Historically, black women haven’t been allowed the luxury of fairytales. In the 90s and early 2000s, there was a modest sprinkling of romantic dramas and comedies like Love Jones, Jumping the Broom and Something New, but despite a more general resurgence of love stories in recent years, films that depict intimacy between brown-hued people remain scarce. Instead, black women have been hit over the head with sexist and nonsensical advice on why we’re still single and studies that suggest most of us will never get married. It’s only been in the last year or two that the narrative has begun to shift. Black women are reclaiming their romantic lives and telling their own stories.
In her screenwriting debut, Community’s Yvette Nicole Brown’s has crafted a story about demanding the love you deserve and letting yourself fall, despite any fears that you might have. Always a Bridesmaid, directed by The Man in 3B’s Trey Haley, follows Corina James (Batwoman’s Javicia Leslie), a career-focused copy editor, toiling away at her father, Carlton Blakeston Sr’s (Richard Lawson) publishing company while keeping her ambitions as a novelist under wraps.
Entering her 30s, Corina spends her weekends attending weddings, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and hanging out with her tight-knit group of girlfriends. As her friends embark on new stages in their lives, Corina’s false sense of “contentedness” begins to make her feel restless. Things take a turn when she runs into an old (and very fine) friend from Hampton University – Mark Randall (Black Lightning’s Jordan Calloway), who awakens something in Corina that she thought she could never have.
Continue reading at The Guardian.