Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood

Ashtray, a young Black man, moves to South Central Los Angeles to live with his father, who is close to him in age, and his grandmother, a tough-talking woman who smokes weed. There he reconnects with his cousin Loc Dog, a gang member whose personal arsenal includes not only handguns and an Uzi but also a nuclear warhead he keeps for self-defense. Torn between the straight path and the pull of his cousin's crew, Ashtray finds his resolve tested when he falls for Dashiki, an attractive single mother of several children by different fathers, and a date with the wrong woman brings a gang after him.

The 1996 comedy was directed by Paris Barclay, who would go on to direct Hate and the 2026 documentary Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It. It was written by Marlon and Shawn Wayans with Phil Beauman and produced by Keenen Ivory Wayans and Eric L. Gold. Shawn Wayans plays Ashtray and Marlon Wayans plays Loc Dog, with Tracey Cherelle Jones as Dashiki, Chris Spencer as Preach, Vivica A. Fox as Ashtray's mother and Lahmard J. Tate as his father. Roughly 67 credited cast and 54 credited crew members worked on the production.

Made for about 4 million dollars and released in January 1996, the film grossed around 20 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from about 67,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 7.1 out of 10 from roughly 1,570 votes. A critics' rating of 4.7 out of 10 from 28 reviews places it well below what audiences give it.