The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat Parent Guide
Touching and heartfelt, this sometimes soapy tale of female friendship definitely shows its roots.
Parent Movie Review
Odette (Kyanna Simone) is a self-described “bold woman with a big mouth”. Clarice (Abigail Achiri) is a gifted pianist with a strong desire to have her own family and live a respectable life. And Barbara Jean (Tati Gabrielle) survived a childhood with an alcoholic mother and brutal stepfather. Whenever they can, the three teens love to hang out at the local diner, Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, and flirt with the local guys.
Earl (Tony Winter) is more than just a restaurateur. He’s a social watchdog, keeping an eye on the kids who frequent his diner. Earl and his wife open their home to Barbara Jean so she can be free from her stepfather. And he lets Ray (Ryan Paynter), an abused white teenage boy, sleep in his stockroom and bus tables so he can get away from his drunken, racist brother. Earl’s also the one who proposes the girls’ nickname: The Supremes.
As they mature from adolescence into midlife, Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean (now played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Uzo Aduba, and Sanaa Lathan) endure hardship, loss, betrayal, and tragedy, but they never lose their ties to each other. The bonds may strain, but the women always return to their booth at Earl’s.
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat falls neatly into the genre of women’s friendship flicks. It’s more than a little bit soapy, occasionally over-the-top, and always focused on grabbing your heartstrings. Sometimes it succeeds and you feel a tear in your eye; sometimes the over-the-top factor gets in the way.
What also gets in the way is the movie’s negative content. There are over four dozen profanities in the script, which is more than the film needs. There are also non-explicit sex scenes, repeated plot points involving adultery or illegitimacy, and a subplot regarding alcoholism. None of the material is graphic, but the film is accurately rated at PG-13.
Director Tina Mabry hits a home run with the cast for this production. All the women playing the Supremes – in 1968 and 1999 - give outstanding performances and their emotional realities ring true. The script sometimes glitches, and it was clear to me early on that this movie is a literary adaptation. In fact, it’s drawn from Edward Kelsey Moore’s debut novel of the same name. Sometimes the script feels rushed and sometimes it seems that material has been shoehorned in because it’s a favorite scene. That said, there are plenty of laughs in this movie, and some zany moments to compensate for the soap opera plot elements that threaten to capsize the story.
Where this film shines is in its depiction of female friendship. Any woman lucky enough to find a friend who feels like a second self or long lost sister will understand Odette’s words, “Without each other, maybe we could have believed what the world told us about ourselves – broken pieces, hot messes, bad omens.” A friend who reflects back a brighter picture of your potential and has your back as your struggle to fulfil it is definitely a supreme gift.
Directed by Tina Mabry. Starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor,Uzo Aduba, Sanaa Lathan, Kyanna Simone, Tati Gabrielle, abigail Achiri. Running time: 124 minutes. Theatrical release August 23, 2024. Updated August 24, 2024
Watch the trailer for The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat
Rating & Content Info
Why is The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat rated PG-13? The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for thematic content, sexual content, strong language including racial slurs, and violent content
Violence: A white man attacks and tries to sexually assault a Black teenage girl. A white man driving a truck chases Black men down the street. A child dies when a drunk driver deliberately drives into him: the collision is not shown on screen, but his mother grieves over his dead body. A woman asks her ex-lover to carry out a revenge killing. There’s mention of domestic violence. It’s said that a beaten woman shot her boyfriend. A man’s dead body is seen with bloody head wounds. In a comical segment during the closing credits, a dramatic woman stands on a roof and threatens to jump in order to fulfil a foretelling. There’s a brief scene of men firing guns in a movie. Young people both bear scars as a result of abuse in their homes. A man removes his belt and threatens to whip a teenage girl: he’s challenged to a fight.
Sexual Content: There are two scenes of a married couple in bed: she is clothed but his back and chest are visible as he kisses her. A young unmarried couple kiss and are shown having sex with no nudity or explicit detail. A baby’s paternity is uncertain. A woman has an illegitimate pregnancy. Suspicions of adultery are confirmed when a woman finds lipstick on her husband’s underwear.: she later confronts the woman involved. There’s a brief background scene of a scantily clad woman pole dancing. A teen suspects a man of incestuous behavior with a teenage girl.
Profanity: The script contains at least four dozen scatological curses, minor profanities, terms of deity and crude anatomical terms, almost evenly distributed. There are also some crude terms for women, a single sexual expletive, and a racial slur.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Adults are seen drinking alcohol. A woman with a baby slugs alcohol out of the bottle. A woman’s alcoholism is a plot point. A woman is so intoxicated she wets herself and causes a minor car accident: her friend urges her to attend Alcoholics Anonymous.
Page last updated August 24, 2024
Home Video
Related home video titles:
Sisterhood and friendship strengthen Black sisters and their friends in the musical The Color Purple.
Three Black female friends are trailblazers in Hidden Figures, an account of their work on the space program.
A white child finds safety and a home with three Black sisters in The Secret Life of Bees.
The perils of an inter-racial relationship are demonstrated in Loving, the true story of a couple who were arrested in Virginia because their marriage was considered a crime.