This year, the final season of And Just Like That... (2021) aired. The series on HBO Max was a spin-off of the hit program, Sex and the City (1998), which had an ensemble cast but centered around Carrie Bradshaw, a white woman who worked as a writer and who had voice-over narration of her writing that capped her escapades as a person dating and navigating love in Manhattan. Her escapades came down to her having to decide between two potential men. This film is essentially no different, except instead of a white woman, it's a Black man and instead of Manhattan, it's the titular borough.
André Holland (High Flying Bird and 42) stars as Roger, the Carrie Bradshaw of this story. Instead of DKNY clothes and Manolo Blahnik shoes, Roger is more New York Yankees hats, plain white T-shirts and running sneakers. Instead of taxi cabs taking Carrie all around town, Roger rather rides his raggedy bicycle through the streets. Roger is a writer who is working on an article for a publication about how Brooklyn has changed. His initial pitch was about how his city has changed for the better. However, he wants to do an article now about how it's changed for the worse. Instead of an evolution, he wants to write about a de-evolution. While he's working on his piece, he's also dating a single mother. At the same time, he's also been hanging out with his ex-girlfriend.
DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World: Dominion and The Harder They Fall) co-stars as Nicole, a single mother of a little girl. She works as a masseuse. It's not sure how she met Roger, but they have seemingly been having sex for some time. She doesn't consider him a boyfriend. He's just a bedroom buddy. He might want more, but Nicole is keeping him at a distance. This is mainly due to the father of her daughter and possibly her husband dying.
Nicole Beharie (Miss Juneteenth and 42) also co-stars as Casey, the owner and manager of an art gallery that she inherited. She's struggling and right now there's a developer who wants to buy her property. She wants to keep the gallery because it has sentimental value, having been in her family for years. She used to be the girlfriend of Roger. They broke up, which was her doing, not his. The film never explores why she broke up with him. One could guess that maybe she caught feelings for someone else, but that didn't work out. It's clear that she's trying to drift back to Roger, but his budding romance with Nicole is getting in the way.
What's amazing is that the film doesn't deal in histrionics. The humor and the dynamics feel so natural. Nothing feels forced or contrived. The conversations are open and honest as well. It's refreshing to see such openness in a film that isn't a comedy. There are comedic elements in this film. The inclusion of comedian Roy Wood Jr. (The Daily Show) as Roger's best friend, Alan, provides a lot of the comic relief. Yet, Wood's performance as Alan isn't over-the-top or hitting you over the head with his humor. A lot of his humor is subtle or low-key. The soundtrack is also rather low-key. It's absolutely lovely in that way. It's absolutely lovely in how low-key it is. Yet, it's still rather powerful in that low-key tone.
Not Rated but for general audiences.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 37 mins.
In select theaters.
