First Date

It's time to go to the punside with me, because there will be some corny puns in my review of The Obamas "first date" flick "Southside With You"; even though I have a feeling you might find them so corny that they will be in the grounds of pun impeachment. Anyways, "Southside With You" is a splendid, dialogue-orientated film that focuses on Barrack and Michelle's first date on a hot, summer Chicago day in 1989. Writer-Director Richard Tanne nicely handles the movie on the verbal interaction within our main protagonists, and foreshadows the communicative talents of who would be the future President and First Lady. Sure, you can call "Southside With You", "Before Sunrise: The Obama Moon" but there is nothing wrong with that; even though "Before Sunrise" is a much better movie. Parker Sawyers gives a presidential first-rate performance as the young Barack, and Tika Sumpter will make you think "She is Michelle" from the start in her turn as the future Mrs. Obama. So I think the popular vote will side with "Southside With You" if you give it a chance. **** Good

This is one of the worst films I've ever seen. And it's not that it's about the Obamas, or that it's political (it's not), or even that it is almost unbelievable (in spite of the fact that everything really did happen at some point). It's that the producer-writer-director is so obviously infatuated with the Obamas that he ended up making a movie which comes off as one big, fat, sloppy kiss. The movie spans one afternoon and evening. There's no conflict, there's no character development, there's no new information. The actors are well cast, and they do the best they can with what they're given. That may make for a sweet photo montage, but it doesn't tell a story (which has already been told many times anyway). Even if every incident depicted happened in the space of one day (which they almost certainly did not), no one would believe it. If there is one cliché that was missed, there was no place left to put it. If there was room for one more tracking shot, the audience would fall asleep. In short, if you are head-over-heels in love with the Obamas, you may love this outing. Otherwise....

This film tells the story of how Barack Obama meets Michelle, his future wife, in the Southside of Chicago. They work in the same law firm, meet up for a day of activities, and get to know each other better.

"Southside with You" reminds me of the "Before Sunrise" series, where two people walk around and talk all the time. People say this kind of film is romantic, but I find them very boring. "Southside with You" is very similar, but with one slight difference - it showcases how brilliant and clever Obama is, and hence he wins Michelle's tough and seemingly impenetrable heart. I cannot say I enjoyed the film so much, though I am impressed by how eloquent Obama is portrayed to be. Having this film made around this time makes people wonder whether there is any political reason for it. To sum up, I do not think this is my type of film.

There wasn't much to this film, so I'll be brief. "Southside with You" wasn't really what I expected it to be. It wasn't bad and it wasn't good. It was just a simple love story with powerful messages running through it, which is a good thing. I thought there would be more to this film like a lot of romantic drama and a more complex story involving the two main characters which could have built up into the present relationship they have now. I think the writer / director created this film more as a tool to spread valuable lessons rather than making it for entertainment. In that sense, it reminded me of the film "The Nativity Story", a film about the events of Mary and Joseph that led up to the birth of Christ, which was a film I thought, was made primarily to convey a message rather than entertain. The acting from Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter was good. Parker Sawyers actually reminded me of Barak Obama with his performance and the Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" scene was fitting. In my opinion this isn't the kind of film you should expect a lot out of, but what can be taken out of the lessons it presents is a good thing.

Once you get over the weirdness of the fact that you're watching a movie about Barack and Michelle Obama's first date, this is an utterly charming and smart movie. I'm not sure how much of this is based on fact and how much of it is imagined (I assume most of the biographical details were fished out of Obama's autobiographies), but it imagines the two in their late 20s in Chicago in 1989. She doesn't want it to be a date, but he clearly does, so they do the dance. The film characterizes both Barack and Michelle beautifully - it's easy to momentarily forget who these people will become and just see them as complex human beings. The film is also one of the best about race in America - it doesn't shy away from those issues at all, and has a lot of intelligent discourse on the subject (it's quite disappointing that the writer/director is a white man, but thankfully he is a smart, sensitive white man). Saving the best for last, man, do the two leads, Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, knock it out of the park. Sawyers nails not only the way the future President speaks, but also his fantastic charisma. Sumpter may not quite come off as a perfect copy of Michelle, but she builds the character beautifully. Definitely one of the year's best films.