On the Come Up hits Paramount+ after a successful showing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Sanaa Latham, who also co-stars, makes her directorial debut with On the Come Up, which was based on the YA bestseller of the same name by The Hate U Give author Angie Thomas and penned for the screen by This Is Us writer Kay Oyegun. Method Man and Mike Epps also co-star, with cameo appearances by Lil Yachty and GaTa.
ON THE COME UP: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: We’re in Garden Heights, “somewhere in America,” and Bri Jackson (Jamila C. Gray) gazes at a mural honoring her late father, who as Lawless was the best rapper to ever come out of the Garden. “He passed his gift to me,” Bri tells us in voiceover, and she meets up with Pooh (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), her devoted manager and auntie, for that evening’s rap battle action at The Ring. As Lil’ Law, Bri has a ton of talent on the mic – in her frequent voiceovers, we hear how her mind analyzes and collates words, syllables, phrases. But people like ringmaster Hype (Mike Epps) will never let anyone forget that she’s a legacy. Until she can prove it on her own, and Pooh can generate some industry connections, Bri remains on the outside of the ring.
But the victories start coming, and they have a more immediate benefit: cash prizes help keep the lights on at home, where Bri’s mother Jay (Sanaa Lathan), a recovering heroin addict, is struggling to find work. And at high school, Bri and her buddies Sonny (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) and Malik (Michael Cooper, Jr.) are hassled by a security apparatus that seems much more interested in the Black and Brown kids than Caucasian ones. Bri is aggressively detained and then suspended for selling candy. Baseless rumors persist that she was actually selling drugs.
When Bri comes under the influence of Supreme (Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Jr.), a successful talent manager who once worked with her father, his industry access and expensive gifts are enticing for the come up she’s worked so hard to achieve. But Bri has to make a choice: focus on an aggressive hip-hop style that’s proven popular, or stick to her knack for introspective lyrics with progressive themes? Of course, the first big Lil’ Law track with Supreme’s backing goes viral, and of course, its content causes more static: static about authenticity with her pals and family, static about business after she left Pooh for Supreme, and static about her lyrics fanning the flames of community violence and racism. Can Bri do right by her family, find her own truth, and still embrace the gift for rapping that will forever bond her to her father?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Lil’ Law breaks into an Eminem cadence and 8 Mile references during one of her rap battles, and in The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank also explored rapping as well as compromising. But On the Come Up also hits beats that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen an underdog story, whether it’s trying to make it in the music business, break out of an underground dance scene, or be the one nobody ever saw coming. After all, Lil Law name-checks The Karate Kid and Mr. Miyagi, too.
Performance Worth Watching: Da’Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity, Only Murders in the Building; The Wknd and Sam Levinson’s much-hyped upcoming HBO project The Idol) is terrific here as Aunt Pooh, dominating every scene she has with a bold blend of personality, pathos, wise words, and a streak of generational family pride that’s a mile wide.
Memorable Dialogue: “See, battlin’ me is a luxury. See, I’m the greatest of the past mixed with the present – Drake, Cole, and Kendrick. Came out of mama spittin’ – even the little baby version of me different.” Bri’s raps in the freestyle ring were written by North Carolina rapper Rapsody, whose own albums are full of elliptical spins through introspection, expression, and cold-blooded put-downs.
Sex and Skin: Nothing.
Our Take: It’s the performances that end up activating On the Come Up, and elevating it whenever the underdog cliches and abbreviated sketches of music industry dynamics and contemporary social justice issues threaten to mute its promise. Sanaa Lathan delivers emotional heft to Jay’s arc as a proud single mother who once abandoned her children but kicked her addiction, fought for custody, and is the biggest believer in her daughter’s personhood. And newcomer Jamila C. Gray is great here as Bri – she puts one hundred percent of herself into the battle rap scenes, which are full of taunts and fronts but also molten put-downs and cheeky wit. As Pooh, Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the fierce protector anyone would want in a manager and a family member, and since any movie even partly about the social politics of high school has to provide its main character with a solid support network, it’s great to have Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Michael Cooper, Jr. along here as Sonny, Bri’s happily out bestie, and Malik, her childhood pal and longtime crush. Even Method Man, who wouldn’t have to do much more with Supreme than bring some flash and expensive fits, puts the right amount of sinister beneath his smooth surface, which both informs the cliches at work in On the Come Up and performatively transcends them.
Our Call: STREAM IT. On the Come Up is an underdog story that occasionally leans too much on cliche but outlasts and enlivens with some fiery wordplay and a cast with charisma to burn.
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges