Debo escapes from county jail chained to Tyrone. Debo is looking for revenge against Craig Jones (Ice Cube). Craig's dad sends him to stay with his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) in Rancho Cucamonga. His unemployed uncle Elroy won the lottery allowing him to buy a house in the suburbs. Craig gets into some misadventures with his cousin's family and the Latino gangster neighbors as the family faces foreclosure.
I'm not saying that Chris Tucker is a magical elixir for any franchise but part of the original charm is the lead characters' friendship. Essentially, this sequel switches out Tucker for Epps. If that's how easy it is to drop a lead character, how much should the audience care about any of the characters. It's a mess of crude broad humor that doesn't hit enough times. Ice Cube has good charisma as lead but there isn't much more than that.
I'm not saying that Chris Tucker is a magical elixir for any franchise but part of the original charm is the lead characters' friendship. Essentially, this sequel switches out Tucker for Epps. If that's how easy it is to drop a lead character, how much should the audience care about any of the characters. It's a mess of crude broad humor that doesn't hit enough times. Ice Cube has good charisma as lead but there isn't much more than that.