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Southside with You
By S. Jhoanna Robledo,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Witty, winning, but sometimes long-winded tale of love.
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Southside with You
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What's the Story?
In SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU, Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumter) is working at a law firm as a second-year associate. Despite her reluctance, she agrees to hang out with a first-year associate/former community organizer named Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers). He's intelligent, thoughtful, sometimes combative, often amusing, and always a good listener -- all of which endears him to her, even though he smokes and is sometimes presumptuous. No one who wasn't there can say exactly what transpired in real life when the Obamas met each other, but this film attempts to put us right in the thick of things.
Is It Any Good?
One of the biggest pleasures of this romantic drama is watching two conversational and intellectual heavyweights go toe-to-toe on their first date (or rather, non-date). Southside with You is full of interesting dialog and discussions that really follow the natural arc of conversations. Kudos to Sumter and Sawyers, who -- in the way they depict everything from how Barack lights a cigarette to how Michelle defuses an argument -- reveal both the strengths and the challenges of this relationship. Like the Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight series, this movie depends on its stars' verbal and mental dexterity, and they don't disappoint. Sawyers has nearly all of the president's mannerisms down: His walk has the confident grace; his cadence, the oratorical patterns of the actual president.
Sometimes watching Southside with You does feel a bit like eavesdropping on a conversation that's better left private, and the pace can get frustratingly slow. And sometimes, given that the two characters, after all, eventually become the president and first lady, it can feel like you're watching Mom and Dad go on their first date. But overall, it's worth it to be the third wheel, so to speak.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how accurate you think Southside with You is. Why might filmmakers choose to alter/change what happened in a movie based on a true story? How can you find out more about what happened?
How do the characters demonstrate empathy? Why is that an important character strength?
Barack and Michelle discuss racism and sexism very frankly; what do you think of their conversations? Are they relatable? Thought-provoking?
What's the significance of Do the Right Thing in the movie -- and during the summer that it came out?
What do you think this first date/non-date signifies for both Barack and Michelle, personally and professionally? Is it strange to watch the courtship of public figures?
Movie Details
- In theaters: August 26, 2016
- On DVD or streaming: December 13, 2016
- Cast: Tika Sumpter , Parker Sawyers , Taylar Fondren
- Director: Richard Tanne
- Inclusion Information: Female actors, Black actors
- Studio: Roadside Attractions
- Genre: Romance
- Character Strengths: Empathy
- Run time: 81 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG-13
- MPAA explanation: brief strong language, smoking, a violent image and a drug reference
- Last updated: June 4, 2023
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