She's Gotta Have It

The statements are right. The script is quite tight. The women are beautiful. That last quality is not a merit of Spike.

The rest is crap. The lines are slogans. And the actors have a hard time saying them as dialogue. At times it's like they are reading headlines.

Also, given what has been published on NetFlix, Spike is dated. He can't integrate the new gadgets. Even the episode format is more like 1980s syndicated sitcom.

So for a newcomer that would be a very promising series. For Spike it's probably sign he's on his way out.

Was turned off by the first episode but pressed on as I had heard good reviews. But in short, this show is garbage. And most upsetting is the fact that it has been characterized as "bold", "honest", and "fresh". Unfortunately, the show's "heroine" is a smug, narcissistic, irresponsible and confused mess. It's hard to watch, and disappointing to think that with this kind of material, Spike Lee fancies himself a voice for black Americans everywhere. The characters remain mostly undeveloped and the story, while it has its high points, is largely pointless and unresolved. And I guess the critics are too polite to call it "trash" so instead they praise Spike Lee's genius. Overall, I guess if you enjoy a show like Issa Rae's Insecure with its portrayal of confused, "sexually liberated", black women — along with a couple sassy "black girl-isms" thrown in (yaasss girl) — then you'll enjoy this too. But so as not to encourage more of this tripe content from Netflix, I'd suggest that you pass.

Spike Lee plus Brooklyn plus his breakout story had the potential to be really good. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

First, the positive. The soundtrack to this series is amazing! Spike really did his thing with the song selection. Second, the shots and cinematography were great. Spike and his crew really make Brooklyn come alive in this series. Third, Dewanda Wise is gorgeous to look at. At times I was able to overlook the ridiculousness of Nola Darling because I was looking a Wise's pretty brown face.

Now the negative. The concept is dated now. Women having more sexual agency is not new in film or TV. Even worse her preaching about it so much makes her character come off as selfish and even detached from reality. In one scene she tells the therapist the men in her life are trying to control her. That made me laugh. Because up to that point in the series the only person who ever required anything of her was her female lover, Opal. The men were all content with just sex.

And the men in this series were a sore point. These guys don't exist in real life. As a result it makes Nola's character seem even more hollow. Her power is derived from "living her truth" with these men. But their characters are so weak it makes her unbelievable. Mars Blackmon is like a teenager. Asserting your sexual reality against him is no accomplishment.

Finally, the messages in the series are too heavy handed. At times it seemed like Spike wanted to preach a message about gentrification so he built a TV series around it. Also, the random monologues got in the way of the story. Nola breaking the 4th wall always seemed forced and fake deep. Shamecka was more interesting as a character than Nola.

I remember very much liking the original film but this rewrite is a total miss. None of the characters are at all likable, except maybe Mars, however, if you met that guy in real life you would probably run far, far away. I read in some other review that the biggest problem with Spike Lee films is the prevalence of amateur acting. And I think that strikes at the heart of this series too. The actress playing Nola is not compelling. There seems to be this confusion of beauty with charm and magnetism. This combined with the corny lines was just cringe-worthy.

I'm a major fan of Spike Lees work so when i read that he was rebooting She's Gotta Have It as a Netflix series i just had to check it out.On viewing it ,it has Spike Lees look and feel all over it i always loved his style of movie making Do The Right Thing ,Jungle Fever etc.I liked watching this and its only because of the way Spike Lee directs and the way he portrays and projects the characters even though the story or theme isn't my favorite topic "relationships".I still liked it though and that's because i'm a Spike Lee fan.