By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
These days, “Netflix and chill” has become the not-so-secret code for streaming something with your partner until both of you feel too amorous to look at the TV. However, many would say the best way to chill with the popular streaming service is to get comfortable on the couch and settle in for an evening of weird laughs. And things don’t get comfier or weirder than in Friday, the legendary stoner comedy now streaming on Netflix.
Friday On Netflix
One of the best reasons to tune into Friday on Netflix is that it is filled with some of the most talented performers to ever grace the silver screen. This includes Chris Tucker, who is best known for his performances in Rush Hour and The Fifth Element. It also stars Ice Cube who, outside of his music career, is best known for the Friday films and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, in which he played the buzzy Big Bad, Superfly.
Friday has some other big names in its cast, including the late, great Bernie Mac and Oscar winner Regina King. It also stars Nia Long, whom we will always remember as Lisa on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And holding this film together by its comedic seams is the late John Witherspoon, a comedic powerhouse best known outside of the Friday franchise for his iconic voice role as Granddad in The Boondocks.
Long before Friday landed on Netflix, this quirky comedy was a sticky icky hit, earning $27.4 million at the box office against a budget of only $3.5 million. The movie eventually became a cult hit with two surprisingly memorable sequels: Next Friday and Friday After Next. There was also a brief-lived cartoon (Friday: The Animated Series), and if the ganja gods smile upon us, we might finally get the Last Friday film that has nominally been in development for several years.
While most stoner comedies are about as fun as brick weed, professional movie critics decided that Friday was downright dank. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critical rating of 77 percent, meaning that this cinematic dime bag is officially certified “fresh.” Critics noted that while the stoner comedy didn’t have the tightest story in the world, the killer combination of hilariously vulgar humor and a charismatic cast made this one film worth putting in your pipe, especially when you need a pick-me-up.
If you still need more reasons to check out Friday on Netflix, you should know that it’s a genuine part of pop culture history…the kind of movie that informs how entire generations talk about movies. Want to know where the “Bye, Felicia” meme came from, or maybe you just want to know why Kendrick Lamar references Deebo in his impossibly catchy diss track “Not Like Us?” By watching Friday, you can bring yourself up to speed while also treating yourself to one of the genuinely funniest films ever made.
Will you enjoy blazing Friday on Netflix as much as I did, or is this a movie you’d rather puff, puff pass on? You won’t know until you check this out, ideally with some friends who have a very “blunt” sense of humor. And if you get couch-locked, that’s okay…who wants to get up when a movie is this insanely funny?
