Southside with who?

Ever since I saw the trailer for the film Southside With You, I knew I was going to see it in the cinema. It had a totally adorable premise: the Obamas' first date. Although I'm not a big reader of romance novels, I've got a soft spot for it in film; especially if there's something decidedly un-mainstream about the story. I've been generally quite disappointed with the wealth of superhero films and remakes that have flooded the cinema these past few years - it's all getting a bit predictable and has always been overwhelmingly white.

Realising that Southside With You was being released in the UK on Friday 30th September (more than a month after the initial US release, naturally), I arranged with my girlfriend to go see it on its opening night. As we were meeting up with friends later in the evening, we chose the Odeon in Surrey Quays which was close to the location.

We bought the tickets for the 7.30pm screening from the self-service machine, got some popcorn and drinks and then made our way inside the screen. It was empty, I guess because everyone else was settling in the opposite screen where Bridget Jones's Baby was about to start. We made ourselves comfortable in the best seats (middle row, middle chairs. The perfect vantage point for the cinema) and prepared to sit through half an hour of ads and trailers.

After seeing Oatly Oat Milk advertised three different ways, two ushers came into the screen to inform us that the film had been cancelled and we would have to leave. We walked out very confused (I think I kept repeating "how can they just cancel the film?"). We were eventually told that the film would run into another film and had meant to be cancelled from before we even bought the tickets. They offered us complimentary tickets if we watched another film that evening, which meant we still got to watch a film and could come back at any time to see Southside With You.

We saw Bridget Jones's Baby which was so funny I forgot that I was confused and annoyed by the cancellation of the film we had originally intended to see that night. But now it's two days later and I'm not laughing at Bridget's completely awkward and hilarious life, I'm back to being disappointed in the whole situation.

That Friday was the release date of Southside With You in the UK. The Odeon cinema in Surrey Quays had one showing of it that night. Which they then cancelled because it would "run into another film". And, yeah: sure. I guess that's a believable excuse, but then they should have just put on the other films at a delayed time and cancelled the last film of the night, since my girlfriend and I were already in the screen and the ads had come on.

It felt to me like they didn't care about the only film screening at the time with a predominantly black cast and thought nobody else would either, and so couldn't be bothered to put it on.

Actors Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter sum up my feelings in their expression.