![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/w/wash.jpg)
The Wash
Forget Ocean's Eleven's Clooney, Pitt, Damon and Cheadle as the new Rat Pack. The real brothers of cool are a group of rappers/ actors/ directors/ pot-head partiers who actually hang out with each other. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, DJ Pooh, Ice Cube and their wacky, secretly insecure, but immensely talented little white friend Eminem. It's hard to know who the chairman of the board is just yet (probably Ice Cube), but these are entertaining men, improvising and imbibing a la Frank, Dino, Peter, Joey and their wacky, secretly insecure, but immensely talented little black friend Sammy Davis Jr. Like the aforementioned fellas, this new crew — The Rap Pack — goof on their image, live their rocky but raucous lifestyle as so many men wished it, and have a hell of a good time making music and movies. In The Wash (2001), all of the guys (sans Cube) are brought together for a light offering that relies little on plot and more on the performers' real-life charisma. Dre and Snoop star, while DJ Pooh writes, directs and co-stars, and Eminem shows up as the anger-management-deprived psycho (such a stretch). Dre plays Sean, who after getting fired from his job at Foot Locker lands work through his best friend, roommate and car-washer Dee Loc (Snoop) as manager of a car wash. The more straight-laced and responsible Sean gets on with his boss Mr. Washington (George Wallace), and he begins annoying the car-washers with his pretty reasonable managing skills. In some very funny moments the two friends have a falling out (dueling stereos, ridiculous threats of violence from Loc, and a lot of pot consumption — did we mention Tommy Chong has a cameo as a drug dealer?). But the pair finally are brought together via the kidnapping of Washington by two bumbling crooks (one being a terrific Pooh, who's voice and comic timing is hilarious). Like the dames, poisons and danger of the Rat Pack's movies, The Wash offers a ghetto version, albeit inadvertently, with booty-shaking hotties, Snoop's dream sequences (one has Dre saying "I'm the LAPD," a horrifying vision to Snoop), guns, and Dre's straight-man performance against Snoop's goofy charisma. Lions Gate's DVD release of The Wash presents a good anamorphic transfer that showcases director Pooh's colorful aesthetic and sometimes inventive camera angles, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is great for musical moments (English and Spanish subtitles also are on board). Supplements include cast and crew interviews (during which a really stupid reporter keeps asking the same question), premiere interviews that reveal how shy Dr. Dre seems and how "on" Snoop Dogg always is. Also here are the film's trailer, Dr. Dre's "Bad Intentions" music video, and thumping, colorful menus. To top it off, the film's soundtrack is included on a Compact Disc. Dual-disc slimline keep-case.
—Kim Morgan
