In this, the third installment of the "Friday" series, goofball stoners Craig (Ice Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) "take their black asses back to the ghetto." Ice Cube, who created the series, seemed to heading for new heights of scatological humor with the sequel, Next Friday. Unfortunately, the current return to the 'hood gets as stale as the reefer-filled air in the boys' cribs.

This Friday falls on the day before Christmas, when a ghetto Santa kicks Craig's ass with a Christmas tree and steals the rent money. The boys spend the entirety of the film trying to scrape together the cash (from being security guards to pimping a house party), but that's secondary to the hyperbolic freaks that occupy the screen. There are the hump-happy senior citizens; there's the requisite buxom babe (a soft and sensual K.D. Aubert); there's a pint-sized Prince (Katt Williams) who takes on a ripped, bitch-loving ex-con (Terry Crews) by applying a pair of pliers to the behemoth's testicles. No matter how deep the shit gets, Ice Cube always looks majestic seething away, even here. (75 minutes) At the Flagship, Holiday, Providence Place Mall 16, and Showcase cinemas.