Barry (2016)

A look into the early life of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Director:

Vikram Gandhi

Writer:

Adam Mansbach

Stars:

Devon Terrell, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Mitchell

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Devon Terrell	...	Barry
Anya Taylor-Joy	...	Charlotte
Jason Mitchell	...	PJ
Ellar Coltrane	...	Will
Jenna Elfman	...	Kathy Baughman
Linus Roache	...	Bill Baughman
Avi Nash	...	Saleem
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Professor Gray
Ashley Judd	...	Ann Dunham
Sawyer Pierce	...	Thad
Eric Berryman	...	Ali
Ralph Rodriguez	...	Andre
Danny Henriquez	...	Milton
Tessa Albertson	...	Tina
Tommy Nelson	...	Buzz

Storyline

A look at the early life of Barack Obama. Before he became President of the United States, he was one of the few black students at Columbia University NY in the early 80's. Faced with judgmental and racist opinions all around him, he tries to find his place in the world.

---

Plot Keywords:

male objectification | bare chested male | barack obama character | character name as title | student | 

---

Taglines:

Before he was Barack, he was...

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama

---

Details

Official Sites:

Black Bear Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Swahili

Release Date:

16 December 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Барри

Company Credits

Production Co:

Black Bear Pictures, Cinetic Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is inspired by writings from "Dreams from My Father," Barack Obama's debut 1995 bestseller. In what's almost an auto-biography, Obama pens reflections on his earlier, scorned life as he struggled to reconcile with his race, scenes of which are portrayed in "Barry" (2016).

---

Goofs

Barry is seen wearing a Casio F91W watch throughout the movie. The movie is set in the early 1980's, but that model watch wasn't released until 1991.

---

Quotes

Charlotte: Are you nervous about meeting my family?
Barry: Why? Do I look nervous to you?
Charlotte: No. You look like you're going into battle.

---

Connections

References Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

---

Soundtracks

Don't You Try to Stop Me
Written by Mc Evoy
Performed by LIzzy Mercier Descloux
Courtesy of Light In the Attic Records & Distribution, LLC
Under license from ZE Records

User Reviews

A Biopic With No Point?

I really was looking forward to watching this movie, and had the release date earmarked to see it. But after spending my early morning watching it, I was overall disappointed and realized that I could have waited.

So I'll start off with the good parts. Big props to Devvon Terrell on getting Barack's speech, mannerisms and attitude to a tee. He really could be a dead ringer for the younger version of the President; so casting did a fabulous job there. For her few moments in the film, Ashley Judd did a great job as Barack's mother. I enjoyed seeing a peek into their relationship and I wish it was fleshed out more. It was also interesting to see the film show Barack's fish out of water moments. Being bi-racial in 1980s New York, for sure he experienced a lot of them.

But the rest of the film fell flat. It just wasn't compelling at all. The trailers made it seem like you would be presented with key experiences from Barack's formative years; the things that help make him into the man we know today. The truth is you got very little of that. It was more of just a conflicted college kid trying to navigate the relationships with his on-campus peers and his (White) girlfriend and family. The script kept trying to bring in Barack's desire to have a relationship with his father, but it just felt random and out of place each time.

Overall this film wasn't a horrible waste of time. But it was far from being remarkable. I have yet to see "Southside With You", but I feel as if this was an ambitious effort that just fell short of the mark.