As announced by one of the main characters, the entity of the film’s title isn’t testosterone slang for a man’s erect penis, but a short, affectionate nickname for Englewood, home to a trio of hipsters who reflect on their life and times in the Wood as one of them battles cold feet and a drinking binge two hours before his wedding. It wants to be “Boyz in the Hood” (“Boyz in the Wood”) but the obscenity laced dialogue and raw objectification of woman renders it a contrite pretender more along the lines of “Booty Call” and “Trippin.”
Buffster — and he shows it all — Taye Diggs (“How Stella Got Her Groove Back”) plays the embattled protagonist struggling between the life long commitment of matrimony and a variety pack of booty. Omar Epps and Richard T. Jones are the sidekicks who try to sober Diggs up and get him to face his nuptial responsibility. Through the leaden and uninspired plot, Diggs upchucks liberally in the back-seat of a SUV — in a sequence that feels strangely like the head shot scene in “Pulp Fiction” — there’s flashbacks to the old high school days and as the guys nosh on pizza they affectionately recall their first loves (lusts). Unfortunately for Epps, Diggs and Jones — three capable actors — the disjointed direction of the material robs them of any dimension and forces them to play tail-chassing caricatures.
