♪
TRAY: What does it mean to be a man?
Being a man used to mean
being able to handle your business.
A man don't cry.
A man don't ask for help.
A man don't even go to the doctor.
Catch me if you can, Diabetes!
[LAUGHS]
But now in this present time, rules are different.
Now, a man can be anything he wants.
Hell, he can even be a woman,
like the dude on the Wheaties box.
Sometimes, it's like there's no rules at all.
♪
I don't know if that makes things easier or harder.
♪
It's a mad house!
A mad house!
Synced and corrected by louvette www.addic7ed.com
JAYBIRD: I keep telling y'all. I'm wild.
Don't let these curls fool you.
I'm out of my mind crazy, bruh.
Stole somebody's Citi Bike, never returned it.
FELONY: Okay, okay. You think that's bad?
Yo, one time,
I stole a horse and buggy from Central Park.
How you do that?
I caught the coachman slipping.
He was coming out of the grocery with a handful of bags.
I hemmed him up in the alley,
got him for one of them avocados,
snatched his hat and coat,
horse never knew the difference.
I made like $88 before 5-0 rode me down.
Not to be impressed by anything you did wrong,
but I'm impressed.
- Thank you. - Fool?!
You know you can't tame no horse!
Stop lying!
Close the door!
Okay, I hear your horse thievery,
and I up you the Statue of Liberty.
- Word? - Word.
Now, this is before 9/11,
so there weren't no security up in that bitch.
Now, my boy and I, we bum-rushed the statue,
and he drops every tourist from the panties down,
and I rob everybody
from the tits to the torch.
TRAY: That might be the grimiest shit I've ever heard.
'Cause robbing the Statue of Liberty is just un-American.
One time I killed a pigeon.
TRAY: Killing a pigeon's definitely messed up,
- but I think Big Country takes the cake. - [DOOR OPENS]
[LAUGHS] Big Country always take the cake,
'cause he fat.
[LAUGHS]
Come on, y'all got to laugh at that one.
That's funny.
[FAKE LAUGHTER]
[LAUGHS]
[SIGHS]
BIG COUNTRY: Yo, Tray?
What's the wildest thing you ever done?
Who, me?
[SIGHS]
Ah, man.
- All right, so one time... - [CELLPHONE VIBRATES]
It's my son.
Shahzad!
What's up, boy-boy?
Holla at me.
SHAHZAD: Hey, Tray?
Can you come to my school?
You want me to come to your school?
Yeah. Can you?
Sure. No doubt.
- Thanks, Tray. - All right.
All right, cool.
♪
Gentlemen...
[SIGHS]
My son needs me.
- Congrats, Tray. Good for you. - JAYBIRD: Impressive, man.
Your boy had three parents to choose from
and he called you.
It's that biological connection.
Gentlemen, this will be my finest
hour.
[APPLAUSE]
Shahzad?! [KNOCKS ON DOOR]
Oh.
You must be Mr. Barker.
Well, I must be.
What happened, Shahzad?
Eh, why don't you take a seat, Mr. Barker?
So, Shahzad was caught with a weapon
in school today.
What?! A weapon?
You brought a weapon to school?
You brought a gun to school?
Well...
Nunchucks?
Those ain't no weapons.
Oh, well, technically, they are.
Well, if you could call that a weapon,
you could call anything a weapon.
But it's literally a weapon.
Well, I call this a weapon.
I mean, this heavy as shit.
You could bash somebody's brains in
if you wanted to.
What is this thing?
It's a hole puncher. A hole puncher?
It could punch a hole in somebody's head, maybe.
- [LAUGHS] Sir, I... - [DESK RATTLES]
And this...
This is a shank.
- That's a letter opener. - A letter opener?
More like a stomach opener. Uh...
You know the damage you could do with this
on a prison yard?
- [GRUNTING] - Sir?
Okay, Mr. Barker? [LAUGHS]
Those nunchucks look like
some damn "Ninja Turtle" toys.
Them 'chucks is probably the safest thing in this room.
- Okay, this is absurd. - Absurd?
What's absurd is you trying to railroad my son
on some bullshit.
Did you see him use that weapon?
- Well, no, I didn't see him use them. - There you go.
The burden of proof is on you.
Or do you just want to see another black man
in the penal system?
Of course not.
Shahzad is a wonderful student.
He... he's never been a problem before.
But I'm afraid I am gonna have to dismiss him...
for the rest of the afternoon.
You know, maybe you can explain to him
why bringing something like this into school
is inappropriate.
Madam, I will do just that.
And thank you for your understanding
on this matter.
Shahzad?
Come.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- [DOOR OPENS, CLOSES] - [SIGHS]
Yo, Shahzad?
You getting in trouble at school?
Are you trying to discipline me now?
[LAUGHS] I'm not disciplining you.
The school is disciplining you.
You the one that got suspended by your teacher.
- That was a guidance counselor. - Whoever it is.
If you gonna call me out here,
why you not respecting me as a parent?
Oh. You trying to be my father now?
Shahzad?
Please don't play me.
Look, I didn't call Mom or Dad,
because I didn't want a lecture, Tray,
but it looks like I'm gonna get one anyway.
You damn right.
If you gonna get me involved in this,
let me know what's going on.
Or I get your mother involved
and she can deal with it.
And you know you don't want that.
What? You don't rat.
That's your whole thing.
I'll rat your little ass out like Sammy the Bull did Gotti.
Start singing.
[CHUCKLES] Fine.
♪
- Here you go, sir. - Thank you.
- You're welcome. - Don't I get one?
Hell, no.
You brought nunchucks to school, man.
Now, fess up. Why you bring a weapon to school?
You said nunchucks aren't a weapon.
Of course, they're weapons.
You ever seen "Enter the Dragon" with Bruce Lee?
He could take out a whole room full of [BLEEP]
With them nunchucks.
- Now, talk. - [SIGHS]
I've been having trouble at school, all right?
- You mean bullying? - This kid named Noah.
He's huge, Tray.
He's fat and he has a pointy head.
Noah?
[LAUGHS]
You got beef with a dude named Noah?
If you're gonna make fun of me, just forget about it.
Oh, hey, it's okay. It's okay.
I ain't mean to laugh, man.
It's not your fault.
It's just the way you were raised, man.
They got you all book-smart,
and you ain't got no street-smarts.
A'ight? You need to learn
how to handle yourself like a man out here, man,
'cause these streets are tough.
Guess who poured the concrete?
That's where I come in.
Now, me and you gonna have a day together, man.
You could consider this
your Tray-ning Day.
Mmm.
Come on, guys, we got zero. You've given me nothing.
Nothing. Anything? You got anything, please?
- Well, what about Canada, you know? - What about it?
Yeah, we could have fun with it.
Poutine, ketchup potato chips.
- Uh-huh. - It'd be very tongue-in-cheek.
- Be very tongue-in-cheek, yeah. - Yeah.
If I pitch that to Anthony, it's gonna be foot-in-ass.
Come on.
[CELLPHONE RINGS]
- Yeah? - WOMAN: Hi, is this Josh Birkeland?
- Speaking. - This is The Rothman School.
We're gonna need you to come down here right away.
- We have a little situation. - Oh, brother.
Okay. Yeah, I'm at work, but I'll, uh...
I'll be right there.
See you soon.
Amira, your dad's gonna be here soon.
Noah, you okay?
No? Hmm.
Okay. That's fair.
JOSH: So, you were fighting at school
and Shahzad got sent home for nunchucks
and then got picked up by Tray?
What is happening?
I mean, tell me everything,
and start from the beginning.
Okay, well, Noah's been picking on 'Zad...
- Great. - And he's scared to fight him,
so he brought nunchucks to protect himself,
got caught with the nunchucks and got sent home.
There you go.
Okay, so you beat up this Noah
as, like, an act of revenge?
No, I beat up Noah, 'cause he's a punk, okay?
He needed to get beat up.
No. If you kids have a problem at school,
you come to me or you go to your mother.
We don't go around hitting people.
Tell you and Mom?
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I'll tell you and Mom,
'cause you guys will flip out,
just like you're doing right now.
Look, it's fine. I handled it.
No, you didn't handle it.
You got booted from school for three days.
That's not handling it.
Yeah, totally worth it.
Hey, we'll see how totally worth it is
when I tell your mother.
[ENGINE STARTS]
- You're really gonna tell Mom? - Absolutely, yeah.
This is exactly why I didn't want to call you.
- Oh, really? - Yeah, really.
Shahzad didn't call you, either.
He called Tray.
Tray's cool.
[SIGHS] You guys aren't.
♪
- I am cool. - Yeah.
Right.
I am.
♪
[SIGHS]
Stupid thing.
♪
Hi, and welcome to Grundle's.
Oh. Tray, it's you.
You didn't recognize me with my son, huh?
No, I didn't.
That's your son? [LAUGHS]
Shahzad, this is my coworker Elizabeth.
Um, I'm actually his manager.
I'm his boss.
But it's nice to meet you, Shahzad.
Hi, nice to meet you.
Oh. He seems so nice and articulate.
He seems different than you.
Well, he's his own man.
Look, I came to pick up my check.
Oh, well, checks get mailed on Tuesday.
Yeah, but they get cut on Monday.
You don't have to mail mine.
Tray, we can't release them early.
Is Wavy back...? Wavy?!
Hang on, I'll call him.
Wavy?! Tray's here!
WAVY: Stack that in the corner.
What up, baby boy?
Yo, Wavy. I need my check.
I'm hanging out with my son today, and I'm broke.
This your son?
Man, that boy look just like you,
except he more handsome.
Must be Shay's fine-ass genes.
Uh, yeah, the checks came this morning.
- Let me grab one for you. - ELIZABETH: Oh, no, no, wait, wait.
Just want to remind you,
we're not allowed to release checks early.
[SIGHS] Right. Right.
We could get in a lot of trouble from corporate, Tray.
Yeah, but how they gonna find out, though?
WAVY: Here we are.
I'll advance you a couple dollars,
some walk-around money.
Nice to meet you, young man.
Nice to meet you.
- WAVY: You have a good day. - You, too.
- Thanks a lot, homey. - Any time.
[CLEARS THROAT]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]
- Hi. - Welcome to Grundle's!
TRAY: This what my father did for me.
Taught me how to handle myself.
Buying this was a waste of money, Tray.
- Yo, take your glasses off, man. - This is dumb.
What the [BLEEP]?!
Tray, you almost broke my glasses!
Well, that's why I told you to take 'em off!
- Put your hands up. - I don't want to fight.
Sometimes in life, you got to fight.
I don't want to! Stop!
Come on, man, hit me back!
I don't want to!
Why are you doing this?
Tough love!
My father wasn't there for me, either, man!
But he cared enough
to whup my ass a few times!
You've got to protect yourself
against these bullies, man,
or they gonna walk all over you!
You think this is how you succeed in life?
What do you even know about that?
You sold crack and went to prison.
I hate you.
♪
Shahzad?!
Shahzad!
♪
AMIRA: Wait.
- What are we doing here?
I think we both need to decompress a little bit.
Does this mean I'm not in trouble anymore?
Not by a longshot.
♪
Oh, hey! Look who it is!
Oh, the Birkelands!
Amira, hey!
- Joshy! - Hey, ladies.
Are we gonna do this?
♪ I'm gonna get my sexy on ♪
So, after 15 years in prison,
he shows up at one of Shannon's events.
Hello?
And then just like that, he's back in.
He's coming over for surprise visits,
he's picking the kids up from school.
- Hunh-unh? - Yeah.
How do you feel about that?
How do I feel about it?
I mean, I'm [SIGHS] surprised
but I'm not threatened.
- Really? - Uh, yeah.
Hey, I'm a secure man.
Besides, you know what?
Shannon ain't the only one with a shady past.
- Oh, look at him now! - All right, Josh! Okay!
[LAUGHTER]
No, we get along fine.
I mean, Tray's a good guy.
He's a little crazy, unpredictable.
He is so fun, though.
He showed us around his old stomping grounds
and told us all these crazy stories.
Mm-hmm.
Sounds like my ex-husband Todd.
Yeah, he was wild and would say anything
that came to his mind.
[LAUGHTER] I know.
It's like this guy Michael at my school.
- Now he's a bad boy. - Unh-unh.
You got to watch that type.
See, they're fun,
but they can get you into trouble.
JOSH: That's right.
That is right. That's too true.
Too true.
Who is Michael?
Anyway... Look, my mom,
she did some crazy stuff with Tray, too.
He got her to throw a brick
through a cop car window one time.
What? Are you ser...
- Wait. When? - You'd better watch out, Joshy.
Mm-hmm. That bad boy's back in town.
Ooh! It's like that movie...
Okay, what is that movie with Will Ferrell?
Um, ooh, with that fine-ass Mark Wahlberg?
- You know what I'm talking about? - I know what you talking about.
- AMIRA: Oh, um... "Daddy's Home." - Yep, that's it, "Daddy's Home."
Except, Tray is Mark Wahlberg
and Joshy is Will Ferrell.
- [LAUGHTER] - What?!
No! [LAUGHS] No, no, no.
I don't think so.
No, he's the nerdy one in that.
I'm just messing.
[LAUGHTER]
No. I'd be Mark Wahlberg.
Yeah, you know, in a...
In a Will Ferrell kind of way.
- Yeah. - That's right.
Shahzad, I'm sorry.
I was trying to teach you what I know, man.
Where I come from, you've got to be tough.
The world got teeth, and they bite.
I don't need any of that stuff, Tray.
Any of it.
How you gonna defend yourself
against the bullies in school
if you can't protect yourself?
Look who's talking.
What do you mean, look who's talking?
You got bullied today
by that lady at the coffee shop.
She wouldn't even give you your paycheck.
Your money that you earned.
You got punked today.
You couldn't do anything about it.
That's my job and she's above me.
She's above you, because she has an education,
not because she knows how to fight.
All this talk about the streets and being tough,
that's just dumb.
Nobody cares about that when you're a grownup,
except for losers.
You think I'm a loser?
You think I'm a loser? Okay.
I'm gonna show you some losers.
Uh! You... you dirty rat!
James Cagney, the exterminator.
Come on, man,
y'all don't know comedy or classic movies.
Hey, y'all, this my son Shahzad.
Yo, what's up, lil' man?
What up?
Is that the one he just met?
Ah, the seed.
Heard a lot about you. [SNIFFS]
What's up, lil' T?
He got in trouble in school, man.
I'm trying to put him on the straight right now.
Young man, young man, you don't have to go down this path, bruh.
Mistakes are like scars.
We carry them for life.
Look, Shazam...
- His name is Shahzad. - My bad.
Shahzad, look, listen what the old heads say.
Now, the moron has to touch the stove
to learn that it's hot,
but the genius can see the moron burn himself,
he's gonna be like, "Nah, I'm not gonna touch that."
What I'm trying to say is, respect your elders, bruh.
- You know what? - And I got to say it...
Respect the youth, as well, good brother.
Now, see, I can respect that, but you got to remember,
there's two days that you can't do a damn thing,
that's yesterday and today.
Why can't you do nothing today?
Because you can't know the past
and you can't know the future,
but what good is the future if you don't know the past?
But there's a memory of the past
and hope for the future.
And ain't nobody paying attention to the present.
Now, ain't that about a bitch there, Brother Felony?
You know what, Brother Jaybird?
That's where we spend the most time.
MULLINS: Hey, y'all think y'all kicking knowledge?
Come on, I was doing a bit. Eyes up here.
Nah, this is more important
than them weak-ass jokes you saying, Mullins.
What you think it's wisdom they kicking right here, Tray?
I don't hear no wisdom.
Me, personally, all I hear is a bunch of jibba-jabba.
That's what I hear.
Your lil' boy look like
he got his head on straight right there.
How old you, lil' boy?
15.
Boy, I tell you,
I remember when I was 15.
I was living in Macon, Georgia,
and I got caught doing the nasty
in the back of a pickup truck with Jerry Simms.
JAYBIRD: Jerry Simms?
What you doing making out with somebody named Jerry for?!
Jerry Simms was a girl!
I ain't never met no girl named Jerry, Mul.
- You ain't never heard of Jerry Hall? - Jerry... Who that?
That's Mick Jagger old woman.
You trying to tell me Mick Jagger don't know women?
Yo, I suspect Mick Jagger knows both males and females.
GUSTAVO: He is a sexual being.
No, no, he gay!
- [LAUGHTER] - Mick Jagger's not gay!
Mick Jagger ain't no gay! Mick Jagger?!
That's not gay, right there.
[ALL SHOUTING]
Hey, hold up, hold up! Where y'all going?
Y'all just got here.
I came here to teach my son a lesson.
- Seems like I did it. - Yeah, I got it, loud and clear.
Well, what's the lesson?
Y'all the lesson.
Peace.
What the hell that's supposed to mean?
We the lesson? That don't even make no sense.
We the lesson. Well, you're welcome!
Dick-licker.
Man, I've been dying to see this on the big screen.
It's so cool that they're showing in theaters again.
Oh, yeah. I mean, James Baldwin's observations
on race relations
were nothing less than incendiary.
I mean, to say that in the '60s,
that's brave.
- [CELLPHONE RINGS] - That is...
Hold on a second.
- Hey, babe. - SHAY: Hey, baby,
I forgot to pick up coffee creamer at the market.
Can you pick up some on your way home?
Yeah, I will.
Uh, listen,
there's, uh, something I need to tell you.
Um...
What I wanted to say was, uh...
I love you.
SHAY: I love you, too, big head.
But no more pregnant pauses.
I thought something was wrong.
Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry.
Listen, I'll bring the creamer in a few hours.
I'm still working on some copy at the office.
SHAY: Okay.
Thank you, baby. Bye.
All right, bye.
[SIGHS]
I, uh... I take back what I said before
about you not being cool.
It's no big deal.
I know you were just upset.
You also know you spoil me, right?
Yeah, guilty as charged. Huh?
I love you.
♪
- Thanks for covering for me. - Yeah.
- But Mom is gonna flip when she finds out. - Yeah. She is.
She's gonna go crazy.
TRAY: I don't know what jokes you was listening to.
- SHAHZAD: [LAUGHS] Mullins is funny, Tray. - No, he's not.
He's a corny dude who's going steady with prostitutes.
[LAUGHS]
Just don't forget the lessons you learned today.
Which lessons are we talking about, Tray?
The same lessons I learned.
Don't be like your old man, don't do what I did,
and don't follow the code of the streets.
It'll bring you nothing but failure and chaos.
Come on, Tray.
- It's not even like that. - Oh, it is like that.
I live in a halfway house,
and I sleep in a bunkbed
under a dude that's 300 pounds.
I want you to be a better man than me.
I want you to succeed where I failed.
And you will, Shahzad.
I can tell.
Tray?
♪
Thank you for coming to my school today.
I'd do anything for my son.
'Night, Tray.
Oh, wait a minute.
I'm taking these. I'm keeping these.
You can't get these back.
Keep 'em, Tray.
I don't need 'em no more.
Later.
♪
[DOOR CLOSES]
My man. 50 grand.
♪