there is a scene early in soul food , george tillman 's comedy - drama about a large african - american family and the ordeals they go through during a crisis , that caught me completely off guard .
during a wedding , the groom is flirting with some tramp , and in an attempt to to prevent a scene , his mother in law , played by irma p . hall , comes to the rescue .
the way in which she does this makes me think irma p . hall is one of the greatest actresses around right now .
however , this is just one magical moment in a movie filled with them .
vanessa williams , vivica fox , and nia long star as three sisters who have each gone their own way in life .
williams is teri , a successful lawyer , who is frustrated by her husband miles attempts at a music career .
fox is maxine , the strongest of the sisters , which can be confirmed by the stability of her marriage and the wisdom of her son ahmad , who narrates the film .
long is bird , a hairdresser who is the last of the three to get married .
her husband lem is an intense passionate individual whose temper gets the best of him sometime but never stops loving .
at the center of everything is irma p . hall , as big mama jo .
every sunday , the family gathers together for dinner at mama jo 's house .
there is lots of conversation , lots of laughs , and the occasional controversy .
mama jo presides over the family like all mothers should .
she is stern and disciplined , but also caring and forgiving .
everything is going fine , until a tragedy befalls mama jo .
all of a sudden , a chain reaction of events begin to destroy the family .
it gets so bad , sunday dinner is even cancelled .
without mama jo 's guidance , there is noone to keep the family together , which frustrates ahmad .
miles and maxine 's marriage begins to fall apart , as he focuses on his music and flirts with the troublesome faith .
lem 's temper gets the best of him when his convict past starts to catch up to him .
and teri tries to prevent maxine 's efforts to sell mama jo 's house .
the third act of the film deals with ahmad 's attempts to patch things up .
he decides to take over where mama jo left off , and tries to get the family back together for one more sunday dinner .
the acting by everyone in the ensemble is outstanding , with special notices to irma p . hall and brandon hammond .
hall gives a performance that deserves to be recognized by the academy .
her mama jo is one of the most memorable characters i have ever encountered in a movie .
brandon hammond is an actor with a bright future .
he is wise enough not to play cutesy and shows an admirable range and depth , and speaks the final lines of the movie on the perfect note .
tillman obviously based this movie on his own memories of growing up .
every scene in the movie is purposeful and convincing
( except maybe an odd flashback sequence ) .
the dialogue is beleiveable and funny .
and then there 's the food .
tillman gives us several close ups of the soul food , and it indeed looks very tasty .
i can see why sunday dinners became such a tradition for this family .
soul food is one of the most purely entertaining movies of the year .
just one magical moment in a movie filled with them beleiveable and funny purposeful and convincing most purely entertaining movies the acting by everyone in the ensemble is outstanding an actor with a bright future deserves to be recognized by the academy