Summit EntertainmentReview in A Hurry: Mos Def and a cast of barely recognizable actors stumble through a dull mistaken identity caper. Next Day Air feels like eating a whole box of crappy, unsweetened cereal just to get a junk prize: Stale, unsatisfying, and kinda embarrassing.
The Bigger Picture: Good lord this movie is boring! Bland dialogue, faceless characters, absent action, meandering subplots that go nowhere. You'd have more fun gnawing on cardboard than watching Next Day Air.
Clearly, screenwriter Blair Cobbs and director Benny Boom do not have their fingers on the pulse on the black market shipping industry.
All the trouble starts when a drug-filled package is delivered to the wrong apartment. People, you can't even mail fireworks, so how are we expected to believe that an experienced drug lord such as Bodega Diablo (Emillo Rivera) would snail mail pounds of narcotics?
Then there's the case of mistaken identity about the two delivery guys (Mos Def and Donald Faison)—who look nothing like each other except that, like, they're both black. Perhaps, then, Next Day Air is an introspective exploration on racial profiling? Or maybe its a mediation on the brutal consequences of identity theft? So many burning questions.
The most important being: What can't Mos Def do?! The rapper/actor/poet/political pundit has great comedic timing and a contagious charm, and the 15 minutes that he's on-screen movie are mildly delightful. The other 75 minutes are agonizing, with zero payoff.
When will someone step up and give the package delivery industry the hilarious action romp it deserves?
The 180—a Second Opinion: Nobody likes papercuts, right? This is better than a papercut.