Review of “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat”: A friendship drama

They strolled into the bar in 1968 with youthful exuberance. When Earl (Tony Winters), the Midwestern bar’s benevolent owner, saw them, he couldn’t help but comment. The trio had the same confident beauty as Diana, Mary and Florence. So he called them the Supremes, and the name stuck.

Over the next 30 years, Odette (Kyanna “KeeKee” Simone), Clarice (Abigail Achiri), and Barbara Jean (Tati Gabrielle) met at Earl’s, sat in the same booth, shared their problems, offered each other help, and toasted their lives with the thickest milkshakes.

Director: Tina Mabry (Mississippi damned), The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat chronicles the decades-long friendship of these three black women, whose loving and strong companionship carries them through heartbreak, tragedy and triumph. Mabry adapted the film with Cee Marcellus (a pseudonym for The Women King‘s Gina Prince-Bythewood) based on the novel of the same name by Edward Kelsey Moore.

The story of these Supremes began with their birth in 1950, but when we first meet them, it is 1999. Odette (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) sits at the foot of a tree in a hospital gown. Her voice-over guides the narrative, and she tells us about the beginning of her friendship with Clarice (Uzo Aduba) and Barbara Jean (Sanaa Lathan). As black girls coming of age in the mid-century, the trio were born into a world that chronically underestimated them. But they were determined to change their destinies. Odette wanted to be a nurse; Clarice was a gifted pianist; and although Barbara Jean insisted she had no passions, her desire to learn to love herself was an equally real goal.

Mabry’s adaptation of Moore’s book is a sensitive and powerful portrayal of deep friendships between older black women. The main storyline is set on the cusp of the new millennium, when the trio gathers for Earl’s funeral. The death of this pseudo-patriarch prompts the group to engage in self-reflection. They begin to ponder the state of their lives: Are they the kind of people their younger selves would be proud of?

To answer this question, Mabry switches between the past and the present. The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat jumps back repeatedly from 1999 to crucial years before. A pit stop in the 1950s familiarizes us with their origin stories and a montage of the birth of each girl. Fast forward to 1968, we learn not only about their first meeting, but also how the young Odette (Simone) and Clarice (Achiri) saved Barbara Jean (Gabrielle) from her violent stepfather.

Fast forward two years, in 1970, and we see the girls falling in love and navigating the ups and downs of teenage heartbreak. Strong-willed Odette courts shy James (Dijon Means as a teenager, Mekhi Phifer as an adult). Clarice catches the eye of charming football star Richmond (Xavier Mills as a teenager, Russell Hornsbry as an adult). Barbara Jean is torn between her passionate love for Ray, the white busboy who works at Earl’s (Ryan Paynter as a teenager, Julian McMahon as an adult), and the safer affection of Lester (Cleveland Berto as a teenager, Vondie Curtis Hall as an adult).

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat lives in the same nebulous universe as films like Waiting to exhale or The best man series. The narrative relies on cliches to propel its characters from one moment to the next. Tragedy is reliably followed by an emotional reckoning. A sad moment is never far from a triumphant one. Intimate framing (by DP Sean McElwee) and a dramatic score by Kathryn Bostic (Toni Morrison: The Pieces That I Am) takes us from one emotional high point to the next. The film’s sentimental mood is built through close-ups of tear-stained faces and shots of sunbeams glistening over a body of water.

It would all feel a little overwhelming if it weren’t for the performances of the actresses playing both the younger and older Supremes. Their grounded portrayals make the stakes of The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat They feel real and the inevitable outcome seems earned; they anchor a film that might otherwise feel too thin.

The thrill of watching Ellis-Taylor at work never gets old. The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, She takes on the role of a woman whose identity as the group’s mother figure is shattered when she is diagnosed with cancer. Now Odette – ever the fighter who is never afraid to speak her mind – must ask for help. Aduba’s Clarice is a piano genius who gave up her life as a touring artist to start a family with Richmond. In her, we see a woman who must learn to defend herself and her dreams. Lathan’s Barbara Jean is the friend whose life has been most marked by tragedy. In the moments when all three women are on screen together, their dynamic is electric.

Simone, Achiri and Gabrielle carry that energy as Mabry takes us back in time. Whether their characters are protecting each other from teenage bullies, dishing out reality checks or advising each other on difficult life decisions, the three deliver committed performances that highlight the thrill of early bonds and also strengthen our faith in those that come later. They keep us on the edge of our seats and make us realize that The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is mainly about how friends become family.