Barry

This was the first movie that popped up tonight when I got on Netflix; I didn't hesitate to start it up. I personally don't understand all of the mediocre reviews. This movie shows a part of our president's past, and it shows that he is a human being just like us. Barack Obama went through all of the troubles that we go through in everyday life; love, heartache, trying to find himself, ridicule, fights, etc. This movie shows all of those things, and it shows us another side of this great man. This movie mainly takes place in New York City when Barack was attending Harvard. It shows what his college life was like, and man did he have a hard time. This movie shows you what it was like back in that time period. No, this is not the Barack Obama that we know and love (some people hate) yet, but it shows who he was before he found his calling in life. If you like inspiring movies that keep your attention, you should definitely give this one a watch. It will definitely give you more insight into how Barack Obama became the man he is today.

Filmmaker: "I wanna make a movie about Barack Obama, but I only wanna cover the most boring aspect of his life: his slightly frustrating college years! And don't worry, I'll make sure it's aimless, bland and lacking in perspective so people can leave the movie completely unenlightened and unchallenged." Netflix: "Perfect! We'll take anything!"

This movie is not entirely what I was expecting; I expected a chronicle of the young life of Obama and his years at Columbia and Harvard. Instead, I saw a powerful story of race and a young man trying to find himself in a big city where he doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. The movie largely focuses on this concept of Obama not fitting in and seeming alone in the world; there are probably right around five minutes total of simply scenes of Barry smoking cigarettes by himself, pondering life. This is a tale of angst and identity. It shows a much more human side to our president that we don't get to see very often. At the very least, it will give you a more human understanding of the president and maybe you will be able to see the drive and optimism that he still has for our country. He is critical of the system and believes the people must make change happen, two ideas still similar to his beliefs, though due to the way Washington works, was simply unable to fully follow through on.

Overall, although it is a little slow at parts, it sends a powerful message about race and what it's like to not feel like you fit in anywhere.

I really was looking forward to watching this movie, and had the release date earmarked to see it. But after spending my early morning watching it, I was overall disappointed and realized that I could have waited.

So I'll start off with the good parts. Big props to Devvon Terrell on getting Barack's speech, mannerisms and attitude to a tee. He really could be a dead ringer for the younger version of the President; so casting did a fabulous job there. For her few moments in the film, Ashley Judd did a great job as Barack's mother. I enjoyed seeing a peek into their relationship and I wish it was fleshed out more. It was also interesting to see the film show Barack's fish out of water moments. Being bi-racial in 1980s New York, for sure he experienced a lot of them.

But the rest of the film fell flat. It just wasn't compelling at all. The trailers made it seem like you would be presented with key experiences from Barack's formative years; the things that help make him into the man we know today. The truth is you got very little of that. It was more of just a conflicted college kid trying to navigate the relationships with his on-campus peers and his (White) girlfriend and family. The script kept trying to bring in Barack's desire to have a relationship with his father, but it just felt random and out of place each time.

Overall this film wasn't a horrible waste of time. But it was far from being remarkable. I have yet to see "Southside With You", but I feel as if this was an ambitious effort that just fell short of the mark.

In my latest review on HereLiesZay.com, I write:

"We're not fortunate enough to be flies on the walls of all the people in life we are enamored by. We don't get to see all the little moments in time that contribute to the most current versions of the human beings we adore and admire. And the beauty of it all, ironically, is that having access to the sum of all these moments (the person themselves) is how we're able to appreciate each moment individually. It's their context in relation to every other moment that enables us to enjoy the basket of personality that is weaved in and out of each varying nugget of experience.

Unfortunately, Barry simply did not succeed in providing us that context."