CB4: The Movie

Chris Rock Director: Tamra Davis Tamra Davis

Overview

Tamra Davis directs Chris Rock in the rap comedy CB4, which comes to DVD with a pair of transfers. The widescreen transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is preferable to the standard full-frame image. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. Spanish and French subtitles are accessible, and the soundtrack is closed-captioned. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence. This Universal release is solid and should please fans of the film as well as those unfamiliar with this hip-hop Spinal Tap.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/07/2003
UPC:	0025192261220
Original Release:	1993
Rating:	R
Source:	Universal Studios
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Surround]
Time:	1:29:00
Sales rank:	23,941

Special Features

Closed Caption; [None specified]

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Chris Rock	Albert
Allen Payne	Euripides
Deezer D	Otis
Chris Elliott	A. White
Phil Hartman	Virgil Robinson
Charlie Murphy	Gusto
Khandi Alexander	Sissy
Art Evans	Alber Sr.
Theresa Randle	Eve
Willard E. Pugh	Trustus
Tyrone Jones	40 Dog
Rachel True	Daliha
J.D. Daniels	Ben
Sally Jane Jackson	Wacky Dee
Isaac Hayes	Owner
Louisa Abernathy	Mrs. Otis
Vanessa Lee Chester	Talona
Chasiti Hampton	Tee Tee
Wayne "Crescendo" Ward	Biscuit Diner
John Walcutt	Director
Jeremiah Birkett	Malik
Christopher Keene	Accountant
Lance Crouther	Well Dressed Man
Shirley Hemphill	976-Sexy
Al Clegg	976-Dis
Gerard G. Williams	Inmate
Melvin Jones	Inmate
Renee Tenison	Twin
Niketa Calame	Albertina
Jedda Jones	Waitress
Ice-T	Himself
Halle Berry	Herself
Ice Cube	Himself
Flavor Flav	Himself
Shaquille O'Neal	Himself
Tommy Davidson	Weird Warren (uncredited)
Richard Gant	Baa Baa Ack
LaWanda Page	Grandma

Technical Credits

Nelson George

Robert LoCash

Chris Rock

Tamra Davis	Director
John Barnes	Score Composer
Susan Benjamin	Set Decoration/Design
Martin Charles	Art Director
Nelson Coates	Production Designer
Sean Daniel	Executive Producer
William Fay	Co-producer
Nelson George	Producer,Screenwriter
Brian Grazer	Executive Producer
John Hartigan	Special Effects
Karl Walter Lindenlaub	Cinematographer
Robert LoCash	Screenwriter
Maria Melograne	Asst. Director
Rip Murray	Asst. Director
Chris Rock	Co-producer,Screenwriter
Karen A. Steward	Set Decoration/Design
Earl Watson	Editor
Alexander White	Costumes/Costume Designer
Bernie White	Costumes/Costume Designer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Main Titles [:00]
2. Inside CB4
3. Hangin' Out With Gusto
4. Deep Thoughts
5. Paying Dues
6. The Bust
7. An Identity Is Born
8. Straight Outta Locash
9. Success
10. Threats
11. Success Changes Albert
12. Bad News
13. Back Home
14. Private Meeting
15. Solo Efforts
16. The Honey Roll Hotel
17. Back to Gusto's
18. The Old School

Menu

Side #1 --
   Scenes
   Bonus Materials
      Recommendations
      Trailer
   Languages
      Spoken Languages
         English
      Subtitles
         Español
         Français
         None
      Captioned for the Hearing Impaired
         English
   Play

Editorial Reviews

It's pretty easy to tell that CB4 is Chris Rock the fledgling Saturday Night Live cast member, rather than Chris Rock the Oscars host. Not that Rock has ever mastered the screen the way he's mastered standup, but he's definitely still finding his footing here. His parody of gangsta rap is surprisingly toothless, which is counterintuitive, given all the gold dental work on display. Rock's co-writer, Robert LoCash, doesn't bring enough blatant silliness from his work on the final two Naked Gun movies, and Rock should have learned a thing or two by appearing in Keenen Ivory Wayans' I'm Gonna Git You Sucka! Maybe director Tamra Davis wanted CB4 to be more This Is Spinal Tap than Airplane!, but it's not nearly subtle enough to pull that off. The result is a boring middle ground between the outrageous and the sublime. Spoofs like the N.W.A rip-off "Straight Outta Locash" feel more like the work of Weird Al Yankovic than a sharp satirist, since the song uses N.W.A's same beat and lyric structure, and the original lyrics are so vulgar, they can't even be exaggerated for parody. Still, some details are pretty observant and funny. Character names like Stab Master Arson get the criminal posturing of early gangsta rap down perfectly, and for a film that came out in 1993, CB4 feels prophetic about real-world rap-related drive-bys like the deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. It also recognizes the ongoing reality that some of rap's biggest purported criminals grew up in some of suburbia's richest neighborhoods. Fans of Comedy Central will be interested to see the film's villain played by Eddie's brother Charlie Murphy, over ten years before he surfaced as a popular member of the Chappelle's Show ensemble.

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