A Boy. A Girl. A Dream. – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

A Boy. A Girl. A Dream is a likable love story but, if not a fan of Trump, it recapping the night he got elected might dampen the romance.

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Director(s)		Qasim Basir
Screenplay By		Qasim Basir, Samantha Tanner
Date Released		9/14/2018
Genre(s)		Romance, Drama
The Hook		Meagan Good and Omari Hardwick falling in love.
Noted Cast
Cass	Omari Hardwick
Roc	Jay Ellis
Frida aka Free	Meagan Good

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Summary

It’s election night 2016 and Cass, a filmmaker, has decided with his friend Roc to go out with a handful of girls and do it up. However, before leaving Cass spots Frida, aka Free. He chats her up a little bit, invites her to come with, and she kindly declines. Only to, a few minutes later, say she is down. Leading to the beginning of their night together. One which doesn’t start off all that great, for an accidental kiss leads to almost screwing in the bathroom and her feeling a certain type of way. Which is fixed with a grand gesture which wins her over completely.

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But let’s not give the full movie away. The good part is these two talking about their dreams and why they are in LA. Frida seemingly wants to get away from an ex and a life which isn’t fulfilling, and Cass? Well, he just wants to be free and say he accomplished that beyond getting with a girl named that. And while they talk about dreams and slowly fall in love, in the background Trump is winning electoral votes and eventually the presidency.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Who really goes into someone’s home, filled with people, and turns off the TV? Especially a Black person’s home? Who raised Frida?
2. What exactly was the trailer, or whatever Cass showed Frida, about?

Highlights

Cass & Free Were Cute

Though things were a bit rough after that attempted bathroom hookup, then Cass following Free and talking like an f*** boy, he turned it around. Leading to, everything that happened thereafter making it seem they were on a legit date. Thanks to their Lyft driver, they travel a bit through LA and talk about their past. Such as Cass having a 5-year-old son, who he is involved with raising, and Frida about her mom, as well as being a lawyer.

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Which may not sound interesting but I think, after what he had to do to win her back, the movie wanted to dial things down a bit. For the point was to show Cass isn’t like Frida’s ex who blows up her phone throughout the movie. Since, while Cass does have an f*** boy side, he also is shown to be a capable gentleman. He introduces her properly, gets her a drink, supports her when she, for a reason not strong enough in my mind, turns off the election night coverage to give a speech and play music, and more. It pretty much is a full-on, “This is cute, but somethings would be a bit of a deal breaker,” romance movie.

Criticism

The Trump Background Felt So Unnecessary

You ever wonder if certain elements of a movie were thrown in just to trigger interest? Like, having Omari Hardwick and Meagan Good into each other isn’t enough. Let’s make the backdrop Trump winning the election and showing a bunch of well to do Black folks upset about it. All while giving a rather weak speech about how Black folks always had to fight and this just means the fight isn’t over.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, the movie does try to make some kind of statement using its election night coverage. The issue is, it doesn’t compliment or enhance the romance but more so is a distraction. Especially considering the majority of the audience for this likely will be Black and most did not vote for Trump. So having one of the few Black romance films have the doomsday clock in the background? It seems like an ill match.

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Frida’s Final Decision

The last thing Frida does is the kind of thing which seems too ridiculous to believe. She notes she is taking care of her mom, paying for a condo, yet this man who she just met, probably would have been a #MeToo story if he didn’t recover, got her thinking about tossing her life away. I’m talking about tossing away a law career – meaning she got heavily in debt and is seemingly making a lot of money, but ready to throw that all away thanks to a guy validating her DJ skills and a pact.

And I thought Love Is was ridiculous.

On The Fence

The Awkward Moments

This film is littered with awkward moments. There are the aforementioned bathroom scenes and her going off, him following her out the club and going off on her, but lingering about instead of going back in. There is Frida’s audacity to be in a stranger’s house, during election night, and turn off that person’s TV. Cass saying Frida should answer her ex’s phone call when it is pretty clear they are on a date. So why is he pushing for her to get some kind of closure, or just worked up, then and there? Beyond me. Then there is the awkwardness, towards the end, when he shows her this project he finished 4 years ago that we don’t see a lick of. Good is crying, making it seem like she saw the birth of Black Jesus, yet we get absolutely no details on what she saw specifically.

Overall: Mixed (Divisive) | Purchase Tickets On Fandango

If this was just about Cass and Free finding and getting together, I think this film would be a bit more enjoyable. Granted, the ending and Cass’ actions would put a damper on things, but maybe the film could find a way to get by that. However, with the Trump background, the odd decisions involving that, among the awkward moments, that’s why this is being labeled mixed.

There is a phrase about keeping things simple and I wish that was done here. For the more preachy this film tried to get, the more eye-roll inducing it got. When it tried to get deep, it makes you want to say many a comedian and rapper’s favorite word in an exasperated tone. But, despite these dings, Cass and Frida do have just enough chemistry to keep you going until the end.

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