"She's Gotta Have It". A Conversation.
Spike Lee's 1986 film "She's Gotta Have It" got an upgrade(?) and landed on Netflix just in time for a Thanksgiving binge. For those of us who support the Issa Rae line of thinking, in supporting "everybody Black", we were here for it! I love watching revivals, Spike Lee joints and wonderfully written programming so I was all in. .. until I watched it.
The role of Nola Darling was embodied by DeWanda Wise, previously seen on Underground, and I must say, I started off liking her and ended up wondering if I'd hit her with my car if I saw her riding her bike in public. If you haven't seen Netflix's "She's Gotta Have It", you may want to read this review and the included tweets before you sacrifice 5 hours of your time.
Nola Darling describes herself as "“sex-positive, polyamorous pansexual who doesn’t believe in monogamy" and, in my opinion, she's messy, inconsiderate and can't keep her ducks in a row. Listen, I'm all for loving who you love but keep your details straight. On several occasions she called men by the names of her other lovers during, or right after, sex. SIS, GET IT TOGETHER! If you're going to have multiple partners, you need to be calling them all the same "generic" name!
The writing was just okay. I found several episodes predictable and boring. Sadly, the supporting characters had better character development than Nola did. Raqueletta Moss, the school administrator, is worth watching on her own, as is Shemecka, Nola's best friend. The general consensus around the web is that almost all three of Nola's men are just as annoying as she is, with the small exception for Mars' comedic candor and good heart. The only female lover, Opal. . . she should have just left Nola's trifling tail alone and kept her life simple.
Check out the tweets below.
Do I think it;s worth watching? Eh, if you've got 5ish hours to binge watch (10 episodes of 30+ minutes) a series that you'll probably never watch again. . . sure. Go for it. If you're a diehard Spike Lee fan, you'll probably enjoy it much more than the rest of us did. Have you watched "She's Gotta Have It"? Did you like it? Let's chat about this in the comments below!
