The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat review

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is a female friendship story. It has a star studded cast, directed by Tina Mabry. The story begins with the main characters in high school, where they bonded. It carries through until they are all in their 50s.

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat takes its title from a remark by diner owner Big Earl (Tony Winters) who told three teen age girls entering his establishment that they looked like The Supremes. They claimed the name and a big booth as their own. Over the years many things happened in that booth.

The friends were Odette (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor with Kyanna Simone as young Odette), Barbara Jean (Sanaa Lathan with Tati Gabrielle as young Barbara Jean), and Clarice (Uzo Aduba with Abigail Achiri as young Clarice).

Big Earl was the kind of guy who took care of people. He gave them a place to sleep and a job. Barbara Jean was one of those people. He helped her escape from an abusive stepfather. Later he helped a white guy named Ray (Julian McMahon with Ryan Paynter as young Ray).

Barbara Jean fell hard for the “pretty white boy.” They knew they couldn’t make it work together. He left town and she married Lester (Vonnie Curtis-Hall with Cleveland Berto as young Lester).

Clarice was a gifted pianist. She gave up a recording deal to marry Richmond (Russell Hornsby with Xavier Mills as young Richmond). He was a womanizer. It took Clarice a long time to drop kick him out of her life.

Odette got lucky with her marriage to James (Mikhi Phifer with Dijon as young James) but her luck didn’t extend to all parts of her life.

When you have actors of the quality of Sanaa Lathan, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Uzo Aduba you have to give them all a few moments of their own to show their prowess as performers. The film was 2 hours long. It left out a lot, but it definitely gave the three lead women characters a chance to show why they are top stars. I’ve been known to say that Uzo Aduba is the best actor in anything she does, but I’ve gotta say Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor had a great part here. She did a wonderful job with it.

Another character who got some attention was Big Earl’s wife Minnie (Donna Biscoe). Her character belonged in a Tyler Perry movie with too big and too much versions of everything. She brought some humor into the plot.

I love female friendship stories! I’ve talked about a lot of them here. It was good to see one that followed Black lives and stories.

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat was directed and co-written by Tina Mabry. Gina Prince-Bythewood co-wrote the script under the name Cee Marcellus. It’s streaming on Hulu.