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Southside with You

Southside with You (2016)

August. 26,2016
|
6.3
|
PG-13
| Drama Romance

Chronicles a single day in the summer of 1989 when the future president of the United States, Barack Obama, wooed his future First Lady on an epic first date across Chicago's South Side.

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Reviews

SpuffyWeb
2016/08/26

Sadly Over-hyped

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VeteranLight
2016/08/27

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

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Bergorks
2016/08/28

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

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Roman Sampson
2016/08/29

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

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Seth_Rogue_One
2016/08/30

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.

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CineMuseFilms
2016/08/31

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

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mharah
2016/09/01

This is one of the worst films I've ever seen. And it's not that it's about the Obamas, or that it's political (it's not), or even that it is almost unbelievable (in spite of the fact that everything really did happen at some point). It's that the producer-writer-director is so obviously infatuated with the Obamas that he ended up making a movie which comes off as one big, fat, sloppy kiss. The movie spans one afternoon and evening. There's no conflict, there's no character development, there's no new information. The actors are well cast, and they do the best they can with what they're given. That may make for a sweet photo montage, but it doesn't tell a story (which has already been told many times anyway). Even if every incident depicted happened in the space of one day (which they almost certainly did not), no one would believe it. If there is one cliché that was missed, there was no place left to put it. If there was room for one more tracking shot, the audience would fall asleep. In short, if you are head-over-heels in love with the Obamas, you may love this outing. Otherwise....

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malmborgimplano-92-599820
2016/09/02

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.

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