The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, 2024.
Directed by Tina Mabry.
Starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan, Uzo Aduba, Mekhi Phifer, Julian McMahon, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Russell Hornsby, Kyanna Simone, Tati Gabrielle, Abigail Achiri, Dijon, Cleveland Berto, Ryan Paynter, Xavier Mills, Donna Biscoe, Tony Winters, Raymond Greene-Joyner, Jason Turner, Craig Tate, Kadianne Whyte, Art Newkirk, Deja Dee, Jesse Gallegos, Sherry Richards, Samantha Peel, Jalen X. Mason, Zachary Tzegaegbe, Demetrius T. Wheeler, Ty Respus, Ron Blake, Jimmy Willis III, JB Chen, and Luke Hardeman.
SYNOPSIS:
Follows a trio of best friends known as “The Supremes” who, for decades, have weathered life’s storms together through marriage and children, happiness and blues.
The small but significant difference between destiny and fate is central to co-writer/director Tina Mabry’s The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat. It’s a moving portrait of Black women’s friendship across five decades, split up into young adult flashbacks and late 1990s present day, where the women are still close yet find their sisterhood challenged by several obstacles, including development that results from their own life choices and inherited generational paths from some distinct, sometimes flawed mothers.
There are also probably many of you who might not get that notion from the quirky and, no pun intended, a mouthful of a film title, so it should be explained upfront that the titular Indiana-based diner owned by Earl (Tony Winters), who gives the group the Supremes nickname, is what initially solidifies the friendship between the three women as a unit. Without Earl, they wouldn’t have each other.
That’s especially true considering Earl finds himself opening his home to Barbara Jean Maxberry (played by Sanaa Lathan in the later stages of her life and Tati Gabrielle as a young woman) following the revelation from Clarice Baker (Abigail Achiri in her youth and the underappreciated Uzo Aduba 30 years later) and Odette Henry (the reliably outstanding Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in the present-day section and Kyanna Simone in the past) that she is not some weird antisocial woman grieving the loss of an abusive alcoholic mother but also appears to be regularly sexually assaulted by her stepfather.
Whereas Clarice and Odette have been friends for quite some time, the addition of a third friend allows viewers to get to know everyone more, including their passions and personalities: Clarice is a gifted piano player with an opportunity to get some serious work in New York, Odette is headstrong and takes zero BS from anyone, and Barbara’s life is mired in tragedy that comes dangerously close to setting her on the same path as her mother.
There are also boyfriends here ranging from Clarice’s star football quarterback with a potential future in the big leagues (Russell Hornsby later in life, Xavier Mills in the younger section), the nervously quiet and soft-spoken James (Mekhi Phifer later on and Dijon as a young adult), and two love interests for Barbara with white diner worker Chick (Julian McMahon in the present, Ryan Paynter in the past) and Lester (Vondie Curtis-Hall in his later stages of life, played by Cleveland Berto before then), the man she would eventually marry.
With so much going on and so many detours into different dramatic scenarios, there is the concern that the film will either fall apart at any moment or succumb to the worst kind of melodrama. This feels threatened several times, but the screenplay wisely always knows when to pull back or what doesn’t need to be shown on screen. One also presumes co-writer Gina Prince-Bythewood (who, for some reason, is credited as Cee Marcellus) is partially responsible for that sense of when to rein things in and the believable, sometimes powerful dialogue exchanges. Speaking of that, that comes with everything from a late-life cancer diagnosis to infidelity to doomed children to time wasted and talent sacrificed.
Since the film is also based on a book by Edward Kelsey Moore, there is assuredly some sprawling novel energy here with an unshakable feeling that some of this has been cut down to maintain a two-hour running time. One could also easily argue that there is enough material for an entire limited TV series between all the scenarios that arise. Still, the filmmakers do a solid job at allowing the conflict to play like real life between longtime friends rather than contrived storytelling. There is a sincerity here in grappling with late-life friendship that puts most similar movies to shame (specifically the ones that cannot help but treat these characters like punchlines for retirement home jokes, misunderstandings with current trends, and overly sexualized humor.)
The diner is often lively and depicted in various ways, ranging from casual eating to a college party filled with dancing, complete with milkshakes that look as delicious as the characters discuss. Most importantly, even whenever The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat feels like it will take a mistake into sentimental and emotionally manipulative territory, it almost instantly grounds itself into the characters, the lives they have led, and that tussle between destiny and fate.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
