Southside with You
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: August 26, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonAug 25, 2016
This down-to-earth approach works surprisingly well because Southside with You never loses sight of the primary tenet of a great romantic comedy: All you need is two people whom the audience wants to see get together—then you put them together. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 25, 2016
Even if their names were John and Mary, the two people soon to be a couple at the center of Southside With You could make viewers swoon. Richard Tanne's walk-and-talk slice of budding romantic life is that good at expressing those small moments when love begins taking hold. Read full review
90
The New YorkerRichard BrodySep 10, 2018
Southside with You, running a brisk hour and twenty minutes, is a fully realized, intricately imagined, warmhearted, sharp-witted, and perceptive drama, one that sticks close to its protagonists while resonating quietly but grandly with the sweep of a historical epic. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 25, 2016
Both Sawyers and Sumpter are terrific, world-class charmers who suggest the powerhouses they're playing without undue mimickry. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldAug 24, 2016
It’s a sweet-natured, gentle film that might remind more than a few watchers of a special date in their own life, long ago. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 18, 2016
Southside with You is a sweet, intelligent, well-crafted, wonderfully romantic, no-frills re-imagination of the first date between Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson. Read full review
83
HitfixDrew McWeenyAug 25, 2016
Southside With You is quietly romantic, but more than that, it burns with a deep sense of optimism. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 24, 2016
The first feature from writer-director Richard Tanne is sweetly speculative historical fiction — a date movie with some very recognizable lovebirds. Read full review
83
TheWrapAug 24, 2016
For all its presidential trappings, the movie is most powerful as a straightforward romance with two endlessly charming black leads, of a kind that, as far as movies go, is outrageously rare. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt MaytumNov 2, 2016
The flow of the date doesn’t roll as smoothly as Linklater’s best walk-and-talkers, but that doesn’t mar the effectiveness of this refreshingly smart date movie. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredBernard BooSep 29, 2016
The measured performances make Southside With You feel sincere and rooted in human emotion rather than a wink-winky account of an important day in American history. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 29, 2016
Southside With You all but begs you to unpick every line and gesture for shivery echoes of the future, and it’s to first-time writer-director Tanne’s credit – and, equally, that of his perfectly chosen leads, Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter – that the film not only withstands but thrives under such scrutiny. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonDave CalhounSep 26, 2016
It’s a small, successful sketch of now-great lives. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasAug 17, 2016
What makes Southside With You work so beautifully is that it could be a romantic comedy about two strangers, but because the characters are based on two people we feel we know pretty well, it adds another layer to the unfolding relationship drama. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 31, 2016
The result makes you realize how few realistic and three-dimensional date movies have been made in an era of throbbing hook-up encounters and R-rated horny teen gross-outs. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJan 31, 2016
Richard Tanne’s writing-directing debut deepens into a pointed, flowing conversation about the many challenges (and varieties) of African-American identity, the need for both idealism and compromise, and the importance of making peace with past disappointments in order to effect meaningful change in the future. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisAug 24, 2016
As in Richard Linklater’s lovely "Before Sunrise," the film’s principal pleasure comes from watching two people connect as they get to know each other over the course of several hours. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 25, 2016
A simple film only designed to charm. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniAug 25, 2016
Relative newcomer Parker Sawyers (Zero Dark Thirty, Survivor) is terrific as Barack, embodying the character in each line and gesture without mimicking the real Obama. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithAug 25, 2016
A pleasingly low-key effort pitched at fans of the first couple. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 25, 2016
Southside With You proves once and for all that a romantic film doesn’t rely on suspense. We know these people are getting together. What holds us to our seats is wondering how it will happen. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 25, 2016
Their non-specific excursion unfolds like a blithe Woody Allen movie without all the name-dropping. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 25, 2016
Southside doesn’t hang on epiphanies; instead, it delivers something more modest: a tender, unrushed love story. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 25, 2016
Southside with You is best taken as a reminder of the value of the slow relational build, of taking your time and actually talking, and actually listening, with someone new. Even if there's not a staggering political future in your shared future. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 25, 2016
Like the warm summer day it chronicles, Southside With You possesses a mellow, languorous vibe, an infectious easygoing charm that insinuates itself gently, then seductively, as the couple at its center experiences the stirrings of what might be true love. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 23, 2016
Tanne has crafted a winning film of smart, probing conversation that plays like an affectionate going away gift to the Obamas. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJan 31, 2016
While a bit too enamored of the foreshadowing built into its premise, Tanne's impeccably acted two-hander examines the Obamas through an infectious, talky script loaded with keen observations, not unlike the appeal of its subjects. Read full review
75
The PlaylistNoel MurrayJan 31, 2016
The movie holds to a steady but too-straight rhythm, hitting all the expected romantic-drama beats, right down to the occasional argument that threatens to stop the date cold. But Southside With You is also winningly sweet and earnest, and refreshingly frank about the problems that minorities face when they try to get ahead in a culture dominated by white males. Read full review
75
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanJan 31, 2016
Southside with You is a rewarding bite-sized drama, rich with characters who we already know, but also don’t really know. Read full review
75
The Film StageJordan RaupJan 31, 2016
Most nuanced and effective in the feeling of getting to know someone the first time, when the evident foretelling is put to the side, this is simply an absorbing love story. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensAug 26, 2016
Sumpter nails the first lady’s air of warm but reserved composure and the slow, careful way she enunciates her words, as if putting an extra measure of thought into choosing each phrase. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyAug 25, 2016
Southside With You’s greatest assets are its performances. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 25, 2016
“Southside” does have its standard, conventional aspects, but it was a popular Sundance item despite that, in large measure because of the performances of its finely matched pair of stars. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghAug 25, 2016
When the material falters, Sumpter and Sawyers suck you back in with their pitch-perfect performances. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 31, 2016
Though sometimes achingly on-the-nose in its attempts to foreshadow these characters’ destiny, Southside With You radiates enough wistful charm to overcome the well-meaning earnestness. Read full review
63
ObserverOliver JonesAug 25, 2016
It is just that when some of its lines fall flat, pulling in portents of a future we all know well, it wakes us from a dream few of us want to be over. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaAug 22, 2016
The film may not announce itself as hagiography, but it’s hero-worshipful to its core. Read full review
60
CineVueMatthew AndersonSep 29, 2016
Southside with You doesn't leave a lasting impact because it plays all elements altogether too safe. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsSep 26, 2016
Even if you didn’t know what comes next, this story of the first days of the Obamas would still seduce as a sweet, smart romance. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 29, 2016
The movie is charming even when it’s stilted, and it’s often stilted. Read full review
60
Village VoiceApril WolfeAug 23, 2016
Both actors occasionally hit stumbling blocks with the wordy script and Tanne's direction, neither of which allows quite enough room for the characters to think and feel onscreen. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJan 31, 2016
Southside With You uses our affection for the Obamas to add urgency in the otherwise simple script. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 25, 2016
Mr. Tanne has clearly made a close study of his real-life inspirations, yet his movie is soon hostage to the couple’s history. His characters feel on loan and, despite his actors, eventually make for dull company because too many lines and details serve the great-man-to-be story rather than the romance. Read full review
More From This Movie

74 Critic Reviews

5.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL