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Poster for Soul Food

Soul Food

Every family needs some.

1997 · 1h 54m · R Comedy, Drama
Directed by George Tillman Jr.

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Overview

Traditional Sunday dinners at Mama Joe's (Irma P. Hall) turn sour when sisters Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), Bird (Nia Long) and Maxine (Vivica A. Fox) start bringing their problems to the dinner table in this ensemble comedy. When tragedy strikes, it's up to grandson Ahmad (Brandon Hammond) to pull the family together and put the soul back into the family's weekly gatherings.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
80%
Tomatometer
Rotten

An overt desire to please often leaves Tillman relying on force-feeding techniques.

Paul Tatara, CNN.com
Rotten

Soul Food aims to be a banquet of feelings, but mostly it serves up tripe.

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine
Fresh

The steaming platters of fried catfish, macaroni and cheese, sweet corn bread, and black-eyed peas that appear early and often in writer-director George Tillman Jr.'s sentimental family drama should be listed in the credits as costars.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Fresh

Soul Food serves up family melodrama-cum-comedy that's tasty and satisfying, if not particularly profound or original.

Godfrey Cheshire, Variety
Fresh

Tillman is tremendously skilled at bridging the vast shifts in tone.

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader

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