it’s funny how we see things differently as we mature.
in my case,
i see things differently now that i’ve been in therapy.
i can see “oh you a fuckboi” these days.
I watched B-Boy Blues over the weekend.
i haven’t read the book by james earl hardy in years.
in my opinion,
i thought the movie was well cast and well-acted.
they pulled out the best of the best in terms of looks and talent.
thomas mackey,
who played raheem,
commanded all the attention on screen.
his chemistry with mitchell,
which was played by timothy richardson,
was off the charts.
i liked everything about the bts aspect of production.
let’s font about what i didn’t like.
is it me or…
…should this have been a TV Series?
1 – i feel like a lot of parts needed more context.
the way how raheem was even introduced was weird.
he came in to deliver a package,
mitchell wasn’t there,
but mitchell’s co-worker was like:
“Come back!
Beautiful black dick is in here!”
…not only that,
they exchanged information on black planet.
Who TF still uses Blackplanet in this decade?
i would have liked to learn more about raheem’s background.
even though he was comfortable going to gay clubs and parties,
he still had self-hatred about being gay in him.
the fight he had with mitchell where they broke up left me on pause.
towards the end of the movie,
he was attacking mitchell for being a punk.
the whole fight was confusing and had no prior build-up imo.
2 – the whole brother getting killed situation was weird.
so rewind…
they went to a party,
raheem decides to dance with his ex,
and mitchell is left to watch.
Why are you dancing with your ex with your man at the same party?
mitchell dances with someone and raheem gets randomly jealous about it.
he fights the jackal…
…but the next night,
the same jackal randomly sees raheem’s brother and kills him?
huh?
did we care the brother died?
seriously?
the brother was a random character who brought nothing to the movie.
not only that but raheem was standing right next to him in clear view.
he was the only one who actually fought the jackal.
why didn’t he get shot?
3 – raheem was fine and also toxic af.
he doesn’t tell mitchell he had a kid until he gets in the car with the said kid?
the said kid is bad af and tearing up mitchell’s crib.
i’m like this kid is an asshole.
mitchell becomes the designated baby sitter.
why is this?
does this kid know his father is gay?
the worst part for me is…
Raheem uses his kid to manipulate Mitchell back into his house after they break up.
…and mitchell is absolutely okay with this.
4 – mitchell was dumb.
he was fuckin up his money and sanity for this wolf.
raheem did not respect mitchell.
i felt raheem was fuckin’ with mitchell cause he had his shit together.
during their big break up,
mitchell gets legit disrespected and punched in the face.
i felt it was way too easy for raheem to get back in his life so easily.
this is where the series aspect would have come in.
they could have added more meat to them getting back together.
5 – i liked that the sex scenes with tastefully done but let’s be real here.
raheem is a pineapple from the hood of brooklyn.
there needed to be one scene of him breaking off his whole pipe in mitchell.
their make-up scene should have had a really intense sex scene.
it would silently explain why mitchell wa so hooked.
6 – my manz is coming to meet my friends but he pulls up advertising?
his next option of clothing was a tank top?
huh?
that should have been an issue.
i would have politely cussed him tf out.
5 – the “anti-love” friend ends up sleeping with raheem’s friend.
how did they meet?
the way how it ended was on some cliffhanger shit that felt rushed.
like,
it ended like a show that had a final episode before the actual ending.
—-
again,
it was those little things i noticed that left me needing more.
if they aren’t planning to make this into a series,
i would suggest they start.
there is still more story to tell because it ended that way.
if you watched b-boy blues:
What are your thoughts?
lowkey: i did like the quick flash of thomas mackey’s penis.
he is working with something special.
i’d like to see more of it for my own personal review.
I loved this movie and I wanted to spend more time in this world with these characters.
Jussie is a really talented director. I’d love to see more of his work. Shame about his legal troubles…
I thought I was the only one who would have “politely cussed Raheem out” for not wearing a shirt. lol
Having originally read the book almost 30 years ago I was really looking forward to this , but found myself disappointed. First, I thought the casting was off. Thomas Mackie is phine as hell but he’s too old to play Rayheem. At almost 40, he’s definitely giving more near-daddy vibes than young trade vibes. I would have liked to have seen more contrast between Mitchell and Rayheem, with Mitchell portrayed more as a polished, educated and conventional mid-thirties professional, and Rayheem as the early 20s uneducated (yet), rough-aound-the-collar working class type. With the contrast, the tension between the two men and their respective worlds would have made for a much more interesting, more dramatic story.
“He’s too old” STOP AGE SHAMING it’s acting.
I love me some Thomas Mackie been crushing on him since he played in the Youtube series “Triangle” he is one fine brother, but I have to agree with you on this about the casting, I did not picture him playing Raheem from the character in my head from the book, to be fair I am waiting to this weekend to see the movie with friends at a watch party so I will reserve final judgement until then. I seen the previews and thought the Mitchell character was about how I would picture him but I pictured Raheem being a little more rougher but Thomas is a good actor so he may convince me yet.
I enjoyed the movie.I hope it does well and maybe we will see more projects depicting black gay love on BET+ because I think representation matters.
I liked that it was set in Harlem.A writer for Ebony wrote “The cinematography gives Harlem a romantic feel rarely captured on screen.”
Interesting factoid- Mitchell’s home in the film is Jussie’s Harlem apartment.He told Ebony that’s his art of Angela Davis, Huey Newton,The Black Panthers,etc…on the wall He said he thought it was important to show those images.Ebony also spoke to the author of the book,James Earl Hardy and Mona Scott Young who was instrumental in bringing the film to BET+.
The book was a very faithful adaptation of the novel with some changes. I loved it! “More background for the drama” would be adding new stuff. I do think they should have set the film in the 90s like the book, but I understand why it isn’t.
I also watched this during the weekend and read the book more times before and I agree the pace seemed fast and think if successful could be a good series movie or tv wise. I mean it seems we haven’t a black gay series since 2007 with Noah’s arc
^thank you!!!
the pacing was so fast.
they could have really went in with a 8 or 10 episode series like harlem or insecure.
they could have really dived deep into every characters backstories.
You should really read the book! And without any of that stuff happening, what would be the point of the movie? Drama is driving force for a plot
^the drama was not the problem.
it was the pacing of the drama that was the problem.
i felt like it needed to be a series because there needed more background for the drama.
Jamari, I agree with you. I think it should be a series on BET+. I don’t know who would produce it, but it could be a nice series. I don’t know how many people would support it because of it being a “gay series”?? I think Jussie did a great job directing it!
Stop complaining. We don`t care about that nonsense. I want to see some sexy and hot men doing their thing. Period.
^then go watch porn.
period.
I’ll watch it to support Thomas Mackey. I’m so happy that his hard work is paying off. He and like 3 other characters were the only reason I watched the gay series Triangle. The webseries that began on YouTube. Both of these actors are handsome, I’ll tune. Lastly Thomas always understood the assignment with that body
^ i have always crushed on him tbh.
i watched him in a few episodes of triangle.
he was also in this show called uncle joey.
i think that is what it was called but it was really good.