Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply Perfect

A Masterpiece!

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Richard Tanne's 'Southside with You' is a pleasant surprise. A Small Little Gem, that's both charming & engrossing. And if you even thought watching the former U.S President & His Wife/Former First Lady going on their first date as a rather uninteresting concept for a film ...think again!'Southside with You' Synopsis: The film chronicles the summer 1989 afternoon when the future President of the United States, Barack Obama, wooed his future First Lady, Michelle Obama, on a first date across Chicago's South Side.'Southside with You' is a delightful tale of 2 people who went on to create history. You watch & observe them. Its all heart. 'Southside with You' is a love-story, but it also covers themes of racism & how America was back in the late 1980's. Although done subtly, the message is out loud and clear. Obama's Voice for equality & patience, is shown in great strength & it also shows us a leader who later came into power, because he knew the drill. Tanne's Screenplay is excellent. The Writing is of Superior Quality. Not for a minute, does the Writing take a dip, its consistently crisp. Tanne's Direction, too, is superb. He's handled the film with precision. Cinematography is perfect. Editing is neat, culminating the film within a sharp 84-minutes. Art & Costume Design are perfectly done.Performance-Wise: Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as a young Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson, respectively, bring in their A-Game. Parker is a revelation, channeling Obama with grit & tenderness. Tika is a live-wire, She portrays Michelle, with unmistakably honesty. Both the actors, deserve more work in the movies. They've got the stuff.On the whole, 'Southside with You' is Magnificent. Don't dare to miss it.And yes, I do miss the America when Obama was President!

Although the 2 films were made by completely different people and studios, comparisons between 'Barry (2016)' and 'Southside With You (2016)' is inevitable.Both movies are about Barack Obama, the former 'Barry (2016)' was about his younger days in college as a angsty young man (before Michelle came into the picture) in search for an identity, a film which I very much enjoyed. In fact I put it on my 'best of 2016' movies list.So this movie should be right up my alley right? well I can't say that it was, 'Southside With You' has a far less interesting premise, it's basically a fluffy rom com turned political drama halfway through. And it's all in all not very interesting.And I have to say I found Michelle Obama as a character in the film rather annoying and self-centered, Barack was acceptable but he failed in comparison to the actor who played him in 'Barry'.Perhaps if you are really intrigued by Michelle and Barack as a couple it will be interesting for me, but I can't say I am personally so it's a miss for me.

Sweet and more soulful than expected, Southside with You is a movie about a first date. So, lots and lots of conversation between two young good looking people. If you need car crashes or stereotypical "Black talk", you're gonna be disappointed. But if a nice build up of romantic chemistry is your idea of a movie, here ya go. The leads are charming together. The Michelle character is a little arch, but her caution is well founded per one awkwardly authentic scene with co-workers. A wonderful montage of Ernie Barnes artwork and a nice song by John Legend are lovely bonuses. As the late great Roger Ebert would say, thumbs up.

This film reminded me a little of "Selma" in the way it transforms an African American legend into a conventional Hollywood leading man, thanks to a by-the-numbers script and an extraordinary actor (two actually in this case) who goes beyond mimicry to capture the charismatic intelligence of the original. Tika Sumpter is a convincing Michelle and Parker Sawyer's Barack is frankly awesome.I could have done without the heavy use of meet cute clichés (especially the dreaded "she's saying no but she really means yes") but what made this film for me was the sequence in which Barack gives a pep talk to the skeptical community group. Sawyer plays this scene to perfection, effectively dramatizing the wisdom, determination and realpolitik that has characterized the Obama we know from his years as our president. I've never been an Obama groupie but I really have come to admire him. Whoever gets into office next, we're all going to miss him.