthetic very much akin to Boyz N the Hood; if anything it is more realistic because documentary style shooting, repetitive use of locations and 'nothing' dialogue bear strong resemblance to films such as Clerks. and later The Blair Witch Project.

I think if you're going to read anything into Friday, it's that it could be perceived as a statement; a statement on the unemployed or more importantly the black unemployed. Craig could be at work had he not been fired for something he supposedly didn't do – maybe it's a racial thing at work, he was set up to look a fool amongst for some other white employees entertainment. But he could still look for work during this day and whilst he does choose not to, he friend Smokey goes a long way in distracting him from doing so. Here's where I think the statement enters the fray. Craig is stuck at home with nothing better to do and has his best friend drug dealer hang out with him for the duration. The unemployment is seeing Craig mix with drug dealers and stoners; getting caught up in things he shouldn't be and all at the cost of a job – he is at risk because one day may not be enough to contaminate him but after a week; a month; a year, where will Craig be then? The other threat of unemployment director Gray gets across here is the threat of violence. The giant that is Tommy Lister plays Deebo; a neighbourhood thug, thief, gangster, bully who is a constant threat even when he is not using his presence. Peer pressure is also a factor in Deebo's attitude and had Craig not been unemployed, he would have so much less exposure to Deebo and people like him that his life would be better off. Again, Gray is pointing out not only the threat of drugs to the idle but also the chance you may mix in with the wrong sort of violent crowd.

But these ideas do not necessarily have to count toward African-Americans although the films sets the film in a 'ghetto' and has the characters talk the lines and visit the places you'd expect them to given what the genre demands. Along with his ideas, Gray throws in just about every visual gimmick he can. Perhaps gimmick is a too harsh-a word but when we get flashbacks; black and white sequences; slow motion point of views; faster frame rates; women treated so blatantly as objects as well as characters breaking the fourth wall, you have to ask yourself if the important message will get noticed amongst the visuals and the comedy.

While Friday is not bad, it falls short of greatness purely down to the fact it cannot take itself seriously enough. I do not think this is supposed to be an out and out take, or 'spoof' or whatever you want to call it on more serious ghetto films but I do think it's meant to be a good story about how one man can live in an environment; learn from his parents; learn to ignore the bad things in life like drugs and violence and grow up as you want with your own unique yet morale identity. The film rightfully launched a couple of carers and spawned two sequels.