“Man, I just deliver packages for a living. What the f—k am I doing here? What a day…â€
Donald Faison’s quote during the opening scene of Next Day Air sums up the film for the most part; a delivery blunder lands Leo (Faison) in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong in Philadelphia.
Working on weed, Leo mistakenly delivers a package with valuable contents meant for a Puerto Rican drug dealer to the wrong apartment. Instead of the rightful recipients, the package gets delivered to three would-be bank robbers—Brody (Mike Epps), Guch (Wood Harris) and Hassie (Malik Barnhardt)—whose biggest loot was a bank’s security tapes.
Brody and Guch decide to try and sell the goods to Brody’s cousin Shavoo (Omari Hardwick) and his unnamed right-hand man known only as Buddy (Darius McCrary). Meanwhile, the Mexican drug dealer Bodega—who sent the package—finds out that his package has gone missing and flies to Philly to “investigate.â€
Next Day Air plays out similar to a Guy Ritchie movie like Rock N Rolla or Snatch, full of twists and turns. Director Benny Boom utilizes flashback to show the audience the background of each character, or at least to show them how scared they should be of the characters, most notably Bodega.
Video
Next Day Air is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 and looks sharp even for a DVD, especially the flashback scenes which are shot in bright/greenish hues. The blacks and flesh ones are well-balanced, and the film looks good throughout.
Audio
Next Day Air is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds crisp and clear. Accompanying the flashback scenes are heavy hip-hop beats that sound clean, as they should. There are some parts where there is so much happening that is becomes difficult to discern, particularly the scene where Brody and Guch are playing Call of Duty 4 when the package is first delivered.
Special Features
The only special features on the DVD are audio commentary by director Benny Boom and outtakes where Epps and Faison show their true comedic colors.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Next Day Air mixes comedy, drugs and violence into a tale of inner-city cat and mouse. Faison and Mos Def—who plays Eric, the “model†employee at Next Day Air and is only in about three scenes—really make the movie. All-in-all, it is worth a watch.
