Bill Cosby stars in this as Blue, a hard working man who lives in the ghetto with his wife Serena and son Vandy. They're the average black family, meaning they're not able to get ahead much in life, they're under-educated and underprivileged, just working hard to get by in the white man's world. Blue is looking for other work constantly, constantly trying to keep his head up and avoid doing any of the "criminal" type of work that might come his way.
There's life lessons along the way. Blue is a bit over-controlling with his family and his son, and they don't spend much time together. The son Vandy feels ousted from the family dynamic, is an outsider at school, and it seems only his mom gets him. He also seems to get sick way too much, and pretty soon they take him to the doctors again, this time the prognosis comes forth: Sickle cell anemia. Now that mother and father know that, what will they do and how will they tell their son?
Bill Cosby stars in this, is credited with the idea behind the movie, worked on the music, and was an executive producer. To say this was a passion project of his sounds fairly accurate. It does feel heartfelt, and the acting feels solid.
The character Blue and mother Serena are well acted and stoic, strong figures. Vandy, played by Dennis Hines, is also well acted, but somehow for me I just wasn't as affected by this. I think there's a bit of a feeling of "it starts with the characters low, and stays there" instead of having a story arc. There's also a feeling of almost trying to cram in too much despite needing to feel like the movie was uncluttered. It ends up feeling like they were just really, really trying. Which can come off as good, or just obvious.
At not even 70 minutes, it flies right by, and it can't hurt that bad. It's an easy hop skip and jump of a movie that I was happy to get on the books. 3 stars.
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