Director John Singleton (BOYZ IN THE HOOD, SHAFT) revisits to South Central L.A. with BABY BOY. Former Calvin Klein model Tyrese Gibson stars as Jody, a smooth-talking but immature black male who has children from two different women. One of them, Yvette (Taraji P. Henson), wants him to be faithful and move in with her, but Jody prefers his room at Mom’s (A.J. Johnson) house, and his life of aimless womanizing and hanging out with neighborhood pal Sweet Pea (Omar Gooding). However, this childhood paradise seems about to destruct with the arrival of Mom’s new ex-con boyfriend, Melvin (Ving Rhames). And when a dangerous former lover of Yvette’s (Snoop Doggy Dogg in a nicely unsympathetic performance) gets out of jail and moves back in, the stage is set for Jody to either stand up like a man, or die in the attempt.
Singleton tells the story in a series of vibrant vignettes, and though he supplies plenty of crowd-pleasing sex and violence, the focus remains on his characters. A rich score of old and new rap and R&B gives the film a nice boost, and Rhames is superb as the aging former thug trying to find happiness with Jody’s mom.