by Sherin Nicole and Alex Bear
Our TV Movie Ratings: 6/10 – Sherin Nicole | 6/10 – Alex Bear
Juanita is the new Netflix rom-com that’s got Alfre Woodard living her best life. Our leading lady is fed up—unfulfilled, used for money or babysitting by her children—when all she really wants is…Blair Underwood (Blair Underwood). Sadly even her dream man turns out to be a scrub. The only choice Juanita has left is to go for the…Butte…in Montana. So she buys a one-way ticket to a new life, just because. It’s pronounced bute, by the way, and it’s a small town where nobody knows [read: wants anything from] her…except for a hot yet wounded indigenous chef (hello, romance hero) by the name of Adam Beach, wait, no it’s Jess played by Adam Beach.
Photo: William Gray / Netflix
Based on Dancing on the Edge of the Roof: A Novel by Sheila Williams, Juanita is a journey of self-discovery we don’t often get to see—where a grown woman gets her very own romance (shoutout to the writers for the self-aware How Stella Got Her Groove back reference). The film doesn’t deviate from the typical romance tropes, think the kind of movie you curl up to on a quiet Saturday night with Freeform or Hallmark or, yeah, Netflix, but having a sixty-something woman from the ’hood in the lead is refreshing. Yes, she should find happiness and fulfilment and get a little love! Juanita sends the important message: Just because you’re twenty x 3, and you’re a mother of now-grown kids, your own life doesn’t stop—and neither does your heart. To that we say: Cheers!
Juanita is an enjoyable enough time pass but it doesn’t quite hit the right notes to make it stand out. It’s very much a Hallmark romance…with lots of cussing…so why not give it a try?
