User reviews

The benefit of making a biographical film about a long deceased statesman or woman is we can lionize them at will without having the propensity of sounding political. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Wilson (1944), John Adams (2008) all concerned themselves with figures that were long-gone and if controversy was to be had it was a low murmur at best. On the opposite side of the spectrum there are the maladroit political screeds. Your Iron Lady's (2011) and Primary Color's (1998); movies which are to varying degrees satirical admonishments and ad hominum attacks.

Southside with You covers a third category which is exceedingly rare, especially in today's culture of "kill your Gods". The film takes place over a day in the life of a young Michelle Robinson (Sumpter) and a young Barack Obama (Sawyers) as they go on a first date. During their courtship they take in a community organizing event, an art exhibit, multiple walks through the park and a movie. While doing so they get to know about each other and plow through their insecurities, their family lives and their plans for the future. That's basically it; our first film fictionalization of President Barack Obama is not some big epic nor a under-the-radar satire. No, this film is basically Before Sunrise (1995) without the sexual tension.

As our two leads, Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers are dead-ringers to the current occupants of the White House; down to their mannerisms, speech patterns and general way about them. As actors they are both reliably charming, have great chemistry together and evoke sympathy with very little coaxing. I genuinely felt compassion for these characters and the layers of social and emotional pressures they face.

Which is just as well because the script is about as heavy-handed and clunky as a Sunday school sermon. Within the first five minutes we know that we're going to spend our time with interesting people because their resumes were pretty much announced like they were on a dating show. Here's Michelle Robinson who matriculated from Princeton before getting her Junior Doctorates from Harvard Law. Her brother is a basketball coach at Brown and her dad has MS. Young Barack is a young summer associate who is going to Harvard Law and was born in Hawaii. He briefly worked as a Gardens community organizer while going to Columbia and for a young man he's surprisingly well traveled. He likes pie and hates ice cream.

As they get to know each other, the poorly concealed wounds of an absent father and a bi-racial upbringing keep the drama alive though for the most part writer/director Richard Tanne goes through great pains to make Obama look like the patron Saint of Chicago's southside. Granted even terrible people put their best foot forward when on a first date but man this guy lays it on thick. Every time Michelle meets one of his friends they keep nudging her and saying "he's a keeper". She replies "We're not dating," because of course she would. Cue the heartfelt speech about working together and not judging people before you get to know them; and kiss in three, two...

Now apparently a lot of the events of the film are true to life. Barack Obama was a summer associate at the law firm Michelle was working at and Michelle did initially refuse to go on a date with him. They did in-fact see Do the Right Thing (1989) and did in-fact go get Baskin Robbins afterward. Yet if these two characters were purely fictional, chances are you'd be bored out of your mind watching this movie. If ever there was an example of a true story that isn't interesting enough to be a movie, this is clearly it; especially given the "will they or won't they" tension that actually makes movies like these bearable is absent.

Southside with You is an innocent, easily digestible and easily forgettable puff piece on the level of a Teen Beat article asking Sasha who her favorite One Direction member is. That in itself is not the worst thing in the world, but given that the real life Obama is still a lightning rod of controversy, this film is quite the letdown by comparison.

The viewer is a fly on the wall and along for the ride on Barack Obama's and Michelle Robinson's first date. A different look into the romantic side of Barack and Michelle's relationship. Michelle certainly took some convincing according to the movie. Great moments and quotes of Barack. I only wonder how factual it is and what the couple former president and former first lady think of it.

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.

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.

When I saw the trailer a few mouths back I knew I had to see it. It was just about a random women preparing to go out with a college from work, then you discover she's Michelle Robinson and her colleague is Barack Obama.

It was the best first date every caught on picture.

I like the fact that I feel I did not learn anything new about the President of the United States. Southside with You has taken the man I've seen for the past 8 years and put that personality on celluloid accurately to what I already know. There was no surprise coming as Barack explain to Michelle his anger towards his father, his upbringing before college, and where he wants his life to go. Brilliantly played by Parker Sawyers, Barry O is easy to parody, but Sawyers was able to really capture the man without doing that.

What I also liked about the movie is what it told me about Michelle Robinson, a strong black woman also trying to find her way in life. Not satisfied with where her life is going and knowing she wants more out of it. Tika Sumpter did a good job show casing a career orientated woman focus on being more than just the black woman at her law firm and feeling a relationship with Obama would change that. Making her stand offish at first to his natural charm.

It's funny. It's a tale as old as time: boy likes girl, girl's not having it, boy tricks girl into date, girl keeps saying it's not a date, and boy has to put on the charm in order to win girl's heart. However, the two people they chose to tell this tale on bring a flavor to it that's uncanny.

Very quiet, but well structured. Not nearly as impactful as the two people it's about, but real good portrait of a iconic love affair.

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Very effective, pithy condensation of the origin of the Obamas' relationship, following them throughout their first day spent together.. Intelligent script where every word counts, 2 young adult lifetimes' worth of details, with the 2 principals admirably delivering all the verbosity without letting it negatively effect the growing romance

A must for students of recent American History

A small film with a small success. It was entirely shot in the two weeks of time. Directed by a first timer, it tells the true story of Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson's first date back in the 1989 during working for a big law firm in Chicago. Like how Michelle denied it is a date as co-workers should not engage in a close relationship. While Obama is trying to win her heart, the film reveals their day, what they talk and do and how it all ends.

This is not a biographical film I was expecting. I mean I was looking forward to the film, but not this kind of simple story. This looks like another version of 'Before Sunrise', and I won't be surprised if they make a sequel in a similar fashion, maybe a trilogy. So this is a one day event when they were young and passionate about their work, somewhat they both liked each other, though they knew their limits. The writer-come-director confirms all the events from his film really occurred, but not all of them in just one date.

The actors were good, especially I liked Parker Sawyers as Barack Obama. For me, this is not a great film, but decently made one. Obama fans might like it, though you could try it if you like date film in a realistic manner. It's Obama's early life, so there's nothing about his present politics or the president post, except talking about their future plans. But most of the film about between them and their life, like how they grew how, what they love and loved, those kind of stuffs. So I hope you watch it with a low expectation.

6.5/10

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.

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.

Southside with You tries to tell the romantic story of Obama and Michelle's relationship by giving us a deep look into the lives of the future best family in the U.S, but sadly it falters a bit as it tries to make the romance interesting with thought provoking debates about the world and there clashing ideals. The film just lacks a lot of focus on what it wants to really be and how much of the story it wants to tell.

The acting is actually the best part of the film as Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers really try there best to the weak script compelling and interesting to see. There chemistry is quite incompatible and makes for a fun and engaging experience to see portrayed on the screen.

But good chemistry can't save a pretty meh script and pretty average directing done by Richard Tanne. The film just can't engage you enough and instead feels dull and also really boring to watch as well.

Overall Southside by You tries to be interesting but misses the mark

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!

There wasn't much to this film, so I'll be brief. "Southside with You" wasn't really what I expected it to be. It wasn't bad and it wasn't good. It was just a simple love story with powerful messages running through it, which is a good thing. I thought there would be more to this film like a lot of romantic drama and a more complex story involving the two main characters which could have built up into the present relationship they have now. I think the writer / director created this film more as a tool to spread valuable lessons rather than making it for entertainment. In that sense, it reminded me of the film "The Nativity Story", a film about the events of Mary and Joseph that led up to the birth of Christ, which was a film I thought, was made primarily to convey a message rather than entertain. The acting from Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter was good. Parker Sawyers actually reminded me of Barak Obama with his performance and the Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" scene was fitting. In my opinion this isn't the kind of film you should expect a lot out of, but what can be taken out of the lessons it presents is a good thing.

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.

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....

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.

Let's face it. The Obamas are not particularly interesting people. Not that there is anything wrong with that. She's from a middle class background and he's upper middle class. They didn't overcome odds. They were born smart and good looking.

Their ideas on the world are at the level of undergraduate college sophomores finding themselves. Even when they were in the White House.

He's a clever guy who is reasonably tall, slim, and confident, and he feels guilty or inauthentic, because he comes from wealth on a beautiful island resort. So he moves to an inner city, co-opts a housing project, buys a beat up car, and makes some speeches about how to access public services.

She's smart, ambitious, and feels some general need to crusade for race and gender, while deep-down knowing that personal discipline is the key to success.

While a community center might be nice in a poor neighborhood, it's hardly a pressing issue. The public library is always available. Meanwhile, he is not even from that neighborhood.

She doesn't seem the slightest bit attracted to him in this movie, and that may be true to life. Because you get the sense that she's not much into dating anyone. Not everyone is animated by boy/girl interests.

My favorite scene was when he described the intensity of his former relationship, and she admitted that she had never experienced anything like that. He had allowed himself to live and love. She was more guarded.

You never get a sense of why he likes her. He doesn't explain. Was it physical, or some sort of admiration, or the challenge? Perhaps I missed that part.

I like the way real conversation was handled here. Although I don't find anything sexy about people who constantly disagree or one-up each other while they psycho-analyze one another. I don't want my date to be about convincing the other person on every little thing.

But forgetting the date aspect, since she was saying that it wasn't a date, the conversation was calm, without interruption, and thoughtful. If this was not about famous people, I may still have taken an interest, simply due to the lead male actor's charisma as Mr. Obama, but it wouldn't grab most people.

It was short and nothing really happens.

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.

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 saw this film yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the actors captured the essence of the Obamas wonderfully; what they may have lacked in appearance they certainly had in spirit.

The movie that kept popping into my head while watching Southside With You was My Dinner with Andre. Now some may find that a stretch but really it's not. It's been a long time since I've watch two adults on screen having a conversation for ninety minutes. I found the conversation interesting and compelling. (The other movie that comes to mind is Mind Walk)

A lot of folks will skip this film because it lacks over-the-top drama, action and violence. This movie is for a mature audience but for different reasons. It is insightful and intelligent and you'll be glad that you saw if indeed you do.

I was prepared for so much more in this film and there was not. It was a first date that I could have missed. I love the couple (fictional and non Fictional) however the movie was uninteresting. I could have wait for the DVD. THUMBS DOWN! I can't wait to view Don't breathe And Ben- Hur, Im sure I will be much more entertained. Love ya TIKA but this film did not make a splash with me. I did like the way they made sure to remind us of the nasty habit that our President use to have with those cigarettes, they made sure to put one in his mouth more then often. The car was the high light of the film really because it reminded us that he really was Southside Chicago. And at one point one could walk the southside streets. My cousins and I did when I was coming up and would visit every summer.

It's time to go to the punside with me, because there will be some corny puns in my review of The Obamas "first date" flick "Southside With You"; even though I have a feeling you might find them so corny that they will be in the grounds of pun impeachment. Anyways, "Southside With You" is a splendid, dialogue-orientated film that focuses on Barrack and Michelle's first date on a hot, summer Chicago day in 1989. Writer-Director Richard Tanne nicely handles the movie on the verbal interaction within our main protagonists, and foreshadows the communicative talents of who would be the future President and First Lady. Sure, you can call "Southside With You", "Before Sunrise: The Obama Moon" but there is nothing wrong with that; even though "Before Sunrise" is a much better movie. Parker Sawyers gives a presidential first-rate performance as the young Barack, and Tika Sumpter will make you think "She is Michelle" from the start in her turn as the future Mrs. Obama. So I think the popular vote will side with "Southside With You" if you give it a chance. **** Good