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Susan Granger's review of "THE WOOD" (Paramount Pictures)
"The Wood" refers to Inglewood, California, where three friends reminisce about their 13-year friendship on the day when one is about to get married. The story opens as Omar Epps explains, directly into the camera, that his pal, the groom, has turned up missing. Epps and Richard T. Jones are sent to find Taye Diggs, who is drunk at the home of an old girl-friend, overcome with pre-nuptial jitters. As the boyz drive around, trying to sober up Diggs so he can take his wedding vows, they pass various locales around the 'Wood and recall memories from their shared adolescence. That's the simple, somewhat contrived plot and the three actors deliver solid performances. First-time writer-director 25 year-old Rick Famuyiwa evokes a remarkably fresh pop '80s nostalgia, complete with a spinning vinyl record and finger-snapping music. Until now, most African-American films have fallen into one of four categories: "booty" pictures, violent "hood" chronicles, female-oriented comedy/dramas, or serious ghetto stories, aimed at an older audience. This movie is different in that it delves into the honest camaraderie, as well as the various comic aspects of puberty, and its appeal should extend beyond the boundaries of the African-American community. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Wood" is an amusing, appealing 5. In a summer of coming-of-age films, comparisons are inevitable but - while much of the narrative involves a trio of young guys trying to get laid - "The Wood" has little of the gross, vulgar humor of "American Pie." Instead, it opts for good-natured charm, poignancy and sentimentality.
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