Southside with You, starring relative unknowns Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as younger versions of our country’s current President and First Lady, is at its core a serviceable late summer romance with an underdeveloped and bland political spin, nothing less and certainly nothing more. Sorely lacking any sense of inspiration or purpose, writer and director Richard Tanne spends most of his first feature film’s 84-minute runtime falling back on the well-developed chemistry of his two leads, and it’s a strong testament to their acting ability that the movie never fell from the realm of mediocrity.
In the hands of a more provocative and experienced filmmaker (such as Spike Lee, whose 1989 classic Do the Right Thing actually played a small role in the movie’s plot), the idea of centering a film around the first date of the most powerful man and woman in America could have been equal parts bold, divisive and entertaining. However, with a noticeably timid first-time filmmaker such as Tanne at the helm, political correctness made itself known around every corner, flat political dialogue and generic cinematography abound. As opposed to, say, the Barbershop film franchise (which is highly underrated due to being unfairly grouped in with the plethora of cheap, low-brow comedies by hacks such as Tyler Perry) that takes a show over tell approach to racial oppression and gang violence, Southside is perfectly content with sitting back and filming long-winded exposition regarding race and gender relations, never even having the gall to set more than one or two scenes in actual low-income areas. Only one scene — a discussion between several respected members of the neighborhood about the construction of a community center — held any political stakes whatsoever, and the sole purpose of the scene was to show off Obama’s talent for public speaking through a lengthy, inspiring monologue (which, I will admit, was incredibly well-timed and delivered by Sawyers). Considering that the movie is centered around two of the most powerful political figures in the world, Tanne’s play-it-safe attitude whenever confronted with larger societal themes is nothing short of a major disappointment.
When a filmmaker decides to take on the task of making a biopic about a mainstream public figure, two huge inherent flaws tend to rear their head: First, the subject’s eventual fate is well known, killing any sense of natural interest or tension in the plot; second, their physical features and personalities are so recognizable that any actor or actress attempting to take on such a role is destined to fail miserably. In Southside, though, only one of those two hold true, as the two leads once again prop up this otherwise subpar film. Sawyers and Sumpter do a remarkable job in avoiding the mistake of portraying only the obvious public personas of their characters, and the connection between the two feels genuine as they grapple with their respective troubled personal histories (namely his documented father issues) with gravity and controlled emotion. Their successes, however, are largely in spite of the failure of Tanne as a writer, as his lack of comedic chops and inability to create tension or drama that doesn’t feel contrived puts all the weight on the actors to keep viewers interested.
Over the course of Richard Tanne’s Southside With You, it becomes increasingly apparent that much of the film’s positive press — as of press time it sported a certified fresh 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — stems from political bias and the tendency of Hollywood critics to automatically slap a good score on any movie that is inoffensive, low budget, and quite frankly boring. While Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpters deliver quality performances in their first major roles (I’ll definitely be looking forward to any of their future work), almost every other aspect of the film utterly underwhelms.
Two and a half stars (out of five).
