\”The Stick Up Kids\” – DVD Review

The Stick Up Kids sounds like a movie we’ve seen too many times before. The opening scene with young black people in black hats and black gloves robbing rich white people looks like a movie we’ve seen too many times before, but the ending is one that I’d love to see in real life over and over again! The Stick Up Kids has incredible African American stars including Tariq Alexander, Mel Jackson, Holly Joy Gaines, and Bryce Wilson. This movie tells the story of four life-long friends from Harlem who are willing to do anything from armed robbery to elaborate con games to get what they want.

Harlem elders Uncle Bo and Noble, played by Hawthorne James and Taurean Blacque, want the twenty-something year old “Kids,” Santos, Hands, Pennell, and Sonja, to understand their black history. Uncle Bo wants the next generation to respect and protect the family brownstone from Caucasian slumlord Levine who says, “The only thing you (black people) were good for was slavery. Thank God for the penitentiary.” Unfortunately, the “Kids” seem to care more about clothes, cars, and jewelry than history.

In The Stick Up Kids, the “Kids” collectively experience love, a gambling addiction, sexism, racism, a life-changing injury, loss of a loved one, and the value of keeping “black” dollars in the black community. The Stick Up Kids has a “Robin Hood” flava that an entire neighborhood eventually benefits from. Even though the “Kids” acquire their money illegally, they turn out to be excellent role models for Harlem and any other African American community.

The “Kids” in The Stick Up Kids are intelligent, attractive, loyal, and creative. You’ll admire their elaborate schemes and the special bond of friendship they share. You will almost forget that they should be considered “bad guys.” The Stick Up Kids is a movie for young as well as mature adults. The acting is superb, the original soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard, and there are many surprises in between the redundant beginning and the “robbin’ for the hood” ending. Learn a lesson from this movie, and keep “black” dollars in the black community by buying The Stick Up Kids today online or at a store near you.