All About the Benjamins

2002 Action/Adventure

Rap star and actor Ice Cube produces, co-writes, and stars in this comic crime thriller that reunites him with his Next Friday (1999) co-star Mike Epps in the 48 Hrs. (1982) mold. Cube plays Bucum Jackson, a Miami bounty hunter for Martinez Bail Bonds who's tired of his dangerous, unprofitable profession and wants to start his own private investigation firm. Lacking stake money, Bucum is forced to hunt down a small-time grafter named Reggie Wright (Epps), a fast-talking confidence man who's crossed his path before. Except that this time, Wright tries to avoid his pursuer by hiding in a van being driven by a pair of murderous diamond thieves who've just made off with 20 million dollars worth of stones. They're in the employ of lethal crime lord and yacht broker Williamson (Tommy Flanagan), someone that neither Reggie nor Bucum is anxious to cross, but it seems that Reggie left his wallet in the van, a wallet containing a winning lottery ticket worth 60 million dollars. The hunt is on for big money as the mismatched duo tries to outfox a wily syndicate for both the ticket and the precious gems. The directorial debut of music video director Kevin Bray, All About the Benjamins (2002) co-stars Eva Mendes, Carmen Chaplin, Valarie Rae Miller, Jeff Chase, Roger Guenveur Smith, Anthony Michael Hall, and Lil' Bow Wow. more..

Director: Kevin Bray

Starring: Ice Cube, Mike Epps, Tommy Flanagan, Carmen Chaplin, Eva Mendes

Reviews

  • All About the Benjamins has: flash, cash, and enough videogenic eye candy to make ''Miami Vice'' look like ''Little House on the Prairie.''

    - The Boston Globe

    29 November 2012

  • The strange case of a movie that clunks in every possible way but the ultimate way -- it entertains.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • Such overkill might seem like an asset to teenage boys (and those who think like them). The rest of us are better off not wasting our Washingtons.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    29 November 2012

  • Something puddles to nothing in this relentless Miami sun.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

  • Its dark-edged crime-caper plot is so formulaic it seems almost ritualized. Yet Ice Cube and Mike Epps enact their standard odd-couple tango with such ease and brio, you'd think they'd never seen such movies before.

    Gene Seymour - Los Angeles Times

    29 November 2012

Awards

No awards