The Wood | Consistently Cinematic -42/365

Plot***

Cinematography***

Score/Soundtrack****

Character Development*****

Timelessness****

Originality***

The Pitch

Mike, Roland and Slim all end up back in LA for Roland’s big day. When Ro’ looks like he’s going to be a no show for his own wedding, the three friends go down memory lane and revisit their high school years, in hopes of getting him back on track.

The Gist

The late 80’s in LA was a turbulent time and it was 10x worse in “Up to No Good” Inglewood. But for three high school kids, it was just the world they were born into. What follows Mike’s(Nelson/Epps) arrival to Roland’s(Cameron/Diggs) and Slim’s (Finley/Jones) neighborhood high school is one of the funniest, most realistic looks at a couple of kids figuring out who they are. From betting on each other’s misfortune with girls to narrowly scuffles, these three gave young men something to look forward to and old men something to miss. Heartfelt, honest and hilarious, The Wood is one of those hood classics that’s hard to hate.?

The Breakdown

Imagine Superbad but not as funny-focused, with half the budget, and black. Although stripping away the funny may seem like a death-sentence for this kind of film, what it did was make us focus on some of the more realistic parts of being a curiously stupid high school kid. It all starts when Roland and Slim bet the new kid, Mike, that he won’t slap a particular girl’s butt at recess. When he wins with them, he loses with her and later, to her older brother in a fist fight in front of the whole school. Once he owns the fact that it was worth it because it brought him closer to the girl, that’s when things really start.?

High school movies are tricky because there’s usually something that’s SO dramatized that there’s an understanding that it would never actually happen. Like I went to a big ass high school and was captain of the basketball team, but never did I ever feel the urge break out into a musical number. If anything, the high school setting is used as a back drop to make something seem more relatable and realistic. But the awkwardness of someone’s first time, or the anxiety around finding a homecoming date was captured in the way that made most people say “awwwww” in the inside. Tasteful without being trivial, The Wood is a gem in the 'coming of age’ ?sub-genre.