The Wood

    The Wood
    1999

    Synopsis

    In the panicky, uncertain hours before his wedding, a groom with prenuptial jitters and his two best friends reminisce about growing up together in the middle-class African-American neighborhood of Inglewood, California. Flashing back to the twenty-something trio's childhood exploits, the memories capture the mood and nostalgia of the '80s era.

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    Cast

    • Omar EppsMike
    • Richard T. JonesSlim
    • Taye DiggsRoland
    • Sanaa LathanAlicia
    • LisaRaye McCoyLisa
    • De'Aundre BondsStacey
    • Antwon TannerBoo
    • Tamala JonesTanya
    • Jascha WashingtonMike's Brother
    • Patricia BelcherMrs. Hughes

    Recommendations

    • 90

      Los Angeles Times

      An across-the-board delight featuring a spot-on ensemble cast that treats the most awkward and embarrassing moments in the rites of passage with affectionate hilarity.
    • 63

      The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

      Tilting between a teen sex comedy and a more sensitive tale about male bonding, The Wood is too anxious to please to quite make up its mind what it is.
    • 63

      ReelViews

      A pleasant but relatively inconsequential movie.
    • 60

      Variety

      This rambling and episodic autobiographical saga of three friends coming of age in Inglewood, Calif. (aka The Wood) in the '80s is so determined to be likable that it forgets to be interesting.
    • 60

      L.A. Weekly

      What feels genuine in the film -- mother-son bonds, the wedding party -- is surrounded by overdetermined and formulaic scenes lifted from other films.
    • 60

      Washington Post

      Despite the unforced humor and honesty in the performances of its young and talented cast, The Wood spends too much time wallowing in arrested adolescence to make you feel you've traveled anywhere.
    • 50

      San Francisco Chronicle

      The picture, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, becomes a juggling act, contrasting the efforts of the three grown-up buddies to get to a wedding on time, with flashbacks of their youth.
    • 40

      Dallas Observer

      Unspools slowly and erratically without ever hitting an emotional or comedic stride.

    Seen by

    • yuko