Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Story about a large black family who are overseen (and kept in line) by Mother Joe (Irma P. Hall). She has four daughters--three are married and she keeps the families together. She is especially fond of 10 year old Ahmed (Brandon Hammond). She ends up in the hospital in a coma after surgery. The family starts to fall apart--the couples start bickering, one man can't get a job, one has an affair. Ahmed attempts to keep the family all together.MILD SPOILERS It sounds hopeless (a cute little kid getting everyone together) but this actually works! The characters and situations are realistic and the acting is great by everybody. Hammond and Hall are easily the best--Hammond does a great job of not making his kid seem TOO perfect. Vanessa Williams and Mekhi Phifer also lend very strong support. This is one of those rare films that has strong family values without shoving them down your throat. You see these people go through hell but they make it through and it makes it clear that they'll always be there for each other--even when they hate each other. Warm, realistic and just great.It's really too bad this film has an R rating--it's mostly just for VERY strong language and a discreet sex scene--because the values it promotes would be great for a child to see and hear. My only complaints is that it DOES drag a little and sometimes the language gets too strong (Phifer's character really lets loose). Still it's well worth seeing. It lead to a fairly successful Showtime series. I give this a 9.

the movie exemplifies what the black family can and should be. strong through the tough times. As a black lady, I can relate to the drama that the family goes through and how their Sunday dinners kept them close. To the person who said Kingdom Come was way better than Soul Food just proves that no movie can satisfy everyone. This movie was incredible and believable. But I felt that Kingdom Come was to put mildly boring. It does not stick out to me at all as a memorable movie. It was alright. No to bash anyone but obviously taste in movies differs person to person.. but I must say Soul Food was great...the acting was magnificent...especially Vivica and Vanessa. LOVED THIS MOVIE. Plus the movie features fabulous music.

I have also seen this movie and i have to say that i don't remember Angela Bassett being in this movie. This movie was a great movie and it was heart warming and all the emotions that life has to offer.When you have a movie that has all of that a great cast and a great script you have an excellent movie. Everything that you seen in that movie happens in life off of the sliver screen. To say that that this movie did not show Blacks in a good light (black men for the most part) is wrong. Things happen like that in every culture every ethnic background in this world and it just so happened that the writers and director and producers of this movie happened to paint this piece for black actors. It was and still is a beautiful movie.

When I first saw this film it reminded me so much of my family I actually got nervous. The story depicted in this film is so true especially in many Black families, especially mine. The story is pretty much about how a family breaks up after the matriarch becomes ill and eventually dies causing rifts to develop due to the fact that the one person who keeps the family grounded is no longer around to mediate disputes and to show love and guidance to the younger generation. This is definitely a wonderful film that should be viewed by every family no matter what race they are.