“My boyfriend didn’t get me a ring, and so I shaved my hair off.”
In Netflix’s latest romantic comedy Nappily Ever After, based on the novel by Trisha R. Thomas, attempts to tell the story of a black woman finding freedom in embracing her natural beauty and becoming empowered through her new sense of self.
Enter Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan), an obsessive Type A personality living in a false sense of being perfect according to societal standards. As a successful beauty marketing exec, Violet is preparing for an upcoming birthday, and what she hopes is a marriage proposal to her equally successful and handsome doctor boyfriend, Clint (Ricky Whittle). We see her waking early to put make-up on, sneaking to have her hair flat-ironed in the wee hours of the morning by her marriage-infatuated mother (Lynn Whitfield). She finds a “little blue box” and is prepared to say, I do. Instead of a ring, she gets a puppy! Cue the breakdown. A series of events leads her to flirty, holistic hairdresser, and single father Will (Lyric Bent, She’s Gotta Have It) and his adorable quick witted daughter Zoe (Daria Johns).
The movie had key ingredients to cook up a phenomenal project, starting with Sanaa Lathan. Based on her previous bodies of work there is no denying she can do a rom com. However I don’t feel I have seen Sanaa’s abilities stretched. We get it she is absolutely stunning. She’s typecast. Think back to my fave Brown Sugar, Love & Basketball, or the similar plot Something New. We’ve seen her play the pretty girl who is awkward because of something about her physical attributes.
The phenomenal Lynn Whitfield is like the Mutha of all Mothers when it comes to a cold hearted woman (Greenleaf, Madea’s Family Reunion). However even with that amount of talent I was left feeling a bit, unfulfilled. This would have been amazing in 2005. The storyline with her husband (Ernie Hudson) was odd it didn’t add much to the dynamic of the story.
It saddens me this movie wasn’t developed more especially in a climate where there is more conversations on hair, identity, being a leader in the work-place, self awareness.
As I watched this movie I was grew more annoyed with this narrative. Boy doesn’t marry me so now I must self-destruct. I’m going out to get pissy drunk, I’m going from one extreme to the next because, “My boyfriend didn’t get me a ring.” With everything happening today I just can’t vibe with this story line. I understand where it was trying to go but it really missed the mark for me.
As a black woman we pride ourselves on having great hair. But this emphasis on being pretty because of my hair just feels a bit dated. The story line with her and Will fell flat, no sparks it was just meh. This film would have been a hit had it come out during the “I Am Not My Hair” era.
Not a total flop it’s something I would watch on a Lazy Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately this movie didn’t bring the wow factor it had the potential to bring to the small screen.
If you saw it drop a line in the comment section and let me know your thoughts!