If you enjoy watching gangsta videos on BET, boy have I got a DVD for you. Produced by BET, Dough Boys is a testosterone-fueled saga ostensibly designed to match the taste of fans of those musical glorifications of misogyny, materialism and black-on-black crime popularized by the network.
The film heralds the directorial debut of Nicholas Harvell, who was undoubtedly aiming for the lowest common denominator by filling his inner-city splatter flick with so much gratuitous sex, violence and substance abuse, and so many expletives, ethnic slurs and scantily-clad women. While this crude approach undoubtedly will earn the newcomer a certain street cred, if you know what I mean, most folks are apt to find the film to be relentlessly offensive.
At the picture's point of departure, the hero explains his dating philosophy with, "If you want a girl to know that you love her, [beep] her in the [beep] and [beep] on her" because "you have to make her your slut." Doesn't that sound more like hate than love?
Dough Boys' is actually all about male-bonding, as the females in the lives of the leads are basically bimbos who exist only to indulge assorted perverted male fantasies. That's even the case with Corey's (Arlen Escarpeta) med student girlfriend, Toni (Kerisse Hutchinson). She spends more time satisfying her man and taking showers than hitting the books. But since Corey's just been accepted to college, you'd think he'd figure out how to quit hanging out with his homeys who are all going nowhere fast. But noooooooo!
The way too familiar plot revolves around a bloody, ghetto turf war marked by backstabbing and betrayal. Corey's street gang is at odds with that of Julian (Wood Harris), a despicable drug kingpin who offers guest at his Playboy-like mansion a chance to sleep with any girl in his harem. You see, he doesn't believe in relationships, since women have "an expiration date."
Not to be outdone, there's about another player "with a perm who has a bunch of chicks thinking he's gonna give them babies with good hair." And it even gets worse. Don't ask.
A 21st Century version of Amos 'n Andy which must have been financed by the Klan.
Poor (0 stars)
Unrated with nudity, profanity, sexuality, ethnic slurs, violence and substance abuse.
Running time: 93 minutes
Studio: BET Home Entertainment
To see a trailer for Dough Boys,
Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the African-American Film Critics Association, and the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee. Contact him through NewsBlaze.
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