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| Directed by David Raynr; Starring Deon Richmond, Donald A. Faison, Maia Campbell, Guy Torry, Countess Vaughn, and John Amos |
The only laugh I can get out of this failed comedy is that I saw a trailer for it with the foreign language dance film Tango. Just two weeks after giving a F rating to Foolish, I must strike that weapon once again at another comedy hitting upon the African American viewing audience. I don’t know what it is, I just never seem to get into comedies like this (Friday, Foolish, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Booty Call). I’ve loved many dramas and action films from the African American community, especially those from Spike Lee, Carl Franklin, and F. Gary Gray (except for, well, Friday). My list of respected directors does not find a new addition with this directorial debut for Raynr (co-producer of A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, production consultant for, oh boy, Woo).
Trippin’ follows the story of Greg (Richmond) who has set out to capture the love of Cinny (Campbell). While he spends his time day dreaming (trippin’) about a better life and a future with Cinny, his parents attempt to get him to start a search for colleges to go to upon the impending senior prom (yes another senior prom in a 1999 release; will the pain ever end?). Along for the ride is the crazy Fish (Torry) and the capitalistic June (Faison). The June character allows the film to submerge into a idiotic subplot in which the three must stop the evils of the local black market underlord.
I’ve seen funnier things come out of A&E documentaries about the first World War; I found Trippin’ to be utterly laughless. The acting is about as bad as Baby Geniuses (and that film had Dom DeLuise). The direction is absurd as the beginning, for no apparent reason, delves into a rainbow of colors. But at least, I will admit that in the slightest of ways, I hated Trippin’ less than I hated Foolish.
