She's Gotta Have It

1986 "A seriously sexy comedy."
6.8| 1h24m| R| en| More Info
Released: 08 August 1986 Released
Producted By: 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.

Genre

Comedy, Romance

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Director

Spike Lee

Production Companies

40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks

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She's Gotta Have It Audience Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
kcfp-889-187037 I am always so shocked that people give this film such good reviews. It has to be one of the most sexist movies I've seen to date. The movie is supposed to be told through Darla's perspective (she states this in the beginning), but then the rest of the film is basically the guys take on Darla. Greer constantly puts her down racially, claiming that he could leave her for a white woman, Mars (ironically played by Spike Lee) talking negatively about her behind her back every chance he got.She's distanced from all the women in her life (Opal, former roommate, psychiatrist) and is supposed to be sexually empowered. It is debatable if she really was, but she was put in her "proper place" at the end of the film. Jamie rapes her. It is this scene in the movie that is the most disturbing for me because many people just gloss over it and see nothing wrong with it. She said "Stop! You're hurting me!" That doesn't sound like a woman who's enjoying the intercourse she's engaged in. And aside from this disturbing scene, I certainly did not appreciate the borderline pornographic shots of her body. If you really wanna know what the film is about, listen to the lyrics of the song that the dancers perform to in the technicolor portion of the film.This pattern of sexist ideologies is present in several of Spike Lee's films including "The Best Man" and "The Player's Club". Somebody needs to call him out on it and hold him to a higher standard. Just because he's a black director does not mean everything he does must be applauded.
zardoz-13 Spike Lee's low-budget, directorial debut "She's Gotta Have It" ranks as the outspoken African-American's helmer's best and least pretentious film. This modest but compelling portrait of single black woman Nola Darling qualifies as one of the greatest feminist films of the 1980s. The theme of women versus men dominates the action with the corresponding themes of women versus women and women versus society tangling for second place. The men fall back on the traditional precedents that society has established for women. Consequently, this melodrama exposes the sexual double-standard issue between men and women. Indeed, men cite dating multiple women as their masculine birthright, while a woman must only date one man at a time. "She's Gotta Have It" torpedoes that argument with its unorthodox heroine. Moreover, coming as it did on the last years of "blaxploitation" movie, Lee's film is refreshing different because none of the men are portrayed stereotypically as either pimps or drug dealers. The cast, headed by Tracy Camilla Johns, is largely unknown, but they perform well in this simple, but powerful 84 minute melodrama that asks the audience to decide if the leading lady—Nola—is a freak. In other words, is Nola a slut because she has three boyfriends that she has sex with in her apartment in New York City. Lee makes excellent use of the technique of breaking the fourth wall—when the thespians address the audience by looking directly into the camera at us—and taking their argument to us. The heroine has a relationship with a romantically inclined lover Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), a stuck-up, egotistical performer Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell), and young, snappy street dude Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee). None of the three guys likes each other as they struggle to please Nola. One of Nola's apartment house neighbors is an attractive lesbian Opal Gilstrap (Raye Dowell of "Malcolm X") who tries without success to seduce Nola.
ian_harris Thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes in the quirky company of Spike Lee and his cast of weirdos. The male characters (Nora's three lovers) are all inadequate in their way, so it is hardly surprising that Nora needs several such men to satisfy her.If men behave the way Nora behaves, it is seen as a sign of virility, whereas Nora is more or less sent to the shrink because her behaviour is so out of line. But this is mostly comedy so you can put aside the "is it feminist, is it misogynist?" stuff and enjoy it for what it is - an unusually good low budget movie.
fandangonoir Spike Lee's first and still best film. It's filled with laughs, terrific characters and enough sex to fill ten movies! This film and others made Spike apart of what I call 'The Three Princes Of New York Filmmaking'. In other words, one of three premiere New York directors. The three princes in question are Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee. High praise indeed!