Not so Jesse Jackson. The founder of Operation PUSH demanded the producers excise the provocative scene from video and DVD versions. The character Eddie, played by Cedric the Entertainer, refers to the civil-rights leader's well documented marital infidelities, and points out that Ms. Parks was not the only Southerner to defy Jim Crow laws. In both cases, other characters chastise him for disrespecting cherished heroes.

        The flap has turned into a miniature lesson in the dynamics of racial correctness (the producers apologized to Mr. Jackson), but it has another interesting side: Many African-Americans are defending the film. Most apparently accept it for what it is — a funny, affectionate and thoughtful meditation on black community values.

        NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, for example, said, “I thought it was a funny film. ... Given the context in which the remarks were made, here is one person being shouted down by everyone else.”

        Said Cincinnati-based comedian Blair Shannon, “I don't agree with (Eddie's) statements at all. But they have every right to make them. It is part of a character, part of a movie. ... (Performers) want the freedom to say whatever the character should say.”

        A wisecrack by a movie character is hardly likely to damage the image of Dr. King, one of the most admired historical figures in the world. Said Mr. Shannon, “He was a human being. He didn't walk on water. ... But the things he did that were great are the things we remember,” he said.

        Though she worries that the movie's rude treatment of civil-rights icons might confuse impressionable youngsters, Channel 19 weekend anchor and What's Hot producer Regina Carswell said she appreciates its effect. “It has stirred up a conversation,” she said. “It has forced us, black and white, to talk about people who are an integral part of history, how we look at them, how we look at them has humans.”

        The movie's sometimes biting jokes strike a chord that transcends racial division but is especially vivid to black viewers in the same way Greek-Americans have a special but non-exclusive appreciation for My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

        Alphonzo J. Wesson III, a TV director and independent filmmaker, whose credits include We Are Not Vanishing about Black Family Reunion founder Dr. Dorothy Height, said the movie reflects a genuine experience. “Having been in barbershops myself,” he said, “and hearing the craziest opinions from people who are sometimes being contrary to get a rise out of people, seeing that same dynamic on screen, it seems they are just replicating what happens in life.”

        Ms. Carswell said, “I laughed, because the character was like so many old folks I know — my dad, my great-uncle — people who sit around the table at Thanksgiving and just say stuff to make people irate.”

        In the movie, Eddie begins his rant with, “I'd never say this in front of white folks, but ...”

        It is a telling moment, both honest and absurd — like a TV talk show host urging a guest to share a confidence, “Just between you and me . ...”

        Mr. Wesson said African-Americans do share an unwritten code of restraint when talking with whites. “There are certain things you don't do out of school,” he said. “When people ... are not educated in the the background of what you're talking about, it can be very damaging” to speak frankly.

        On the other hand, said Mr. Shannon, “The purpose of comedy is to bring out things that people think anyway that they don't say out loud.”

        “What's good about movies like this,” said Ms. Carswell, “it's like The Kings of Comedy. ... It's a way of understanding culture through raw comedy. ...

        “It shows how far we have come that we are opening the door and inviting everybody to come into our dining room, our barbershop, our beauty salons. You can have a different point of view in the black community.”

        The predominantly African-American filmmakers behind Barbershop — including director Tim Story and producer George Tillman Jr. — took a calculated risk by admitting a cultural intimacy that few films manage. By going beyond the familiar stereotypes of most race-conscious films, they opened a connection to audience, the kind of connection that translates into box-office success.

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