This could be considered an adaptation of a Bible story, a story that comes from "The Book of Ruth." The story is about a woman who becomes a widow and decides to continue living with her mother-in-law. A large chunk of the story focuses on the woman's marriage to a landowner and that landowner navigating property and inheritance laws. In a lot of ways, it's about the importance of carrying on a family name, legacy. Why this story is crucial is because Ruth has been identified as the great-grandmother of King David, a mythical figure in Jewish lore and Israel's history. The main takeaway from the story is one of loyalty, loyalty to someone whom you aren't biologically related. It's more of a love story between a woman and her mother-in-law, an unlikely one. It's less about any kind of romance between man and woman and more about lineage and genealogy.
However, making a film about lineage and genealogy, as well as simply carrying on a family name, mainly for real estate and financial reasons, is not modern or something that would be deemed feminist, unless you were critiquing those things. The Bible story centers on women but renders them subservient to men or mere vehicles for the conveyance of issues regarding men. This film, directed by Alanna Brown who is a female filmmaker, attempts to move away from that structure of having the women simply be subservient. It's instead about a mother-daughter relationship between two who aren't biologically related. It's about the two women grieving. It's about one woman finding her faith again and another finding her voice, literally.
Serayah McNeill (Kingdom Business and Empire) stars as Ruth Moably, an aspiring music artist in Atlanta, Georgia. She's part of a female rap duo named 404. That duo is very successful and popular, so much so that her manager arranges for the duo to be signed by Jermaine Dupri, the real-life record producer of So So Def Recordings. The real-life Dupri appears as himself. However, Ruth walks away from the music contract because she doesn't like the writing of the songs she's meant to record. She doesn't bother to negotiate a deal where she can record the kinds of songs she wants. She doesn't talk to Jermaine Dupri. She simply quits, leaving her best friend in the lurch.
It was reminiscent of Sanaa Lathan's On the Come Up (2022), which was also about a young Black woman trying to make it in the music business who is pressured to make music that doesn't fit who she is. However, the danger in that film felt more believable than the danger here. Syrus Jordan, played by James Lee Thomas, is Ruth's aforementioned manager. When Ruth says she's quitting, Syrus decides to kill Ruth's boyfriend and her boyfriend's father, as a way of intimidating her. What's crazy is that Syrus admits to the murders in order to scare her into signing the deal with Dupri. It's such an insane thing and such an over-the-top thing that it feels too ridiculous to buy here. Ruth not immediately contacting the police is also too ridiculous to buy.
The film suggests that Syrus was paying Ruth's rent and invested money for her career. This raises a lot of questions because if Ruth was in financial trouble, or needed bills paid, why wouldn't her boyfriend help? It might be because it seems as if she and her boyfriend had not been dating that long. The Bible story had Ruth married. This film removes that aspect, which makes Ruth's attachment to her mother-in-law even less plausible. Instead, the film has to concoct a ridiculous reason like Syrus threatening Ruths' potential mother-in-law, which he does and which causes Ruth to want to be by her not-quite mother-in-law's side, seemingly to protect her, but who knows how?
Phylicia Rashad (Empire and The Cosby Show) co-stars as Naomi Evans, the mother to Ruth's boyfriend. In the Bible story, Naomi is in fact her mother-in-law, so there was more of a legal and emotional connection than this film. Throwing Ruth and Naomi together without that established connection is more of a stretch. The added threat from Syrus helps to bond Ruth and Naomi, but the idea that Syrus would go to the lengths he does feels so forced and contrived. When Naomi's husband and son are both murdered, Naomi is forced to return to her rundown family home in Pegram, Tennessee, which is just outside Nashville. Essentially, Naomi is left with no money and she's too ashamed to ask for help. Ruth literally has to stubbornly tag along, but it seems as if Ruth has to be the breadwinner. Yet, Ruth has trouble finding a job, which feels odd because they live close enough to Nashville that it seems as if she could simply go there to find work and it's not as if she would need to go all the way into downtown Nashville. She could probably find work in the nearby suburbs like Bellevue.
Tyler Lepley (Harlem and P-Valley) also co-stars as Bo Azra, aka "Boaz," the owner of a wine vineyard. His company hires day laborers who work the fields, picking grapes in Pegram. One day, Ruth sees these laborers and joins them for work in the fields. Boaz is trying to develop a type of wine that he wants to take to market. He sees Ruth working the fields and instantly falls for her. His romance with Ruth is very typical of a Hallmark Channel romance. The Hallmark Channel typically produces romantic comedies or Christmas movies that center on some romantic comedy. The formula that the Hallmark Channel uses and all of its tropes feel present here, if not totally. Boaz feels like the stereotypical guy from most of them. He's incredibly attractive. He's a business owner whose business is successful. He's smart. He's charming, but, for some unknown reason, he's single.
A lot of Hallmark Channel movies will make the guy in question be a widower and a single dad, which explains his lack of romance. Here, this film doesn't put up that premise, probably because it would make the film skew farther away from the Bible story. We're simply supposed to assume that Boaz was too busy with work to date anyone seriously. Examining the romance we get between Ruth and Boaz, it's clear that a lot of it is predicated on Boaz's wealth. She literally is his employee, so he's literally putting money in her pocket. He buys her a brand new car. He fixes up her rundown house and he introduces her to Babyface, another real-life record producer who appears as himself in this narrative. It's like Pretty Woman (1990). If Boaz didn't have the wealth to do this, what would this romance be based on?
Also, how is what Boaz is doing any different from Syrus? Syrus again was a guy literally putting money in Ruth's pocket, paying her bills and ultimately introduces her to a record producer. The only difference is style and the fact that Syrus isn't interested in her romantically, but Syrus and Boaz are essentially doing the same thing in regard to Ruth. Both of them introduce her to record producers. Syrus has Jermaine Dupri and Boaz has Babyface. The film seems to prefer Babyface over Jermaine Dupri. It suggests that Ruth prefers one over the other. The film never explains why. Both are great record producers. Dupri is likely representing hip hop music and Babyface represents traditional R&B, suggesting that is where Ruth's heart lies, but Dupri has produced R&B artists and songs. Dupri has produced songs for Mariah Carey, Usher, Monica, and Alicia Keys. Yet, the film seems to draw this dichotomy, but it never clarifies, if Ruth is choosing one style of music or genre over the other.
Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 33 mins.
Available on Netflix.