The Wood

Three longtime friends reminisce about their childhood adventures in Inglewood, CA. Unfortunately, they're taking their trip down memory lane in the hours before Roland (Taye Diggs), the group's inveterate ladies' man, is supposed to

be getting married, and he has a world-class case of cold feet. Level-headed Mike (Omar Epps) and volatile Slim (Richard T. Jones) have been dispatched to make sure that he doesn't leave his lovely fiancée (Lisaraye) at the altar; failure is not an option, and the clock is ticking...

Written and directed by 25-year-old Rick Famuyiwa, the California-born son of Nigerian immigrants, this agreeable, clearly autobiographical comedy-drama takes place largely in the '80s, with three younger actors (Trent J. Cameron, Sean Nelson and Duane Finley) standing in for the better-known

adult cast. The youngsters' misadventures are superficially specific to the time and place, but they're really universal rites of passage: Getting along in school, hanging out, trying to act cool, learning the mysterious ways of girls. Sure, the guys have some run-ins with gang members — one

of whom turns out to be the older brother of the girl Mike has a serious crush on — but this is no BOYZ N THE HOOD. It's an amiable, middle-class coming of age story, soft and sweet and ultimately a bit inconsequential. Famuyiwa doesn't want to use his characters' experiences to make a larger

statement about anything; he doesn't have any piercing insights or unusual perceptions, but his movie is a nice way to spend a leisurely 90 minutes.