![]() ![]() He’s recognizably Barack, with the same “no drama” attitude and the same ability to converse with anyone about anything. Tika Sumpter does a fine job as Michelle, capturing the character’s wary calm as she navigates multiple worlds at once, from the working-class Chicago neighborhood where she still lives with her parents to the high-powered law office where she feels she has to work extra hard to be seen as “Michelle” and not “the black woman.” But the real discovery here is Parker Sawyers, who does an Obama impression that’s uncanny not just in its inflections, but in its meaning. ‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ Review: Tom Cruise Escalates His War Against Streaming with Actioner About Evil of Algorithms With the exception of one big scene at a community-organizing meeting, “Southside With You” minimizes politics and instead just tags along as two ordinary people get to know each other. That’s probably why Tanne keeps the scope of the film so small. Even staunch liberals could’ve found “Southside With You” embarrassing, if the acting was off or the dialogue too presumptuous about its subjects. Not only did he have to cast a credible Barack and Michelle, he also had to know that he was automatically going to alienate potential audience members who dislike the Obamas’ politics. ![]() Still, don’t underestimate the degree of difficulty to what Tanne’s attempting here. No one can reasonably ask, “Why should I care about these two schmoes?” The whole “two people walk around a city and fall in love” plot has been done - most notably by Richard Linklater with his “ Before Sunrise”/“ Before Sunset”/“ Before Midnight” trilogy - but by making his young lovers into the future President and First Lady of the United States, writer-director Richard Tanne easily clears one of the biggest hurdles facing anyone trying to grab an audience. “ Southside With You” is a low-key romance with one heck of a hook, following a up-and-coming corporate lawyer named Michelle Robinson as she spends one summer day in Chicago in 1989 with one of her firm’s interns: Harvard student Barack Obama. ![]()
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