Like women all across the country, I set my alarm to go off last night to make sure I was front and center for the Steel Magnolias remake with a black cast that aired yesterday evening on Lifetime. The new version of the film classic about the lives of Louisiana southern belles starred Queen Latifah (M’Lynn), Alfre Woodard (Ouiser) , Phylicia Rashad (Clairee), and Jill Scott (Truvy) alongside newbie actresses Adepero Oduye (Anelle) and Rashad’s real life daughter, Condola Rashad (Shelby).
The original Magnolias ranks among my top favorite movies and is one of few movies along with Coming to America, Forest Gump, The Color Purple and Hope Floats that I watch every single time it comes on, so I was excited to see what the remake would do with the classic.
“After watching the film, I felt like it didn’t do enough”.
The strength of the remake lies in the phenomenal cast. The female cast was for the most part phenomenal. Woodard was the standout, making the Ouiser character completely her own and she and Phylicia Rashad stole the show whenever they were on screen. I was a little skeptical at first when I realized that Queen Latifah was playing M’Lynn–played by Sally Fields in the original–because in my mind, Queen looks a little too young to play grandma, but her on-point, emotional portrayal made me forget that she looked 37 for the whole movie (although I thought her hubby was poorly cast. I know I’m not the only one who felt like their scenes together looked like she was having an affair with her grandfather!.).
It took me a little while to warm up to Condola as Shelby, but even she and Oduye held their own on screen against the veteran actresses. Now”...as much as I love my girl Jill Scott and hate saying a bad word about her, I couldn’t help watching thinking that she was the weakest link. Her accent made my ears bleed and she overacted her role instead of simply stepping up to the plate.
“But my issue with the film was not the actresses or the acting. My problem was that the remake was too much like the original.”
Outside of an Eric Benet song playing at the wedding and dancing to the Wobble at the reception, the script was taken verbatim from the original. Of course, it is a remake, we already know the plot. But when I look at say, the difference between the Wizard of Oz and the Wiz, a lot of effort was put into making that movie “our own.” There were no changes to Steel Magnolias that would have made some of the dialogue more culturally in tune to a black audience. Instead of seeing a film about black southern belles, I felt like I was watching a film about white southern belles played by black actresses.
“It left me wondering, other than the fact that we got to see black women on screen, what was the point of the remake?”
There were moments throughout the whole film that, although minor points in the script, were missed opportunities to make the film into something unique. For instance when M’lynn says to Shelby in the salon “Your hair hasn’t been cut that short since kindergarten” I thought, really? I’m sorry but it’s pretty uncommon for a little black girl to be walking around with a super short haircut. Even the way the women berated Anelle for praying and being a devout Christian seemed out of step for old school Southern black women. I couldn’t help thinking: “Black folks don’t talk about Jesus like that.” Minor infractions, yes, but a little tweaking could have turned the film into a true remake instead of simply a copy.
In the end, the remake wasn’t horrible but overall, I was unimpressed. I would have much rather seen an original movie with all of these ladies in it. Steel Magnolias was done really well the first time, and the remake didn’t do anything to add to it, so my final verdict is that they should have left good enough alone.
BMWK What did you think of the Steel Magnolias Remake?
I agree whole-heartedly. I felt the movie was so much of a copy that the actresses seemed to just go through the motions…especially during those unforgettable quotes and scenes that made the original film outstanding. All of us who have SM on the top of their favorites list knows the dialog by heart and would love to have seen a little more put into making it their own story.
Wow….Lola is on point w/her assessment. I was truly disappointed however – I feel it is my own fault. I saw the previews/trailers/commercials and heard the dialog. I knew very little was changed from the original – yet I still expected “something” different. Oh yeah, they dropped, “Michelle Obama’s name” and had Truvy’s husband – Spud working on an oil rig and played the “Wobble” at the wedding reception, but other than that – really nothing. Had it been “based upon” Steel Magnolias and had more dialog/dialect/script changes – then it would have been better. It was truly my error for misinterpreting “remake”. I think our “Steel Magnolias” is “For Colored Girls….” (whether it’s the version featured on PBS back in the day or any version shown as a play or TP’s version) – that is definitely our “Steel Magnolias”.
I agree with your review Aja. As much as I loved the original Steel Magnolias (and I love Coming to America and Hope Floats too), I felt the remake last night was definitely lacking something. Woodard and Rashad were great as usual, and even the young woman who played Anelle, was good, but Queen Latifah and Jill Scott were a huge miscast. I think that Lorretta Devine would have been great as Shelby’s mom, I could just see her playing that role. I was even sorta thinking maybe Lynn Whitfield, although she may have been better playing Rashad’s role. And Queen Latifah I don’t think had the acting chops to pull off the role (that is quite a big role and Sally Field played that role in the original) and she was too young to be Shelby’s mom, and didn’t fit well at all with the man playing her husband. It did feel almost like she was with her grandfather every time I saw them together, although he was good in his role. I also wasn’t crazy about some of the dialogue as well, but if I had to give it a grade overall, the original Steel Magnolias would get an A+, the remake, probably a B.
Angela Bassett should have played M’Lynn in my opinion.:-)
I was thinking Angela Bassett too, but my mom didn’t think she would be a good fit for the role. But I think that a lot of actresses would have been better than Queen Latifah.
i was disappointed as well but i enjoyed the movie nontheless. yes something was missing but i appreciate the effort. i am still a fan of the original though.
well i am one of those that havent seen the original so i didnt have anything to compaee it too. after watching i felt like i was “left hanging”. seemed like there were alot of loose ends by the end of the movie. &ill be the first to admit, it could be me but i dont u.derstand the name “steel magnolia” &the relation of what was happening in the movie. i agree with a comment someone else wrote, “what was the purpose of the movie”?
It’s a play on words. Magnolias, delicate flowers. Steel is tough. Put the terms together and it’s a seemingly delicate woman who is in actuality able to withstand life’s circumstances. But I could see how you may not have gotten that from this version.The original is much better at actually laying out the lives of the women in the film.
@Urecha I believe the term Steel Magnolias comes from the fact that as “southern belles” they are regarded to be very soft like magnolias but that they are actually very strong like steel.
I concurrent with the reviews already posted. I had seen the original SM many timres and was so looking forward to the lifetime TV movies. My daughter and I had planned a month in advanced to clear our schedules to watch the movie together. I watched the entire movie, but after about 45 minutes my daugther stopped watching it. We were disappointed. It was not good at all. It left so much to be desired.
I loved it!!! It was an all-star cast and everyone did there thing.. I am soo Proud of them all. I wish there was more.. BRAVO
I’m going to keep this short and sweet. I like the original SM a lot better. This was ok. It gave me something to look at with my friends. But, they left out a lot of good parts (Ouiser and Clairee in the locker room for example among other memorable funny moments). And I don’t like how it ended on a sad note unlike the original that ended happy.
I appreciate the review, but I knew, and I thought everyone did who saw the trailers/saw the women’s interviews, that the movie was going to be verbatim the original. I saw the original many times and love it and now I love this rendition as well. Maybe I liked it so much because I didn’t expect anything different and I thought that the various small things that brought it up to date (mentioning Michelle Obama, the iphone, Eric Benet’s song, etc.) were nice touches. The one thing I can agree with is Jill Scott’s performance; no one else really effected that southern drawl so very much as she and I feel she did over act. In seeing the interviews with the cast, the director loved the original as well and thought an all black female cast would be wonderful, simply put. And why not? 🙂
I am a diabetic, & my mother took me to the original movie with no info on what it was about. I was looking fOrward to a wonderful remake, but I was not plrased. The stars are great on their own merits, but they did not make thiS their movie. They just repeated memorized lines. Ouizer was the only one who resembled the original movie. I did not see the ending beCause I was bOredn but I don’t they had the cemetery scene. It was inside somewhere. I just did not feel that the stars portrayed their parts wiTh eny enthusiasm! I was definately disappointed!
I think because Steel Magnolias was originally a play, due to copyright issues they couldn’t change any of the dialogue/lines. A shame….
That’s the same thing I said, they couldn’t change the movie in any way, so it was rather bland, I thought. Maybe because we already knew what going to happen. I love my girls (Alfre, Jill, Phylicia & Queen), but something just wasn’t right.
I just would like to say that the purpose of the movie is to give our African American Women something positive to watch. It was just a remake of the original movie. I do not believe it was made to actually change of falsify anything. She expounded on a few things, but if she strayed away from the movie and added different plots then our viewers would have to complain about that. I believe the movie was nice. It was refreshing to see something positive for a change. Go Queen
Newbie,
My sentiments exactly. I enjoyed it and thought Queen Latifah was amazing. I was hoping to see exactly what made me love the original so much.
Why on Earth do we need to have a movie for black audiences? What difference does it make? I could care less if purple people are in the movie. Unless you are implying that you are a walking stereotype and therefore have to behave to fit those black stereotypes. I don’t. I like a good story, good acting, and film that speaks to me. Be more than your skin tone ladies.
My husband and i thought both movies were excellent. We enjoyed the remake just as much as the original. We felt that all of the women played their roles exceptionally and we can’t wait to buy the DVD to go with our original copy of steel magnolias.
What determines a remake? A completely different script? Then folks will complain about the movie being too different. About Latifah’s role, there are many grandmothers younger than her. Besides, this is a TV remake of an original motion picture. Sheesh. SMH
This remake reminded me of a high school production. M’Lynn and Shelby (the most important characters in the movie) were VERY poorly cast. Neither Queen Latifah or the daughter of Phylicia Rashad were any where near the level they needed to be to pull those roles off. It was actually painful and uncomfortable to watch at some points (the diabetic scene, and the breakdown scene of M’Lynn near the end). Really really bad choices by the casting directors. Oh geeeeez and that husband of M’Lynn he was a disaster too! Wanted so badly to like it, but it just never came together from begining to end.
Well, since I am a Louisiana woman who lives only an hour away from where the original was done;I can definitely say that Jill Scott’s accent was waaay off.Yes we are country, but that was extreme. I felt that Phylicia Rashad should have had a larger role,perhaps M’lyn. I could say more, but the damage is done. I love my sisters, but I like the original better.
I agree w/ previous comments , it was so stale and to me unclassy, the emotion ws just not there, the whole concept of the movie ws surrounding a young lady that is a diabetic that is pushing her life to the limits with deciding to become a mom and not logically thinking about how outcome of your decision and how it will effect your family and friends, last night didnt have that message, it was like ppl auditioning for a part and them performing with the dry run of the film with reviewing what needed to be edited…smh , i dont agree on how ppl said it was such a great movie the original has no comparision to this display of last night, so what they are big stars this ws a display of a low budget movie worst than a bootleg selection, i would of rather of not watched it at all……smh why , why we need to do better for our ppl than this…….
This movie moved slowly, horrible acting by all with the exception of Ms. Jill Scott. Shame on them.
What you have here is a stellar cast of superb actors asked to remake a classic. The script should have been reworked and the dialouge modernized to reflect what is going on in the world today. Tyler Perry should have been tapped to update, produce and direct the movie.
Plays are redone with different casts all the time, this is what was happening with Steel Magnolias. Was it a blow me away performance, know, Jill Scott’s extra affected Southern Accent caused me to cringe, BUT I enjoyed the movie for what it was, a classic piece of theater with a new cast. Simple… Maybe if they would’ve added some basketball wives slapping in it, people would’ve been more moved.
I agree with the review. However if there IS a point to doing an exact replica is to prove to Hollywood and the world that a black woman can play a part in any movie not just a “black movie”. We can handle the same script, with the same delivery.
Although I don’t feel that it even came CLOSE to the excellence of the original movie, and the richness of it’s actresses portrayals .. this remake ultimately moved me to tears. So I guess it wasn’t all bad 🙂
Black women….stop it already!All we do is attack each other and everything that is attached to being black. It was a MOVIE! Relax!!!! Movies are remade alllll the ttiiimmmee. Why is so different because an all black cast was in this remake. Sorry but some of you guys need to stop!!!! Proceed with the horrible comments lol.
Thank you
I don’t think this has anything to do with it being an all-black cast. I think this is what happens whenever someone attempts to remake a classic. It wouldn’t have mattered to me if this was once again an all white cast, the acting was just not up to par in this movie. There was a disconnect where I could never really get into the movie. Too much acting and not enough emerging themselves into their roles. That’s the thing about classics though, if you can’t do them different or better, sometimes they’re just better left alone…
It has everything to do with being an all-black cast. Why take the EXACT same movie, same script, set in a time where historically those women are WHITE, and just replace them with black women? Would people be offended if Barbershop was remade with all white people? most definitely, because black actors were cast for a reason! Because Barbershop is a portrayal of a certain culture. The Steel Magnolias remake was absolutely ridiculous and a waste of time. And frankly, it was also extremely offensive in my opinion.
It’s a movie and i think some people just honestly disliked it. You don’t have to like something just cuz it’s black!
HONESTLY
HONESTLY I think people need to give Queen Latifah some credit, they keep saying that she is too young to be Shelby’s mom, when that woman is in her mid forties, and there are plenty of women who have grandchildren at that age. But outside of that I agree 100% with this review, we could have made it more our own, instead of following the original…I loved everyone in the cast outside of Annelle, who just seemed to be reading some lines and maybe someone like Paula Patton could of played her and Shelby who could have been played by, damn near any one else. I also wish that they could have ran it without commercials to give the characters time to build something because it was something missing. Outside of that even the characters I didn’t necessarily like, everyone did a great job.
My God!!! You just can’t please people today. I wonder how many of you could have done better!
Overall, I enjoyed the movie but agree with many points from the review. However, I’m absolutely unsure of why Queen Latifah was casted for the role of M’Lynn oppose to Phylicia Rashad. Was she suppose to be a teen mother or something? It was too much of a mental task to view Queen as her mother. In my opinion Alfre Woodard upstaged all performances and did an awesome job of playing Ouiser. Phylia & her daughter should have played the nature role of mother & daughter and that would have made more sense hands down. Plus, unfortunately Jill Scott’s role & accent just did not work at all for me. Overall, I did enjoy the movie because it was great to see Black Women having an opportunity to shine and work together. We need to see more family orientated and positive films. So with that in mind, Congrats to Lifetime channel and continue to produce work for us!
I truly enjoyed the movie as much as I did the first. Ladies you have to remember the orginal movie has a lot of flaws too. With that said, I think the reason I enjoyed this movie so much, is this was my 1st time viewing it through the eyes of a mother. I think Latifah did her thing in that role. Now did she look old enough to be Shelby’s mother, I think yes. Maybe that is because my mother looks like my sister and that is what I am use too. Everyone is wondering why bother making the movie if you they were not going to change anything. I say because it allows a whole other generation to enjoy the same movie we enjoyed so many years ago. I am sorry I don’t see any teens running to blockbuster or ordering the 80’s version on netflx, but I am sure many of them sat down with the woman in their family and enjoy this version as much as we enjoyed the original. So hats off to the casting director for casting women that would draw these young ladies to a movie that is WAY above watching Basketball Wivies, Love & Hip Hop and RHOA. The movie was not perfect but has a perfect purpose, to showcase a POSITIVE image of Black Woman and Families. When I watched this movie, I saw a young black woman get married (this didn’t happen where I grew up), I saw a black man and woman that has been married for years (this didn’t happen where I grew up), I saw a father be there for his daughter (where I grew up nobody had a father or the same father) I saw black women lifting one another up (I barely see that on a daily basis). So stop being so negative and see what was right about the movie. And understand if we keep supporting movies like this we will get more movies like this and they only can get better. I look forward to watching this movie again with my mother, sister, cousin and both my daughters.
While I think that feelings about this movie will be mixed; some will love it, some will hate it, some, like me, will think it was just ok, I don’t understand when we got to the point that as black people we had to like everything black, and if we didn’t like it, we can’t speak on it. Just because it is a black, positive movie doesn’t automatically mean that it is well done. Yes Basketball Wives is crap, and this was better than Basketball Wives. McDonalds is crap too, but that doesn’t mean that Applebees is fine dining just because its better. Deciding that as black people we can’t look at anything with a critical eye and have to proclaim that all things black are phenomenal is part of the reason why I believe we so often can’t do much better than mediocre.
Amen Aja!! I get tired of the, “if it’s black, then it’s alright with me” mentality because that’s just plain silly and if white folks did that, which most of them do, we’d be complaining about it. If a movie or show isn’t of the greatest quality, regardless of whether the actors are white, black, or blue, then be honest about it. If this was a remake with another white cast and the actresses weren’t quite up to par, I would have no problem admitting to that. We have to stop being so sensitive and learn how to take CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. How else can we ever learn if we can never be challenged by any one. It reminds me of how many black folks feel about Obama sometimes, like because he is the first black president, he can do no wrong. It is no different to me than a white person feeling that way about Bush or Reagan, that because they are a white president, they can do no wrong. If something ain’t quite right, then admit it, and stop upholding people just because they look like you! If Jill Scott wasn’t right for the role of Truvy, then admit it, and stop saying she was the bomb, because you like her music, because one has nothing to do with the other. I have liked Jill Scott in a lot of different roles and think she’s a great actress, but she and Queen Latifah weren’t right for these roles, ESPECIALLY if you saw the original movie. Let’s face it, there are A LOT of other black actresses that could have been in these roles and could have really pulled it off, that’s all most of us are saying.
Agreed with everything you just said.
Your comments were strong and right on target.
I really enjoyed the remake with the black cast. I believe you choose the best actors for the rolls. Alfre Woodard(Weezer) She played her roll good I think she was better than the original. Overall I am a big fan of the cast. Goood job will be watching this movie. Again and again.
This movie was great. The story being the same didnt matter – i saw it as being – we live our lives, cry, happiness, issues as every one else. The actors were GREAT and i cried. Please continue to make more……
I fail to see why this movie was remade. If they weren’t going to update it to make it current, change some dialog to make it more like how southern blacks speak, what is the point? To prove that we can read a script just as well as they can? If that was the point, then we cannot. Queen Latifah did not have the gravitas to play M’Lynn. I love her in other things, this just did not ring true. I am not even southern but Jill Scott’s accent seemed off. I would love to see this cast in an original movie – all of them are talnted. This was a waste.
I so agree Cheryl. I am from the south and Jill Scott’s accent was horrible to me. I too think that they could have just given them an original script and went with it. What was the point of remaking Steel Magnolias anyway, to see if we could really pull it off. In my mind, I almost kind of feel like Waiting to Exhale is kind of our version of Steel Magnolias. I know that they aren’t the same kind of movie, but there are some similar themes I think, such as friendship and surviving the challenges of life.
I am male and never sen the original movie but i watched the movie with my wife last night. To be honest i didn’t care for the movie much because it just didn’t seem to fit! The relative innocence of all the characters and seemingly aloof understanding of diabetes and transplants and the like doesn’t seem to fit in the time frame of the movie. It’s set in the modern world and the women seemed like they were from the mid 80’s or some earlier time. Though they were black the characters seemed like white women of the south not black women, they were obviously miscast. Queen latifah’s husband looked like her father and even though she may be old enough to have a fully grown child , it was hard to believe. The script just didn’t fit, the way they interacted wasn’t Black to me! Not being rascist but as a black man it just didn’t seem real. Even blacks with accents still sound black for that particular accent, just didn’t fit to me! Honest opinion!
It just felt like something was missing. And the accents were killing me. I don’t usually like remakes and do not look forward to them. However, I was actually looking forward to seeing this one. I don’t really get why they remade it if they weren’t going to update it, even just a little bit.
This is why it’s hard for our movies to get funding. Imagine a remake of Cooley High with an all white cast. Exactly. Some things, especially classics should be left alone. I like Queen Latifah but she should stay in her lane. As far as Aldred and Phylicia, I must state that I am extremely surprised that the risked their careers to support this film. Lets face it: the bar was raised too high by the original cast- who by the way had chemistry. This new version lacked chemistry in so many ways-which doesn’t surprise me considering that the film was shot in 17 days.
I waited with anticipation for this movie not because of the casting because it was a remake of the oringinal. I was so disappointed because the southern accents seem so forced and not natural and the movie did not flow and move as the orginal. I tried to watch the movie in its entirely but fell to sleep because it was so boring outside Alfred Woodward performance.
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