I think when people initially were buzzing about the Oscar potential for this, they thought it was about the actual Supremes. it is not. It is about three women who are so tight they have a name for themselves. Kind of like The Plastics, but if those girls had gotten to choose their nickname. Other than corralling three great actresses in Uzo Aduba, Sanaa Lathan, and Aunjuane Ellis Taylor, the movie is a lot like so many others that have come before it with a group of women who meet somewhere and age gracefully together.
we get the flashbacks to their childhood, and how they became friends, and then everything is so disjointed it becomes hard to ever attach to one storyline or one moment, and this is a film where one of the three ladies will battle cancer. But it seems like we’re getting the speed run, cliffs notes version of their lives, and as such it becomes impossible to be emotionally invested. A film like Steel Magnolias manages this a lot better, keeping the various characters developing, while also working on its emotional punch. Hell, I’m not even sure why these women kept eating at Earl’s. or, why this place remained so special. A place like the salon in Steel Magnolias feels like an obvious gathering spot, but earl’s is just some place. Somewhere.
The only reason this film works at all on any level is that the three actresses could act themselves out of the Expendables franchise if they needed to. Exceptional talent takes a below average screenplay and makes it on some level at least watchable. I can’t see this being a film that anyone is desperate to repeat.
the audio description was nice, and I really hope authentic to the film since the movie is almost an entirely black cast (except for an out of place Julian McMahon). There’s also in movie narration, that the audio description has to work around. plus, the movie itself isn’t very good at maintaining a connective thread, so it feels like the audio description is working uphill to make the film coherent. I wish we had spent more time in these women’s lives, and just had a competent film. Toss out the diner, or fully commit to it. We need to know who these people are that come in and out of their lives, as the men are underdeveloped. We spend like ten minutes talking about how all these girls entered the world, but in the meat of the story, it feels like all the editing happened and stuff hit the cutting room floor.
I’ve seen worse, but I’m certainly not impressed.
Final Grade: C
