Jussie Smollett, who co-writes and directs, has his second film focusing on Jason Holliday who is married and is played by Smollett. One can hear Jason’s spouse Damien calling out for him and he is played by Jabari Redd from The Chi and B-Boy Blues. Employment-wise, Jason is the President of the construction firm he owns in Los Angeles. He’s the one making money, and this is something he is more than happy to remind Damien of, especially in their therapy sessions. Their marriage is on the verge because of them attending counseling. However, this would not be particularly worse, if not for the fact that they’re also in the course of adopting 8-year-old girl Arielle who is acted by Londyn Carter from Snowfall. That alone would be sufficient, but this film is actually not about this Black married couple of the same sex with a child, which is not common with any motion picture for that matter.
Cassandra (Vivica A. Fox) in Soul Food and Independence Day: Romero’s mother whom he is estranged from. Cassandra resides in Detroit. She is a woman who enjoys cake making, Vermont cheese and pizza. She looks a little hip but also more conservative than she knew and had no idea that her son was married to a man. So, when she finds out, she does not quite relent. She herself does not consider homophobia as such, though one can feel a hint of it in her. She does however care and fall in love with Arielle but the desire to be with her future grandchild is a problem for her.
Jason perceives himself as a homophobic person and feels Anita’s presence is not required around Arielle. Further, he says he does not like her attitude. They fight and they bicker. Going back and forth within their relationship is actually what this movie is about. S. Smollett and Fox played in Empire the series drama released in 2015 that makes the two of them get along. Smollett has some pretty humorous one liners and offers funny moments throughout their female male exchanges.
However, the movie shifts gears by delving into the love Schisandra shares with Memphis Cade, who portrays a BBQ restaurant owner known as Garland Kirby. It does not quite constitute a change in direction, but the movie does allocate some time to it. There is apparently a connect, since Garland was somewhat of a father for Damien. We have one scene in which Garland more or less makes such connections, but it would have been interesting had Smollett depicted this link or had more of Garland’s relation to Damien. The bond between Garland and Damien is left to be desired and covered in a very brief manner.
There have been films made about a gay couple that deals with one of their parents, more often than not the mother. One such film is Кого Я люблю/ Egoist released in 2024, and the other is British movie Lilting released in 2014. These films were both more on the emotional side. This film is also upbeat at the end, but does not generate the emotion that these films do. This film also fails to achieve the emotional intensity felt in the first feature film of Smollett, which was titled B-Boy Blues. Cinematically, this film lacked the visual appeal shown in the film B-Boy Blues. While this is not essential in a film, the lack of it here weakens the film’s emotional punch. A lot of this stems from a lack of Damien as character here.
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