''Back in the Day'' is a 2005

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

starring

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with '' Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single " Holla Holla". Dur ...

and

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also a ...

and directed by James Hunter. The film premiered on

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

on May 13, 2005.

Plot

Reggie Cooper is a young man who lives with his father in order to avoid the violent gang activity that almost claimed his life when he was a teenager. However, when his recently paroled mentor, J-Bone reconnects with Reggie, and when his father is murdered, Reggie slips back into a life of crime. Reggie murders a local preacher, whose daughter later develops a relationship with him.

Cast

as Reggie Cooper *

as Joseph "J-Bone" Brown *

Tatyana Ali Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from 1990 to 1996. She starred as Tyana Jones on the TV One original series '' Love That Girl!'', a ...

as Alicia Packer *

Giancarlo Esposito Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'', from 2009 to 2011, and in its prequel series ''Better C ...

as Benson Cooper *

Joe Morton Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. (born October 18, 1947) is an American stage, television and film actor. He has worked with film director John Sayles in ''The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' City of Hope'' (1991) and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Oth ...

as Reverend James Packer *

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star (although, there are some who dispute that claim and believe Cheng Pei-pei actually holds that distinc ...

as Mrs. Cooper *

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...

as Lieutenant Bill Hudson *Lahmard Tate as Jamal *

Tia Carrere Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere (), is an American actress, singer and former model who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera '' General Hospital''. Carrere played C ...

as Loot *

Al Sapienza Al Sapienza is an American actor who has had numerous roles in television, stage and film productions. He is best known for his role as Mikey Palmice on the HBO series ''The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television se ...

as Detective Kline *

Davetta Sherwood Davetta Sherwood (born January 27, 1984) is an American actress and musician. Sherwood first worked as a child model before venturing into an acting career including appearing in music videos and guest appearances. Her first breakthrough acting r ...

as Tasha *

Kaly Cordova Kaly may refer to: * Kaly (Brno-Country District), a village in the Czech Republic * Kały-Towarzystwo, a village in central Poland * Kały, Opole Voivodeship, a village in south-western Poland * Kaly (film), a 2018 Indian film * "Kaly", an unreleas ...

as Police Officer

Production and reception

In early 2003 Ja Rule announced that he was to act in a film alongside Ving Rhames. Filming was slated to take place in Puerto Rico during September of the same year. The film was written by James Hunter and Michael Raffanello, directed by Hunter, and scored by composer

Robert Folk Robert Folk (born March 5, 1949) is an American film and television composer and conductor who has written many movie scores, as well as other orchestral music in a classical style. Life and career Robert Folk is a graduate and former facult ...

. The film was primarily produced by DEJ Productions, at the time its most expensive to date, with budget estimates of $5 to $10 million to over $10 million. Filming ended in 2004, and by April DEJ was preparing a potential theatrical release. ''Back in the Day'' premiered on

on May 13, 2005, and was released to DVD on May 24. Reviewer Ed Huls called it conceptually similar to several other urban crime dramas, but noted the cast and production values made it a high-end release in the genre, and compared it to classic

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. Th ...

s: "one could easily picture Cagney or Bogart in the Rhames role." David Kronke of the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''D ...

'' wrote: "No original gangstas in this movie, but plenty of unoriginal ones... How did such a ridiculous script lure so many talented actors?"

References

External links

* * * 2005 films American crime drama films 2005 crime drama films Hood films Films scored by Robert Folk 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-crime-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Production and reception

See also

References

External links