Everyone has that one movie that holds special meaning for them. It might be because it represented a special moment in their lives or transported them back to a special time and place.
For many, The Wood was that movie.
On Tuesday, July 16th, the classic Black film, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, celebrated 25 years of making people laugh at, cheer on and celebrate the trio of Big Mike (Sean Nelson/Omar Epps), Laveinio aka “Slim” (Duane Finley/Richard T. Jones) and Roland (Trent Cameron/Taye Diggs) as they tried to get Roland to his wedding day while reminiscing about their childhood exploits growing up in Inglewood, CA.
Mike was a North Carolina transport who was into baseball, something Slim and Roland couldn’t understand. Slim and Mike were friends who went on to befriend the shy, out-of-place new student.
Despite the differences in geography, style of dress and hairstyles, the three bonded quickly and became best friends after daring Mike to foolishly touch the butt of the prettiest girl in school, Alicia (Malinda Williams), for which he received a beat down from her brother, Stacey (De’Aundre Bonds).
While Mike was laid back, shy and sheltered, his newfound friends from “The Wood” were into music, parties, sports, and of course, girls.
Their first big event together was the high school dance. But before they could even get to the party, the three Black musketeers got caught up in a robbery involving Stacey. After saving them all from a trip to jail, Mike got a dance with Alicia and won the bet the three had set earlier in the night.
For Black men, especially those who came up in the 70s and 80s, the movie is a relatable experience, for we all went through many of the same things the trio did.
We were raised with and by classic R&B and hip-hop. We wore the same Adidas tracksuits and double-breasted rayon suits straight out of a Boby Brown or Guy video. We played the same stupid games involving celebrity crushes, hung out and did dumb things we got in trouble for all while trying to navigate high school and the confusing time of teenage life.
The movie gave us so many memorable moments and lines, many of which are still quoted today.
“Mackin’ and hanging.”
“Ni**a, you got Lisa Davis.”
“You let that ni**a Terry bone!”
And as funny as Laveinio and Roland were, Big Mike was the character everyone sympathized with and cheered for.
Mike (Epps) wasn’t just the narrator. He was the quiet figure of the group who watched everything transpire around him while figuring out where he fit in and how to do just that. He stood up to Stacey, got beat up and eventually earned his punisher’s respect. He also won “THE” bet but never told anyone, and eventually captured the heart of both young and grown-up Alicia (Williams/Sanaa Lathan).
The Wood wasn’t just a coming-of-age movie. It was also another great addition to the list of classic Black Rom-Coms films during the genre’s successful run in the 90s, joining movies such as Strictly Business (1991), Boomerang (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), A Thin Line Between Love And Hate (1996), Love Jones (1997), Soul Food (1997), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), and The Best Man (1999).
These films offered fans, especially Black fans, another version of Black life that stood opposite of “hood” classic films depicting the harsh realities of inner-city life, a cycle that started with Colors (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989) and continued in the 90s with films such as New Jack City (1991), Boyz n the Hood (1991), Juice (1992), Deep Cover (1992), Menace II Society (1993), Above the Rim (1994) and In Too Deep (1999).
These films opened the door for many actors and helped build a foundation that helped fuel their careers, especially the actors which played the trio in The Wood.
Between 1998 and 2002, Diggs starred in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Wood, The Best Man and Brown Sugar.
Jones started in TV series Judging Amy the same year as he played Slim, and he remained as a main character in the TV series for six seasons. He also was supposed to star in The Best Man, but he thought he was getting the role of “God” in the film, In Too Deep, so he passed (you can read about that in our interview with Jones here).
And Epps had three major roles in three classic Black films in two years: The Wood, In Too Deep and Love and Basketball (2000), where he reunited with Sanaa Lathan.
The Wood wasn’t just a great Black rom-com; it was a great movie, period.
It, along with the aforementioned lists of movies, proved that Black life without guns, gangs, drugs and violence could successfully be depicted on the big screen and, most importantly, be supported by audiences across the country.
Famuyiwa, who three years later would direct Brown Sugar, and the entire cast gave us all a great film that not only remains relevant to this day but a film that you can always watch no matter the day or time, for it will always have meaning to you in some way.
