Sunday, August 28, 2016

Southside with You Review

When you go into a movie that is about a famous couples first date, you would expect to feel a connection between the characters. I must say that I did not feel a connection at all between the characters in Southside with You.

Southside with You is about the first date between Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson (yes that Barack and Michelle). The movie takes place in Chicago in 1989 where the two work at a law firm. This is the first movie directed by Richard Tanne and stars Parker Sawyers as Barack and Tika Sumpter as Michelle.

I'm going to keep this short and simple, I was completely bored watching this movie. I felt that there was no chemistry between Barack and Michelle. For most of the movie Barack just looks up and down Michelle's body in this super creepy way and made me feel a little uncomfortable. Tika's performance as Michelle was rigid and lifeless. It seemed like it wasn't until three quarters into the movie that you finally saw her smile and that was probably because Michelle was drinking. If someone is on an enjoyable first date, you would expect them to smile a little more. Michelle was not likable at all, she was angry for most of the movie and I could never imagine someone falling for her. Barack had charisma and charm and seeing him interact with Michelle was frustrating. For a lot of the movie I was wondering what Barack saw in her and was wondering why did he want to date her so badly. The dialog between Barack and Michelle was pretty painful and uninteresting. A lot of the things they talked about seemed forced. There were multiple lines that just seemed like they were thrown in just so the audience could say "Hey I heard about that in the news". It never felt like an actual conversation two people would have on a first date.

I do have to give the director a little credit though. The movie was beautiful to look at. There were some fantastic shots throughout the movie. Also the movie had some great music.

Southside with You was a huge disappointment. This movie was completely boring and there was no chemistry between Barack and Michelle. This was a romantic movie that completely lacked any kind of romance. There is absolutely no reason to see this movie and the more I think about it, the more I dislike it.

2 out of 5 Stars (and falling)

1 comment:

Shamontiel said...

I definitely agree with you that the movie was boring as hell, but I was so blown away because the real FLOTUS seems warm and kind and like someone you'd want to be around. Her character was paranoid, angry and temperamental nonstop until (and you said this) she had a drink. Or ice cream.

The only part I disagree with you on is the "beautiful shots." Outside of the art museum, which I loved, they just kept showing grass, random windows and grass. You would think Chicago had zip zero to offer other than grass and the sky. The "Barbershop" films did so much better at showing what the south side of Chicago really looks like.

And the music kept playing too long. A snippet is fine. They went through Janet's entire song in the intro.