Themes: Crisis of Conscience, Starting Over, Street Gangs
Main Cast: Ja Rule, Ving Rhames, Tatyana Ali, Pam Grier
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A young man is torn by divided loyalty in this hard-edged urban drama. Reggie (Ja Rule) was raised by his father (Giancarlo Esposito) after a violent incident in the neighborhood where he lived with his mother (Pam Grier). While Reggie has been encouraged to take up a life of crime by his older friend and street mentor J-Bone (Ving Rhames), his father thinks Reggie has a good head for business and urges him to use his smarts rather than his gun. When Reggie's father is murdered, J-Bone takes the young man under his wing, but as a consequence of their friendship, Reggie is linked to the killing of a local preacher -- whose daughter (Tatyana Ali) is Reggie's girlfriend. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Back in the Day is a 2005 Drama film starring Ja Rule and Ving Rhames and directed by James Hunter. The film was introduced on May 15, 2004 at the Cannes Film Festival and was released a year later in the U.S.A. on May 24, 2005.
Plot
Reggie Cooper (Ja Rule) is a young man who lives with his father (Giancarlo Esposito) in order to avoid the violent gang activity that almost claimed his life when he was a teenager. However, when his recently paroled mentor, J-Bone (Ving Rhames) reconnects with Reggie, and when his father is murdered, Reggie slips back into a life of crime. Reggie murders a local preacher (Joe Morton), whose daughter (Tatyana Ali) later develops a relationship with him.