Barry

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.

This film had important themes about being biracial in America, now or in the 1980's, but having Barack "Barry" Obama was detrimental (for me, at least).

The director said in an interview that the idea was to "accurately tell the story of a mixed-race kid in New York in 1981 that would one day become the 44th President of the United States," yet the latter part of that idea is non-existent in the film. It's just an accurate story about a mixed-race kid in New York in 1981 and that's it. I have no idea why Barack Obama is the main character of this film other than that he happens to be biracial. Any other detail specific to Barry is irrelevant to the story. You could have made this about a fictional biracial person named Darryl and it would have been exactly the same movie.

I found this confounding, because "Barry" IS the main character. And it was marketed as being about a young Barack Obama, which comes with certain expectations of seeing something that relates to the Obama we know - elements you would find in any other biopic - that are nowhere to be found. At best, you could make the argument that these experiences shaped the way he sees race in America, but there's nothing in the film to suggest that it did, which is even more confounding.

Had the main character been someone else, the theme of finding out where you belong would have made this a good film - competent acting, good dialogue and secondary characters. Everything was there, but setting the expectation of an Obama biopic and not delivering on that promise just left me disappointed.

If you're interested in seeing the film purely for that theme, you'll probably enjoy it.

If you're looking to learn about Barack Obama's college years, you'll be disappointed.

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.

To counter the only other "review" which is, in fact, a political complaint about the Obama administration and implies that the author had not actually watched the film at all, I am writing this.

This is an interesting look at the life of "Barry", who isn't a politician and has no interest in politics at all. It looks at conflict, race, trying to fit into two worlds and not feeling like you belong in either... It's about learning who you are in a world that isn't sure where it thinks you belong. It was a wonderfully interesting peek into a time that helped to shape the man who would go on to be the leader of the free world.

A very good watch if you can manage to set your political affiliations aside for long enough to actually watch it.

Barry simply put is the early years of Barack Obama in New York and his struggles trying to fit himself among the people there. Simply put, it his the identity crises caused because of his mixed ethnicity.

Its a beautiful story on paper but in the hands of director Vikram Gandhi, this is a story lost in translation.

The movie starts of well as the young Barack moves into New York with a serious identity crisis. It is shown that he never as such connected with his Dad in Kenya, his years in Manila have changed him and he questions the things around him. He cannot mix with either the blacks or the whites. He has a nice sweet white girlfriend but due to the crisis inside him, he starts to move away from here. And he has loving mother beautifully played by Ashley Judd who tells him that all will be fine one day.

However, the writing is inconsistent and we are never ever able to understand or feel the chaos inside Obama. At some places the story is drifting and I was wondering what is happening. However, the ending saves the film from being a total washout.

Devon Terrell is a good actor and its too early for me to judge him through this film since the writing and directing are not upto the mark. He does put up a nice performance and I hope to see more of him soon.

The rest of the cast puts a commendable performance and the movie is worth a visit on a lazy Sunday afternoon.