She's Gotta Have It

Spike Lee's style isn't for everyone. With multiple graphic sex scenes and extreme adult situations, I can understand why people don't care for this show. However, since the world of Nola is confusing and crazy, the style seems fitting. There are times when the editing sucks and the acting falls flat, but overall, you won't be bored.

Corny is word I hate using but it sums up Spike Lee's attempt at- whatever it was he was trying to achieve with this reboot. Now, it was not completely terrible, it was easy to watch in the background while I worked on my laptop. However, I think I would have turned it off sooner had I been fully paying attention. The acting was overall quite bland. There weren't many fully realized characters in the cast, almost everyone was a shell of clichés. The close ups, especially towards the end were eye rolling. And that finale- I suppose I would've been disappointed if I was expecting something more.

I have a lot of respect for the arts but I didn't need to see this portrayal of another self righteous "starving" Brooklyn artist, who if they spent 5% of the time working some other job as they do pontificating about how the world NEEDS their art... give me a break. Nola is getting a steep discount from her godmother to stay in the gentrified neighborhood she grew up in, and she still doesn't manage to get the rent on time. They constantly talk about her hustle, yet she really isn't ever truly desperate or truly hustling. Now maybe that wasn't the show they wanted to make, but don't pretend putting 5 paintings on your stoop and walking some dogs to continue living solo in a gorgeous brownstone is roughing it. Gentrification is a legitimate issue, and I see the commentary Spike was going for but it fell quite short.

I'm sure some people will enjoy the show, as I said it is not all bad, just was not for me.

Unfortunately the best thing about this show is the soundtrack. The rest of movie seems like a self-indulgent exercise by the director and whoever wrote the horrible, leaden script. Someone said it in a earlier review but the dialogue could not have been any more unnatural. What were they thinking? While he does capture some beautiful images of Brooklyn, the characters are poorly developed and Spike was clearly trying to push a narrative at the cost of the story. The lead character is interesting but she was not given opportunities to shine within this vanity project. Please spare us a third season

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.

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.