First Date

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!

Writer-director Richard Tanner is largely responsible for creating this biography-drama-romance. A small conversation piece taking place on a single afternoon and evening, depicting a "first date" of an attractive couple who happen to be working in the same office during the day. The dialogue is constantly engaging and the characters, highly polished and professional, relate their respective backgrounds and life views to one another. What makes this couple extra special is that it's our now-still-current U. S. President and the First Lady, long before either seriously considered a career in politics. There's nice Chicago 1989 atmosphere throughout, and the two leads are engaging and fascinating as they strive to learn more about one another. I found myself in rapt attention and enjoyed the eighty-four minutes spent in their company. Both Tika Sumpter is as Michelle and Parker Sawyers as Barak give natural, relaxed characterizations. It's a unique project conceived by Mr. Tanner and well executed.

This film tells the story of how Barack Obama meets Michelle, his future wife, in the Southside of Chicago. They work in the same law firm, meet up for a day of activities, and get to know each other better. "Southside with You" reminds me of the "Before Sunrise" series, where two people walk around and talk all the time. People say this kind of film is romantic, but I find them very boring. "Southside with You" is very similar, but with one slight difference - it showcases how brilliant and clever Obama is, and hence he wins Michelle's tough and seemingly impenetrable heart. I cannot say I enjoyed the film so much, though I am impressed by how eloquent Obama is portrayed to be. Having this film made around this time makes people wonder whether there is any political reason for it. To sum up, I do not think this is my type of film.

I gave this movie 3 stars for the handful of facts that I learned about the Obamas that I thought were interesting. That being said, I remember watching an Asian film in college where the story followed an old man and a boy, with no one speaking the entire film; that was way less boring than this film. There is so much that I wanted to learn about this couple and their family that the film leaves out because it only tells the story of their first date. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I hope this isn't the last movie about the Obama family, because this one doesn't allow the audience to get to know very much at all.

Once you get over the weirdness of the fact that you're watching a movie about Barack and Michelle Obama's first date, this is an utterly charming and smart movie. I'm not sure how much of this is based on fact and how much of it is imagined (I assume most of the biographical details were fished out of Obama's autobiographies), but it imagines the two in their late 20s in Chicago in 1989. She doesn't want it to be a date, but he clearly does, so they do the dance. The film characterizes both Barack and Michelle beautifully - it's easy to momentarily forget who these people will become and just see them as complex human beings. The film is also one of the best about race in America - it doesn't shy away from those issues at all, and has a lot of intelligent discourse on the subject (it's quite disappointing that the writer/director is a white man, but thankfully he is a smart, sensitive white man). Saving the best for last, man, do the two leads, Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, knock it out of the park. Sawyers nails not only the way the future President speaks, but also his fantastic charisma. Sumpter may not quite come off as a perfect copy of Michelle, but she builds the character beautifully. Definitely one of the year's best films.

Writer/director Richard Tanne's "Southside With You" is a sweet, wonderful, and romantic first date film. Yes the characters are iconic, but they're written in such a way that their life and struggle resonate with any two people just trying to get to know each other. Great performances by its two leads, Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter, "Southside With You" is a rare gem. The story loosely recounts how Barack and Michelle Robinson first met in the summer of 1989. Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers) was just a young law firm associate and Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter) is a tough lawyer who's supposed to mentor him. But Barack has an agenda, he's trying to woo Michelle who herself is not interested in the prospect of dating, she has ambition career. But the long day of them hanging out together from the art institute to watching a movie ultimately leads to their first kiss. One of the many things I love about this film is that it feels so disarming, so relaxed, your guards are down because you don't have to expect some big spectacle to show up from around the corner. It's just two people walking and talking, like Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise," and so you're invested in the characters, you get to know them just as they themselves get to know each other. There's some big themes tackled in "Soutside With You" like Michelle Robinson feeling angry because the fact that she's a woman and she's black may give her obstacles in her career, and Barack is angry at her biological father having left him and his mom, so there are deeply rooted personal issues that audiences can relate to, which makes these iconic characters all the more human, and writer/director Richard Tanne approaches in a calmed, subtle yet firm and profound manner. And part of its success is also because actors Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers are more focused on creating the characters written on the pages of the script as opposed to mimicking, so the result that you get is the embodiment of these character's essence, not impersonation, not caricature. And I love how it doesn't fall into the generics of Hollywood rom-com where there's usually lots of gags and other attempts that try too hard to make you laugh. "Southside With You" is just a sweet little film that helps you breathe, you watch it and your stress level goes down. Despite your political views or what you may think of President Obama's administration, when you watch "Southside With You," I guarantee you'll fall in love with it right away. -- Rama's Screen --

After meeting people who actually grew up with the characters and hearing what their lives were really like, this was 100% fabricated. Not at all believable. I would not waste my time or my money. I cannot figure out why any producer would place their money on this movie. It was sappy and unreal in almost every way. The characters did not accurately portray the real people in any way. Not physically, not in gesture or in persona. It was so fake and so phony it almost appears to be political propaganda material. I prefer to watch biographical movies that are at least based on some sort of reality. If I want to watch fiction, I will go to a fictional movie. We had to leave the theater before it was over. Truly horrible.

I don't normally like biopics of living subjects as I think you have to let time pass to truly measure a historical figure, but this is not a movie about Barack and Michelle Obama, the president and first lady, it is about a pair of young unknown young professionals making a go of it in Chicago and trying to squeeze in romance while trying to climb the corporate ladder. Like them or hate them, it was hard to not identify with some of the awkwardness that is typical of first dates and find humor in some of the situations that we have all found ourselves in - except this is the future president. It was great seeing them at the beginning. I am not sure they should have had the scene of them standing close to a flaming trash barrel in the winter in Chicago warming their hands over the copies of the constitution and American flags they kept tossing into the flames as some people might get the wrong idea. I also think maybe they should have not had the future president lighting up the blunts as he walked on water and tossed rotten tomatoes at the Israeli consulate. The part of Obama explaining away the actions of the Islamo fascists in Iran was also enlightening however. Great movie!

The Kennedys had Camelot. The Carters had the peanut farm. The Johnsons had The Ranch. All of them were created for sycophantic followers who just had to believe the a Kennedy was faithful, the Carter was just one of them, and the Johnsons were honest. Southside is the same genre. M & B are omg just like us and they are so cute and wow aren't they so smart. Fact is that this has less reality when it comes to tone than Bambi is the definitive work on the life cycle of white tail deer. Two types will go see this. Those who are already hooked on the Obama crack pipe and those who are forced to enter the theater to avoid some sort of apocalypse outside. It is pure dreck.

Long time since I've seen anything like that. It's hard to believe that anyone would even try to film two (adult) actors actually talking with each other...not just for a few moments, but...virtually the whole movie [97%]. Another hour would NOT have been enough for me. I wonder what a multiple part sequel series would look like. Same writer, but different directors. Maybe to actually follow Michelle and Barack various moments in time / day in the life etc. We now know how B.O. got her attention, but...what was the next critical relationship pivot...? Great concept and...brilliant "...capturing a moment in time" writing.