Does ‘Southside with You’ Obama rom-com work?

The best way to judge a movie about famous people is to ask yourself whether the movie would work (as a film) if the people weren’t famous. In the case of “Southside With You,” a movie about Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson’s first date, the answer is a resounding no.

“Southside with You” is a highly idealized and almost impossibly sweet film about two very earnest young people just getting to know each other. Almost all the pleasure you get out of this movie is precisely because we know who these two prospective lovebirds are going to grow up to be — President and First Lady.

But that’s not to say this movie can’t be entertaining for exactly that reason.

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Barack drives a beat-up car with a hole in the floor. He smokes incessantly and tries to hide it with quick ineffective shots of mouthwash.

Michelle by comparison is kind of upright and uptight. She’s a self-righteous woman with high expectations, and someone who’s very wary about being conned, especially by this slick-talking Barack.

And Barack, more or less, tricks Michelle into going out with him.

These days, Barack and Michelle are often seen as one of the “coolest” couples ever to live at the White House. So it’s all the more charming to see them in their callow twenties, so vulnerable and hesitant about what their lives have in store for them.

“Southside with You” is far too chaste to be in the least bit titillating. It’s still just plain old gossipy fun to watch the two of them navigate the tricky terrain of a first date, however.

Southside with you

The movie opens with Michelle primping in the bathroom and then lovingly bantering with her parents.

“Barack O-whata?” Michelle’s dad asked upon hearing the young suitor’s name.

After this establishing scene, the movie cuts to Barack who’s similarly being grilled by his grandmother over the phone about who this mysterious new woman is.

“Tell me the young lady’s name again … Tell me again what she looks like … Where’s she from?” Barack’s mom quizzes him about his date.

The bulk of the film consists of this first, epic date, a date that didn’t start out as a date, at least in Michele’s mind. She wasn’t interested in dating this young man. In fact, she thought they were simply going to a community meeting.

“It’s not for a few hours. I thought we’d swing by the art center, there’s an Afro-centric exhibit,” Barack says. “I thought we’d see some paintings. Maybe grab a bite to eat. “

“Barack, you seem like a really sweet guy. But how many times do I have to tell you we are not going out together,” Michelle quickly tries to set the record straight.

“Well, Michelle, thank you for saying that. You seem like a real sweet girl,” Barack quickly returns. “But I have to correct you – we are, in fact, out. And we are, in fact, together.”

Obviously, Barack eventually turns things around.

Actor Parker Sawyers is fine as Barack Obama, but the equally little-known actress Tika Sumpter is even more convincing as Michelle. She nicely captures Michelle’s very deliberate manner of speaking.

Ultimately, this film is a trifle but, over the course of its 84 minute run, we do get to eavesdrop on their conversations about Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” Stevie Wonder’s music, and TV sitcoms like “Good Times” and “The Brady Bunch.”

That may not seem like much, but in the midst of this current presidential campaign, “Southside with You” a breath of fresh air.