Boyz n the Hood is Writer/Director John Singleton's debut effort. It was released in 1991 and stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Tre Styles, Angela Bassett as Reva Styles, Laurence Fishburne as Jason Styles Jr., and Ice Cube as Darrin Baker. The movie follows the lives of three young black men living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles. The film is split into two time frames: one in 1984 and the other in 1991. It shows how the young men grew up (the segment in 1984 shows the boys at around 10) into a gang member, a USC hopeful, and a track star. In the film, Singleton ponders questions of racism, violence, personal choice, the different tracks people take in life, segregation, and, very broadly, the future.
Upon release, Boyz in the Hood was met with rousing critical acclaim. On movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it has a critics rating of 96% and an audience rating of 93%. Reads the sites critical consensus: "Well-acted and thematically rich, Boyz N the Hood observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired." It was nominated for 2 Oscars -- Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Singleton -- but won neither. In 2002, the U.S. Library of Congress selected it to be perserved in the National Film Registery, a great honor. The film was also a massive success financially, earning $57.5 million on a budget of only $6.5 million.
