Maia Campbell Movies

An upscale cookout leads to lots of comic misadventures in this raucous urban comedy. Having just lost his job at a soul food take-out joint, Cedric (Brian Hooks) gets the bad news that a local female crime kingpin has picked the wrong time to call in a large IOU he racked up some time back. Needing a fast buck, Cedric and some friends decide to stage a Hawaiian luau, and charge people for the privilege of enjoying the feast. However, what was to be a small, exclusive party becomes a massive neighborhood blowout, and everyone who is owed money by Cedric (a sizable list in itself) shows up expecting free food and entertainment. The Luau also features Maia Campbell, Faizon Love, and Troy Winbush. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A high-school senior finds himself walking a fine line between daydreams and reality in the comedy Trippin'. Gregory Reed (Deon Richmond) is soon to graduate from high school, and he frequently drifts into a Walter Mitty-style fantasy land where he's the coolest guy in town, has money to burn, and fine ladies are throwing themselves at him around the clock; however, back in the real world, Gregory has a lousy job, no girlfriend, and no solid prospects of a date for the prom. A much bigger worry to his parents is the fact that Gregory has done almost nothing about planning for his future after graduation; he's so preoccupied by his problems with women that he hasn't even started applying to colleges. His best friend, June (Donald Faison), has got girls to spare, but while he has a future ahead of him, it isn't a good one -- he's started selling stolen goods for low-level crime boss Kenyatta (Stoney Jackson). The girl of Gregory's dreams is Cinny Hawkins (Maia Campbell), who's beautiful, smart -- and has a boyfriend. Figuring he'll settle for whatever attention he can get, Gregory asks Cinny if she can help him with his college applications, as she's been through the route and has already been accepted. Cinny agrees, and as she and Gregory become friends, she starts to wonder if her pushy boyfriend is really the guy she wants to take to the prom. Balancing typical teen-flick humor with a pointed message about personal responsibility, Trippin' was a surprise box-office success in the spring of 1999. Director David Raynr's own teenage years included a brief stint as a regular on the TV series James at 15. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

R&B star Janet Jackson made an impressive film debut in Poetic Justice as Justice, a hairdresser at a small salon in South Central Los Angeles. Justice uses her poetry to deal with her grief after her boyfriend is killed in a shooting incident at a drive-in. Hired to work at a hair stylists' event in Oakland, Justice is stranded when her car breaks down, until she remembers that her friend Ieasha (Regina King) was going to hop a ride down to Oakland with her boyfriend Chicago (Joe Torry), a postal worker who is heading there with a truck full of mail. Justice tags along to discover that Chicago's driving partner is Lucky (Tupac Shakur), the postman who delivers mail to her shop and keeps asking her out. Ieasha and Chicago have to deal with their own rocky relationship while Justice has to decide if she's ready for a new love -- and if Lucky is the man she's waiting for. Along with strong work from Jackson, Poetic Justice features a surprising turn from Shakur, whose nuanced performance as Lucky is in strong contrast to his "Thug Life" public persona. Justice's poems were written by Maya Angelou, who also appears in a small role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi