the audience applauded

Overrated and overhyped

Good concept, poorly executed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

If you did not enjoy this film...well...you're probably a Republican. Seriously, though, a movie that manages to turn ubiquitous public figures into protagonists (and complex protagonists, no less)? That is something. It was more than impersonation or caricature...it was a love story. And there was something hopeful about encountering these two before everything changed. It was not without flaws, but it brought a smile to my face.

It takes a brave director to make a romantic bio-pic featuring a current US President and First Lady. Unless you come from another planet it is impossible to view Southside with You (2016) outside the realm of contemporary politics. Although the summer of 1989 is a long way from the events of 2016, the story of Barack and Michelle's first time out together will be seen by many through their own political lens. Its release in the middle of a Presidential election environment was guaranteed to polarise opinion.The simple storyline is based on one afternoon in which little happens except non-stop conversation and loads of interpersonal chemistry. Barack (Parker Sawyers) is an intern at a corporate law firm finishing his studies and Michelle (Tika Sumpter) is his adviser who aspires to senior lawyer ranks. They plan to spend the afternoon getting to know one another for professional reasons. As his senior, she is cutely overbearing when she snaps "you are late" while Barack's unflappable charm disarms her every time. These are not idle lovers but world leaders in the making; their conversation ranges from Aristotelian and to simply being two love birds circling each other in a timeless ritual – and the tension is delightful. At one point Barack gently chides Michelle for planning to become a law partner, asking her how she reconciles her social conscience with the profit-driven corporate world: the cut bleeds long into the afternoon. After a gallery visit so Barack can show off his knowledge of art they attend a public meeting where he demonstrates a gift for oratory that even in this modest setting Is as inspirational as it is emotionally manipulative. This is a thoughtfully constructed, well-acted, and thoroughly charming film. Parker Sawyers carries off the role convincingly with uncanny resemblance to Barack's mannerisms and style of speech. Tika Sumpter plays a restrained and serious Michelle with glimpses of warmth beneath the fascade of a 'professional date'. She is no pushover but a person with an assertive feminist intellect who has found her match. Far from being a soft romantic comedy, this film is a private look into a rarefied world in which intellectual sparring constitutes courtship behaviour.Hagiography is a style of cinema that places its subject on a pedestal with little interrogation and this is happening here. The film might have benefited from some less adoring insights into a future president and the script is a little strained at times, but these are mere quibbles. This is a warm, intelligent, well told story about two people who became a global power-couple in celebrity politics. SOURCE: www.cinemusefilms.com

The production and photography are very good, so you can see that a considerable amount of money was spent in this film.It has good moments, good acting also, but at the end it becomes clear that as a propaganda movie for Michelle Obama to run as the democrat candidate in 2020. Everyone knows how popular Mrs. Obama is, and the movie was made to show other sides of her in a wave of appeals to emotion and tries very hard to make her larger than life, the perfection goal to all human beings.And that's the moment when it lost me. The movie becomes something you would see in a TV commercial that has that voice at the end saying "Michelle Obama approves this ad".Well, that's it, didn't like it. Too fake and "robotic" to my taste.

'SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU': Four Stars (Out of Five)A romantic drama biopic, based on the true story of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama's first date (if you can call it that). The film stars Parker Sawyers, as the future President, and Tika Sumpter (who you may remember from the 'RIDE ALONG' movies), as the future First Lady. It was written and directed by debut feature filmmaker Richard Tanne. The movie has received rave reviews from critics, and it's been a successful Box Office hit (at indie theaters). I enjoyed it.The story is set in Chicago, in the summer of 1989 (on one day). A young business associate, named Barack Obama (Sawyers), takes a young lawyer, named Michelle Robinson (Sumpter), out for the afternoon. Barack tries to court her, the entire time, but Michelle insists it's not a date; since the two work together (and she thinks it would be inappropriate). They go to an art exhibit together, a community meeting, and a movie ('DO THE RIGHT THING'). The film is a sweet little romance, and a nice little character study as well. It's definitely slow-paced, and nothing we haven't seen before, but because it's about the President, it seems a lot more interesting. I like how the movie points out that he smoked a lot of weed, and was always late to everything; it definitely makes him seem a lot more like an everyday person (with a lot of flaws like everyone else). I also think Sawyers does an excellent job in the role (and he looks a lot like him too). Sumpter, on the other hand, looks nothing like Michelle Obama; and her performance reminded me nothing of the First Lady either. She does give a good performance though, and she looks really beautiful, in her own way, as well. If you take out the fact that the film is based on the President, and his wife, than it's definitely nothing that memorable. It is a decently made little date movie though.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFMQ3xbt9g