Friday is a 1995 comedy film set in Watts, Los Angeles, California, where star Ice Cube grew up. The film was directed by F. Gary Gray and revolves around 16 hours in the lives of two best friends: Smokey (Chris Tucker) and Craig (Ice Cube). The day after Craig loses his job, he and Smokey go through a series of misadventures on their quest to find enough money to pay off a notorious drug dealer, Big Worm (Faizon Love), who has threatened to kill them unless they pay by 10 p.m.
John Witherspoon, Bernie Mac, Anna Maria Horsford, Nia Long, Paula Jai Parker, Regina King, Tom Lister Jr. and Faizon Love (Bebe's Kids) also star.
Most of this movie was filmed in the southern-most part of South Central Los Angeles. The street that Smokey, Craig, and most of the other characters lived on is 126th Street in Los Angeles, between Normandie Ave. and Halldale Ave. Aside from some of the houses being painted different colors since the movie was filmed, the street presently looks identical to how it looked in the movie. The liquor store that they went to, where A.J. Johnson portrayed a crackhead, is located in Gardena, California, on 135th Street.
Two sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next have been met with mixed reviews.
An animated television series based on the film premiered on MTV2, on Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. ET.