Two of my favorite Disney remakes include 1998’s Parent Trap and 2004’s Freaky Friday, both starring Lindsay Lohan. I’m definitely showing my age here when I say I was shocked to even know they were remakes — in fact, I had no interest in watching the originals, because I was perfectly fine with the impression their remakes left on me. And while this may be controversial, I think that’s a mark of a good remake. Sometimes the source material may conceptually be timeless, and a few tweaks can bring the story to life for a new generation. But remakes can be tricky, especially when the legacy of the film is revered in popular culture – especially under the Disney moniker.
It’s no question that Disney can make good films, both animated and live action. Lately though, that’s not been the case. It seems as if recently Disney has tried to prove to us that they know how CGI works and they have to demonstrate this by using motion capture to give the “live acton” treatment to every animated feature they have in their catalog, regardless of whether anyone asked for it.
The latest film to become the subject of this experiment is Snow White. Directed by 500 Days of Summer’s Marc Webb, it’s a remake of the 1937 animated film Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, Disney’s first full-length animated feature which cemented itself in pop culture with its timeless iconography.
The Dwarves (Courtesy Disney)
Aside from taking on a property with such a heavy legacy, the film had the odds stacked against it before it even hit theaters. The Rachel Zegler hate-train seems to have turned into a bandwagon (for reasons I’m still not sure of, but are at least partially the result of racism) and some people just don’t like Gal Gadot. Plus, we’re all tired of remakes that we didn’t ask for.
I’ve never seen the original, so there’s no sense of nostalgia for me. The fact that this was my first impression of the story even excited me, as I wasn’t blinded by bias for a classic. I’m all for widening representation, especially for Disney princesses, and I’m glad Zegler is able to be that for a new generation of young people. I just wish the film didn’t seem like an extended interaction with Disneyland cast members.
Snow White (Zegler), a princess whose upbringing and influence on her community is marked by her kindness, falls from the public eye when her mother dies and her father remarries. Her father goes out on a quest to save the kingdom from evil threats and does not return, leaving the Evil Queen (Gadot) to rule over the people. Under her reign, Snow White becomes a scullery maid.
Obsessed with vanity, the Evil Queen asks her magic mirror daily “Who is the fairest one of all?” Usually, the mirror’s response is to her liking. But one day the mirror reveals that Snow White is now the fairest, which the queen takes a threat to her position. Enraged, she orders the Huntsman (Ansu Kabia) to lure Snow White to the forest and kill her, bringing back her heart as proof.
While in the forest, the Huntsman is touched by Snow White’s compassion and warns her of the queen’s plans. As she flees, she finds a cottage where she rests until she is awakened by the home’s inhabitants, the seven dwarves.
Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. (Courtesy Disney)
Zegler’s acting is fine; nothing to write too strongly for or against. She definitely has the voice of a Disney Princess, yet the songs themselves aren’t memorable enough for a second listen. Gadot’s performance reminded me of something you’d see in a movie-within-a-movie, where we’re supposed to know she’s acting badly, like in Singing in the Rain when Jean Hagen massacres The Dueling Cavalier.
There was a lot of time spent showing the mines where the very scary CGI dwarves worked which could have been better spent crafting more seamless story — how did Snow White go from a maids dress to her iconic princess garb? We don’t know!
I could very well still be spoiled by the musical phenomenon known as Wicked, but I just don’t think Disney knew what they wanted to do with this film. This could’ve been a way for them to reintroduce a beloved classic for younger audiences, but I doubt the uncanny dwarves will be invited into anyone’s house via rewatch.
In the hours after my viewing of Opus, I was finally able to categorize what the movie reminded me of. The three winners were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and a four-part podcast series on Jonestown I recently listened to. I regret to report that my attempts to categorize the film were the result of me wondering, “What did I just watch?” (in the derogatory sense).
Like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Rocky Horror, the film features an overzealous main character living in a mysterious world beckoning you to lift the veil. In Opus’ case, this character is Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), a singer characterized by his eccentricity and bravado, which has elevated him to be known as “the biggest pop star.” However, unlike a Frank-N-Furter or Willy Wonka, he is ultimately quite forgettable.
John Malkovich as Alfred Moretti
Moretti, known as the “Wizard of Wiggle”, mysteriously vanished from the mainstream 30 years ago. Then writer Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri) and her newsroom colleagues hear a rumor that Moretti will be releasing a new album.
The speculation is confirmed when Moretti’s publicist posts a video online. Ariel, an early-career journalist, is invited to Moretti’s exclusive listening party along with her boss Stan Sullivan (Murray Bartlett), TV personality Clara Armstrong (Juliette Lewis), an influencer named Emily Katz (Stephanie Suganami), paparazzo Bianca Tyson (Melissa Chambers), and radio host Bill Lotto (Mark Sivertsen).
The proclaimed VIPs travel to Moretti’s compound, whose secluded gates are lined with fans anticipating Moretti’s return. On the ride there, Ariel finds out that Bill and Moretti hate each other, and the others are surprised he is attending.
Upon arrival, the participants are asked to turn in their phones to maintain the “integrity” of the event and are subsequently greeted by apparent cult members called “Levelists.” Stan informs Ariel that she is to observe and take notes which he will use when writing the piece for their magazine.
Writers and influencers at Moretti’s bizarre party
Moretti makes his first appearance at a group dinner, where everyone is captivated and enamored with him. Almost everyone, anyway. Ariel is instantly suspicious. Stan gets a seat at Moretti’s table, Ariel is invited to sit with the Levelists. Her interviews with them are not enlightening.
The VIPs learn that they have 24-hour concierges in the form of other Levelists. They return to their rooms for the night, where they listen to one of Moretti’s newest releases. Then, things take a dark turn. Bill’s massage appointment turns into a murder by the Levelists.
Ariel wakes the next morning and is surprised her concierge Belle spent the entire night at her door. Belle even opts to join Ariel on her morning jog, which concludes with a conversation with Moretti on the cult’s beliefs. To further expand on their ideology, Moretti takes Ariel to a tent where a Levelist is shucking oysters for pearls, which they use to make necklaces. Later, Ariel’s shower is love-bombed by a team of Levelists there to give her a makeover. Ariel tries to learn more about the individuals, but her questions are brushed off. Her skepticism and shock are intensified as a Levelist shaves her pubic hair before joining the others for a performance from Moretti.
When Moretti performs a song for the VIPs, his performance intentionally singles each one of them out to make them feel “special.” Emily then starts coughing uncontrollably and is taken away. This, coupled with Bill’s disappearance, causes Ariel to raise questions, which are ignored. Her fears are further confirmed when she sneaks away from her concierge and finds a barn with dead animals — and, unbeknownst to her, Bill’s headless body. But Ariel has seen enough. It’s time to leave.
The rest of the film is rather anticlimactic, which is disappointing. The filmmakers seem to have forgotten that a thriller needs to be thrilling. Opus seems like the end result of a bunch of ideas that were never fleshed out — especially when it comes to the character of Moretti. It’s noted by the Levelists and other people in the film that he’s a big deal, but we don’t really see it for ourselves. Even films like Mean Girls do a better job of showing why being deemed special by these leader types can evoke a devoted following.
I really wanted to like the film; as an Edebiri fan, I was eager to see a Black woman at the center of a thriller. But even the plot twists seemed “meh.” Here’s hoping that this review doesn’t make me Moretti’s next target!
Lawmakers gonna law-make, and committee agendas for the Tennessee General Assembly are filled to the brim with a vast and complex array of proposals for a better Tennessee (depending on where you sit).
Hundreds of bills filed in Nashville cover everything from far-right-fueled covenant marriages to hunters finding wounded deer with drones to rules that take the high out of Tennessee cannabis products — and so much more.
Here are a few bills we’re watching.
Senator Brent Taylor (Photo: wapp.capitol.tn.gov)
Gender transition (SB 0676)
Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) says this law ensures that if a gender clinic takes state funds to perform gender transition procedures, they’ll have to also perform “detransition procedures.”
The bill also requires a report to the state on a ton of information about any transition procedures: the age and sex of the patient, what drugs were given to them, when the referral was made, what state and county the patient is from, and a complete list of “neurological, behavioral, or mental health conditions” the patient might have had. Almost everything but the patient’s name and WhatsApp handle.
Forever chemicals (SB 0880)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing this bill, and maybe not just in Tennessee.
When Mark Behrens, a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, explained it to a Senate committee last week, he specifically mentioned PFAS (also called forever chemicals by some), which are found in nonstick cookware, firefighting foam, and more. He also broadly mentioned “microplastics” and “solvents.”
Behrens claimed these may have a PR problem but they may also be in a situation where “the science [on them] is evolving and they may not have an impact on human health, or that impact may be unclear.”
So rather than the state banning them for just having a bad rap, any ban would have to be based on “the best available science.”
Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) asked if this could be used to keep fluoride out of drinking water. No, she was told.
Medical Ethics Defense Act (SB 0955)
“This bill prohibits a healthcare provider from being required to participate in or pay for a healthcare procedure, treatment, or service that violates the conscience of the healthcare provider.” The bill itself is scanty on details. On its face, it sure sounds like it’s aimed at the LGBTQ community.
But bill sponsor Senator Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) said it was a “straightforward bill,” covering things such as assisted suicide or whether or not a pharmacist felt comfortable prescribing birth control.
Deer and drones (SB 0130)
This one is straightforward. It would allow hunters to use drones to find deer they shot.
WHO now? (SB 0669)
With this bill, Taylor, the Memphis Republican, says pandemics can only be declared by the American, baseball-and-apple-pie Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not the Swiss, soccer-and-Toblerone World Health Organization (WHO).
Senator London Lamar (Photo: wapp.capitol.tn.gov)
Cash for STI tests (SB 0189)
Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis) wants to give higher-education students in Tennessee $250 for taking a voluntary test for sexually transmitted diseases.
Felonies for protestors (SB 0672)
You know how Memphis protestors like to shut down the Hernando DeSoto Bridge? Well, Taylor, that Memphis Republican, would make that a felony.
But it’s not just big roads and protestors. The bill applies to anyone obstructing “a highway, street, sidewalk, railway, waterway, elevator, aisle, hallway, or other place used for the passage of persons or vehicles.” Those would be Class E felonies.
But if the “offense was committed by intentionally obstructing a highway, street, or other place used for the passage of vehicles,” it would be a Class D felony.
What’s in a name? (SB 0214)
This bill would prohibit any public facility to be named for a local public official who is currently in office — and for two years after they leave office. The same prohibition would also apply to anyone who has “been convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude.”
Covenant marriage (SB 0737)
This bill creates “covenant marriage” in Tennessee. And the most important thing the bill caption wants you to know about the law is that this kind of marriage “is entered into by one male and one female.”
Covenant marriage is, like, a mega, pinky-swear marriage. To get it, couples have to go to premarital counseling and their preacher or counselor or whoever has to get notarized and some kind of pamphlet to be printed by the secretary of state.
Getting out of a covenant marriage is, like, way hard. A partner would have to cheat or die, be sentenced to death or lifelong imprisonment, leave the house for a year, or physically or sexually abuse the other partner or the couple’s children.
These types of marriages are only available now in Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Oh, and if you wonder where this is coming from, check out a video posted on our website that shows Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), one of the bill’s sponsors, at church talking about “wicked” gay marriage. — Toby Sells
Taylor sponsored SB 0217. (Photo: Joshua Rainey | Dreamstime.com)
Clearing Homeless Camps (SB 0217)
A bill would give those living in homeless camps three days to vacate if their camp is targeted for removal in a new program that could cost around $64 million each year from the state highway fund.
Senate Bill 0217 would require the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and other agencies to regulate “the collection, storage, claiming, and disposal of personal property used for camping from the shoulder, berm, or right-of-way of a state or interstate highway, or under a bridge or overpass, or within an underpass of a state or interstate highway.”
The bill, sponsored by Taylor, coasted through its first vote by the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee last week with only one Democrat voting against it. Taylor said he had experience in trying to clear areas of personal property and called it the “most complicated thing [he] had done as an adult.”
“What this bill does is simply allow TDOT to go into communities like Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, or any other community and to go ahead and preplan how they’re going to deal with homeless encampments and go ahead and work with social services networks in that community,” Taylor said.
Taylor said this network will include law enforcement, so that all the duties will already be spelled out when an encampment needs to be removed. He also said this bill does not criminalize homeless people.
“This serves not only the state and the local community, but this serves the homeless folks as well,” Taylor said. “When they identify a homeless encampment that needs to be cleared, there’ll be nonprofits and social services available to the people in homeless encampments. We all have empathy, but whatever has driven somebody to have to live under a bridge, their lot in life is not getting better by living under a bridge.”
Taylor said the bill will help communities develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to tackle this issue in a way that’s beneficial to both the city and the homeless. Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) asked if the bill outlines how their belongings will be stored, to which Taylor responded that the decision would be left to the board.
“I understand the intent,” Campbell said. “I have a similar thing happen in my district. I just am concerned without the direction from the legislation, the homeless peoples’ items and things need to be considered, that we’re putting the discretion to be able to take stuff away from homeless people in somebody’s hands where it might not have been before.”
Lindsey Krinks, co-founder of Housing for All Tennessee and Open Table Nashville, noted citizens’ concerns for the bill — specifically, the disposal of homeless people’s belongings.
“What this bill doesn’t tell you is that the campsite removal costs will be passed down to local governments; we’re really concerned about that,” Krinks said. “We all want to see the number of people living in encampments decrease, but the way we do that is not to play a game of Whack-A-Mole. It’s to break the cycle of homelessness through providing housing and support to people.”
Krinks said the bill does not address homelessness nor the deficit of housing or shelter. She noted that the bill’s “aggressive” deadline of removal three days after receiving a complaint does not allow people to secure permanent housing.
Taylor said this bill will address these concerns as the agencies and TDOT will help people get connected to the services they need. He said continuing to let people live in encampments without services does not provide them with extra support.
“If you support homeless people and want to get them the services they need and help them live in dignity, then you would support this bill because we’re able to make that connection when we clear a homeless encampment between a person in need and social services they need to connect them,” Taylor said. — Kailynn Johnson
Happy high? (HB 1376)
State Republicans propose either stricter cannabis rules or none at all.
Despite warnings that the hemp industry would be decimated, the House Judiciary Committee passed a measure last week that would put stricter regulations in place.
Sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), House Bill 1376 would place the industry under the Alcoholic Beverage Commission instead of the Department of Agriculture and remove products from convenience and grocery stores. Only vape and liquor stores would be allowed to sell some hemp products.
The House bill was slated to be heard this week in the Commerce Committee where agreements with the industry could be reached.
“It does ban [derivatives] THCA and THCP. The reason for that is we have not legalized marijuana in this state,” Lamberth said.
Hemp is distinguished from marijuana in that it contains a compound called delta-9 THC. Cannabis with a concentration of less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC is defined as legal hemp in Tennessee — and federally. Cannabis with concentrations greater than 0.3 percent is classified as marijuana and is illegal to grow, sell, or possess in Tennessee.
Hemp flowers also contain THCA, a nonintoxicating acid that would be banned in Tennessee under this bill. When heated or smoked, the THCA in the plant converts into delta-9 THC — an illegal substance in Tennessee in greater than trace amounts.
Clint Palmer, a representative of the hemp industry, told lawmakers the bill is similar to one passed in 2023 that led to a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture that remains in litigation.
If the new measure passes, Palmer said, hemp businesses will be forced to shut down, even after spending millions of dollars complying with state regulations.
“Bill sponsors have said it’s the Wild West in regards to the current hemp program. This is far from the truth,” Palmer said.
The 2023 law put new restrictions on products containing THC, he said, and noted retail stores, manufacturers, and distributors are required to be licensed or face criminal charges. Palmer added that regulation is lacking from the Department of Agriculture, despite a 6 percent tax on hemp-derived products, half of which nets the department $1 million a month.
Lamberth has said that consumers should know the ingredients when they buy a hemp product. But Palmer said those are listed on labels, based on the 2023 law.
The House leader also indicated that the industry appears ready to sue the state again because the federal Farm Act sets standards on hemp. Palmer didn’t acknowledge whether a lawsuit could follow the new bill’s passage, but he said the Alcoholic Beverage Commission doesn’t “have a clear understanding of the hemp plant, and it’s clearly shown in this bill.”
The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), is to be heard next by the finance committee. Briggs said last week as soon as the products are heated, they become marijuana.
“We could withdraw the bill and let’s just put another bill out there that says we’re going to have recreational marijuana,” Briggs said. “Let’s be perfectly honest. It’ll help the businesses, we’ll have great revenue, and everybody smoking the stuff will be a lot happier.” — Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Healthcare on the Hill (SB 0402 / SB 0403 / SB 0575)
Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis) introduced SB 0403 and SB 0402 to tackle the issue of medical debt. SB 0403 proposes that hospitals match the amount of money they receive from the government to cover “uncompensated care” in erasing medical debt. According to the Tennessee General Assembly, taxpayers paid $153 million to cover payments for 107 hospitals.
“If a hospital takes public money, they should lift patient debt in return,” Lamar said. “Healthcare should heal, not bankrupt. This is about real relief for working people — helping families stay in their homes, invest in their futures, and live with dignity.”
SB 0402 seeks to further alleviate the toll of medical debt as it would remove its inclusion from credit reports. Lamar called medical debt an “unfair financial harm.”
Lamar has also long been an advocate for reducing the state’s maternal health crisis. The state has historically had the worst maternal mortality rate in the country. To aid in this, Lamar filed SB 0575, which would require new mothers to receive information about postpartum warning signs from hospitals.
“There’s an education gap women are experiencing as far as resources, what to do, and how to go through this process,” Lamar said. “In an effort to ensure that women have the best pregnancy outcome possible, we want to make sure we’re providing them with more tools in their toolbox to protect themselves and their child in this process and after.”
Lamar said this bill would add an extra layer of accountability to make sure hospitals and birthing centers are doing their part to educate women. The senator said that medical deserts create a significant gap in accessing quality care even before they seek pregnancy care. She went on to say pregnancy outcomes are reliant on the mother’s lifestyle before and after the process.
“We have an unhealthy community that is deprived of access to resources and doctors,” Lamar said. “There is a financial burden of not being able to afford the healthcare they need. Healthcare is really expensive. It’s very elitist. It’s the haves and the have-nots, so if you don’t have the money to have insurance or pay out of pocket, then you don’t get healthcare. That stems down to Black women who are less likely to have the care they need, rural women in rural areas who are experiencing poverty don’t have access [to care.]”
The idea of providing equitable healthcare and rights have extended to reproductive bills such as HB 0027 sponsored by Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville). The bill, which has been supported by groups such as Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, states that everyone has a “fundamental right to make decisions about their reproductive health care.” HB 1220 also protects reproductive freedom as it safeguards the right to choose whether or not a person wants to use contraceptives.
Some GOP bills, like the Medical Ethics Defense Act mentioned above, seek to curb access to care. Meanwhile, SB 0139, sponsored by Senator Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun), would mandate hospitals accepting Medicaid to collect and report citizenship status about patients, and report these demographics to the Tennessee Department of Health. The department would then submit this information to state government officials to track the impact of “uncompensated care for persons not lawfully present in the United States and other related information.” — KJ
“If you’re a nice person, you are welcome to be a part of our family.” (Photo: Courtesy Dru’s Bar)
Tami Montgomery calls herself someone who would have never considered buying a bar. In fact, while she may own a bar on paper, she doesn’t consider herself in the “bar business.”
“I’m in the community business,” she says. “Not just the gay community business — the Memphis community. I just want to leave it how I found it.”
Montgomery has been the owner of Dru’s Bar (1474 Madison Avenue) since 2008. And there’s a surprising story about how she came to be in either business in the first place. According to Montgomery, she got two separate phone calls on two different days, notifying her that the bar — known as The Jungle at that time — was for sale.
“I am not someone who ever, ever, considered buying a bar,” Montgomery says. “I’m not one of those people that would go out and have a drink and say, ‘Oh I’d like to own a bar sometime.’ That is not me.”
She says those phone calls felt like cosmic alignment. Taking guidance from that, Montgomery told the previous owner she wanted to purchase the building. Two weeks later, she quit her job to prepare to reopen.
“It was a bit of an out-of-the-blue experience, but I felt like it was the right decision, and I’ve been working at it ever since,” she says.
Dru’s has meant a lot of things to a lot of people who walk through the doors. While some may come in looking for a fun night out, others have found it to be a sanctuary of sorts.
“We’ve taken the approach that all nice people are welcome,” Montgomery says. “We couldn’t care less whether you’re gay, straight, Black, white — we don’t care. If you’re a nice person, you are welcome to be a part of our family.”
Dru’s was created as a space for people to be themselves and have fun — free of judgement. Those who frequent the bar have admitted it’s hard not to be drawn in by the welcoming environment. Aubrey Wallace — also known as Aubrey Ombre in drag — has been working at Dru’s for 15 years.
“For a lot of us [Dru’s has] been here for so long it’s more than just a bar — it’s home,” Wallace says. “It’s the only place we really have left we can fight for. This is where all of us started. This is forever going to be home, and we’re going to come together and keep it going no matter what.”
Montgomery notes Dru’s doesn’t have a lot of the problems that come with bar culture such as fights and brawls. Yet this doesn’t mean it’s exempt from the troubles many bars have faced since the pandemic.
“We’re just now starting to see the true fallout from all the Covid stuff and shutdowns,” Montgomery says. “All the bars and restaurants that have closed recently. I think we’re finally seeing that happen. It’s like, ‘We’ve held on as long as we can.’ Most people who own a small business have been in the same position. … Nothing has bounced back like we thought it would in the industry as a whole.”
Terry W. has helped organize an upcoming benefit for Dru’s. He notes that gay clubs in the area are dwindling after Atomic Rose’s closure last year, but adds that Dru’s incurred additional expenses when a brick was thrown through the window.
“Your safe places for the whole community, they’re kind of going away,” Terry says. “But Tami is working hard to not let that happen. She wants everybody to have a place.”
To help with its challenges, the bar will be hosting a Benefit Drag Bingo on February 23rd at 1 p.m. In addition to bingo, patrons can participate in raffles and a silent auction and purchase their own brick to sign at the bar. The event, hosted by Pat McCooter and Shyla Tucker, will also have live entertainment and a roast of Montgomery.
“There’s been so much that Tami has done,” Terry says. “We want to come back and help her. She has been there for everybody — it’s time everybody comes for her.”
Young thespians conjure up that Sunday morning feeling. (Photo: Juan Self)
Sunday mornings have always held special meaning in the fabric of Black culture. They’re filled with the hustle and bustle of getting ready — women waiting for curling irons to heat to the perfect temperature while men both young and old perfect the knots of their ties.
Congregations then begin to file into church pews as ushers greet them with white gloves. Church mothers fill the front rows dressed as elegantly as the grace they exude. The angelic choir voices sing songs of hope, faith, and praise before a sermon the pastor has mused to echo those sentiments.
“We all know Sunday morning,” Sabrina Norwood, executive director of the Young Actors Guild (YAG), says. “When you think about Sunday morning, that’s you getting up and getting dressed and coming to be rejuvenated. There’s a lot of hand clapping, a lot of foot stomping, and beautiful music that will not only connect you but will reinvigorate you.”
While images of these mornings may be different through the years, themes of hope mixed with the spirit of congregation remain. It’s an important scene to capture, one that YAG is working to encapsulate in their performance, aptly titled Sunday Morning: Dance to Freedom, on February 23rd at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, located at 620 Parkrose Road in Memphis, TN.
The performance is timely — the organization celebrates Black History Month and its own 34th anniversary this February — but it also reflects the empowerment needed during this political climate.
“I think we’re all operating in uncertainty,” Norwood says. “One thing that stays true is the arts, and love for the arts, and everybody can relate to it. We hope it’s both healing and reflective to others.”
Community has been a mainstay for the organization since its inception. Founder and creative director Chrysti Chandler recalls coming back to Memphis in 1991 after seeing there were many children who didn’t participate in after-school activities. She was shocked to find out it was because students couldn’t afford it.
“Many of the young people we serve are from underrepresented populations,” Norwood says. “Those students are able to attend our program for little to no cost because we believe arts should be accessible for all.”
Norwood says through Chandler’s vision, more than 41,000 young people have come through their doors. YAG houses a performing arts academy that operates year-round with students ages 8 to 17. And Norwood says being in the Orange Mound community allows young people a platform they haven’t typically had. They are able to showcase their talent and creativity while also giving a voice to their generation.
Norwood says this age group is known for an outspoken and unconventional approach to social justice, and these themes are interwoven through Sunday Morning intentionally.
“This performance is all about a dance to freedom,” Norwood says. “About them finding ways to create their own avenues to bring justice, equality, accessibility to their community, and to create sustainability. This production will provide an opportunity to not only unify our young people but unify our community.”
As she reflects on YAG’s students, she says they’re a generation who will move mountains, and art gives them the opportunity to advocate on their behalf while celebrating how far their heritage has come. To amplify this, the production will include a performance from Orange Mound-founded band Black Cream. Gospel artist Deborah Manning Thomas — whom Norwood calls a “vocal powerhouse” — will also join. Rooted Souls, a group that developed from parents of YAG, will perform. And Sharonda Mcfield will come in from North Carolina to join the production, along with Kevin Davidson.
“Gospel music certainly is healing,” Norwood says. “We all know that. Just walking through that Sunday morning of getting there and sometimes feeling so burdened down, but leaving feeling like you can take over the world. That’s the experience we want to be able to create, and hopefully it’ll revive us with the climate we’re in. We really want this to be an amazing presentation of revival.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Young, flanked by chief legal officer Tamara Gibson and Police Chief C.J. Davis, responds to the DOJ MPD report at a press conference on December 5, 2024. (Photo: City of Memphis)
In the wake of the killing of Tyre Nichols by members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION Unit in January 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated an investigation of the MPD to determine if officers regularly violated citizens’ rights. After 18 months of reviewing case files and video, interviewing Memphians, riding along with officers, and observing the inner workings of the MPD, the DOJ released its findings on December 4th. The 70-page report concludes, “After an extensive investigation, the Department of Justice has reasonable cause to believe that the MPD and the city engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.”
“Don’t Kill Me!”
The DOJ investigators highlighted four key findings: 1. MPD uses excessive force. 2. MPD conducts unlawful stops, searches, and arrests. 3. MPD unlawfully discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities. 4. The city and MPD unlawfully discriminate in their response to people with behavioral health disabilities. To support these findings, investigators cited numerous instances of violence by MPD officers against the citizens of Memphis. “Excessive force is routine in MPD,” DOJ investigators write. “Officers use force as a first resort, demand unquestioning obedience, and exact punishment if they do not receive it.”
Nine police cars and 12 officers responded to a call where a mentally ill man stole a $2 soft drink from a convenience store. After he put his hands up to surrender, he was beaten. He screamed, “Don’t kill me!” and tried to run away. He was subdued and repeatedly tased while face-down on the ground, then served two days in jail for disorderly conduct and theft.
In another case, three officers tackled a man who had littered in a public park. “The man had done nothing wrong, but was ‘talking all this shit,’ according to one officer, and would not tell the officers his name. When the man dropped his drink while leaving the park, four officers surrounded him. … While handcuffed in the patrol car later, the man told a lieutenant that he was trying to follow the officers’ directions, but they had already decided to charge him: ‘I even offered to pick the can up.’”
The DOJ report finds fatal flaws in the MPD’s frontline strategy. “Memphis has relied on traffic stops to address violent crime. The police department has encouraged officers in specialized units, task forces, and patrol to prioritize street enforcement. Officers and community members have described this approach as ‘saturation,’ or flooding neighborhoods with traffic stops. This strategy involves frequent contact with the public and gives wide discretion to officers, which requires close supervision and clear rules to direct officers’ activity. But MPD does not ensure that officers conduct themselves in a lawful manner.”
In two instances cited in the report, officers followed drivers to their destinations and confronted them for traffic violations. One woman was standing on the porch of a relative’s house. After she didn’t produce ID and told the police they were “not welcome on the property,” officers cuffed her, roughed her up, and threatened to pepper spray her. The report states, “After locking her in a police car, one officer asked, ‘So what did we see her do?’ When an officer suggested the woman’s car had improperly tinted windows, another officer responded, ‘All this for a tint?’ The officer shook his head and gestured with his hand that the woman talked too much.”
In another incident, officers forced their way into the home of a woman accused of driving with expired tags and failing to stop at a stop sign. “No exigent circumstances demanded they enter the woman’s home, and the officers had no justification to use force to push their way inside for a nonviolent traffic infraction,” reads the report. After arresting the woman in front of her crying child, “… one officer reflected, ‘In the grand scheme of things, this does not seem like it was worth it.’”
Officers frequently use potentially deadly neck restraints, similar to the one Minneapolis Police Department members applied fatally to George Floyd when he was killed in 2020. In Memphis, an intoxicated man was repeatedly choked into submission until he urinated on himself. “He was not charged with any crime.”
After offering a ride home to a man suffering a mental health crisis, the police uncovered an outstanding warrant for theft. The officer pulled the man from the police car, saying, “You’re fixing to get your ass whupped.” When the man tried to flee, the officer beat him and put him in a neck restraint.
Officers were frequently observed beating, tasing, and pepper spraying people who were already restrained and posed no threat. “One officer hit a handcuffed man in the face and torso with a baton eight times.”
In addition, “Officers repeatedly permitted police dogs to bite or continue to bite people, including children, who were nonresistant and attempting to surrender.”
In one incident, an officer investigating a stolen vehicle report “fired at a car at least eight times at a fast food drive-thru in the middle of the day, jeopardizing other officers and bystanders. … MPD’s investigation improperly found that this use of deadly force was justified.”
In a sidebar titled “Sick of his fucking mouth,” the DOJ investigators write, “MPD officers escalate incidents involving minor offensives by responding to perceived insults, disrespect, or ‘verbal resistance’ with unconstitutional force. … Some MPD officers seem to believe that questioning their authority justifies force — as one supervisor told us, ‘If someone says, “I ain’t under arrest,” that’s resisting arrest right there.’”
Children were not spared the MPD’s methods. When one 16-year-old girl called police to report that she had been assaulted, she ended up in handcuffs. “After three hours, officers removed the handcuffs to reposition them. As she complained that her hands were hurt and swollen and tried to move her wrists, the officers grabbed her and pushed her face down onto the ground to handcuff her again. The girl was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.”
When officers were dispersing a crowd after a fight at a high school football game, one officer singled out a “relatively small-statured teen girl trying to leave the premises, yelling ‘Bye! Bye!’ at her. The officer’s taunts provoked the girl, who talked back. In response, the officer shoved the girl, yelling, ‘Get out this motherfuckin’ lot.’ The girl pushed back, and two other officers approached the girl from behind and threw her on the ground. The officers then lifted the girl in the air and slammed her face down into the pavement. The officer who started the altercation told her to ‘Get your dumb ass up,’ and called her a ‘stupid bitch’ as the girl was led away in handcuffs.”
When officers chased two Black boys, aged 15 and 16, who were suspected of a curfew violation, one officer, who had dropped his mobile phone in the chase, said, “I am fucking these little kids up, man. … I am fucking you all up. I just wanted to let y’all know that.”
In another incident, “One officer shot a teenager, and then another officer hit the teenager three times in the head with the butt of his handgun and at least 12 times with a closed fist. The teen was disarmed, seriously injured, and posed no threat at the time. Prosecutors later sent a letter to MPD stating that they ‘seriously considered recommending criminal charges’ against the officer because of the ‘more than one dozen closed fist punches to the face’ that the officer delivered. The prosecutors wrote, ‘We trust that you will handle this as an internal matter and leave it to your sound discretion.’ We saw no evidence that any further investigation took place or that any discipline was imposed. The officer remains employed at MPD.”
The report concludes, “Supervisors do not address these recurrent practices, and some at MPD defend these practices. As one field training officer told us, ‘We’re not excessive enough with these criminals. We baby them.’”
Officers use force as a first resort; MPD treats Black people more harshly. (Photo: Department of Justice)
Black People Bear the Brunt
On page 37 of the report, DOJ investigators write, “MPD’s own data show that across a range of different law enforcement actions, MPD treats Black people more harshly than white people when they engage in similar conduct.”
While 64 percent of Memphians are Black, 81 percent of the MPD’s traffic violations are issued to Black people. Officers issued 33.2 percent more moving violations in predominately Black neighborhoods than they did in predominately white neighborhoods. Black drivers were cited for equipment violations at 4.5 times the rate of white drivers; for improperly tinted windows, the rate was 9.8 times. Public health data indicates that both Black and white people use cannabis at the same rate, but MPD arrested Black people for marijuana possession at more than five times the rate of white people.
The report found that the MPD stopped and cited one Black man 30 times in three years. In another case, “MPD stopped a Black man outside a dollar store ‘due to multiple robberies of dollar stores in the area,’ according to the police report. The officers had no reason to suspect that this particular man took part in the robberies, and the man told them he was just waiting for a friend. When he didn’t leave or produce ID, police handcuffed him, beat him with a baton, and pepper sprayed him. The officers had no reason to believe that the man engaged in criminal activity and lacked reasonable suspicion to stop him. But they arrested him anyway, and he spent a night in jail. Prosecutors declined to pursue any charges stemming from the incident. After the incident, the man noted, ‘They had no reason to do this. And they’re out here doing this to people every day.’”
Mental Health Crisis
In 1988, after the MPD killed a mentally ill man who was cutting himself, the city founded the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). Composed of officers who have specialized training in dealing with behavioral health issues, the CIT became a model other city’s police departments emulated. But the DOJ found “serious problems with the CIT program,” and that “officers often escalate behavioral encounters and use combative tactics almost immediately after arriving to behavioral health calls. … We observed CIT officers in Memphis belittle and mock people with behavioral health disabilities. In one incident, a CIT officer hit a man in the head and threatened him with a Taser while officers called him a ‘motherfucker,’ ‘bitch,’ and a ‘dumbass.’” One CIT officer earned the nickname “Taser Face.”
One 8-year-old Black boy with four behavioral health diagnoses encountered the MPD nine times between December 2021 and August 2023. He was threatened with tasing, handcuffed, and repeatedly thrown onto a couch. In one incident, when the boy stuck out his tongue, the CIT officer responded by bending his arm back and screaming, “I can break your arm with the snap of my wrist.”
The report says that while 75 percent of 911 calls involving people with mental illness are nonviolent, “MPD’s training on behavioral health primes officers to approach people with behavioral health disabilities with force and aggression, and our review revealed they often do. For instance, a training given to all new officers erroneously teaches that people with bipolar disorder do not feel pain.”
The City Responds
At a press conference on December 5, 2024, Mayor Paul Young responded to the DOJ’s findings — while repeatedly emphasizing that he had not read the report. “I believe that even one incident of mistreatment by the police is one too many. … The report the DOJ released last night is going to be difficult to read. Some of the incidents the DOJ report described are simply not acceptable, and our hearts go out to every person who has been impacted by those actions.”
In cities such as Seattle, New Orleans, and Chicago which have previously been the subject of DOJ investigations, city governments entered into consent decrees, negotiated with the DOJ, that outline the steps police departments must take to improve. At the press conference, Young ruled out signing such a decree. “We believe adjustments we’ve already begun making must continue, and that they must expand. It’s my job as mayor to fight for the best interests of our entire community. Every member. After carefully considering the information we received from DOJ, we didn’t believe that entering into any agreement in principle or consent decree right now, before even thoroughly reading the DOJ report, would be in the best interest of our community. It’s crucial that the city has the time to do a thorough review and respond to the findings before agreeing to anything that could become a long-term financial burden to our residents, and could, in fact, actually slow down our ongoing efforts to continuously improve our police department.”
Young cited recent statistics which show a 13 percent drop in crime overall, and a 19 percent drop in violent crimes. Police Chief C.J. Davis echoed the mayor’s position that the department is on the right track. “In some of the areas that have been outlined in the report, we have made significant changes aligned with the Department of Justice, getting their support with some of the training that has been ongoing, not just this year, but in previous years.”
In response to the sections of the report regarding the MPD’s treatment of children, Davis said, “We spend a lot of time with our children in our community. We graduated over a thousand children from our D.A.R.E./G.R.E.A.T. program, and work consistently to try to improve those relationships. We’re going to look through the report to ensure that we’re not missing anything.”
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has studied the full report. “I think it’s very concerning and shouldn’t be dismissed. I still think the vast majority of folks on the force are people of good faith. They have a hard job, having to make quick decisions in stressful, sometimes dangerous situations. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be systemic issues of culture, training, and supervision that cry out for reform.”
When Shahidah Jones of the Official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter read the report, she recalls thinking, “Not to be cynical, but it was just like, ‘Duh.’ We didn’t choose to target police because we didn’t have anything else to do or we were looking at these one-off instances. A very large part of organizing is for us to learn history and do our political study. … This is not something new. This is the way police have been taught to operate.”
Josh Spickler, executive director of criminal justice-reform nonprofit Just City, agrees. “I’m not particularly surprised by the report. I recognize some of these stories, some of the examples from media reports. Many of these things are well-documented and well-known incidents. And the findings are bad and awful, and as even Mayor Young said, hard to read, but they are not surprising.”
For Amber Sherman, who lobbied the city council for reform in the wake of the Tyre Nichols killing, the report felt like vindication. “My immediate action really was that it just corroborated everything that, you know, we as organizers here in Memphis have been saying for so long, especially with Decarcerate Memphis, where we’ve been really pressing the issue about pretextual stops and how dangerous they are.”
Decarcerate Memphis’ Alex Hensley, who drafted the reform ordinances which were passed by the city council in reduced forms after the Tyre Nichols killing, says she, too, feels vindicated by the report. “Activists and organizers have been saying all of these things for years on end, and then to have the DOJ — which is a policing entity, by the way — to say that, yeah, we need to not prioritize these low-level violations.”
DA Mulroy says, “We need to rethink about using specialized units for routine enforcement. And distinguish between traffic stops that actually affect safety or real crime, like moving violations and drive-out tag fraud violations, which make sense. But some of these minor equipment violations, the data shows the hit rate on those is very low — you’re talking like 2 to 3 percent of the time do you find weapons or drugs or somebody that’s wanted on a serious charge. But the data also show those are precisely the types of offenses that are associated with racial profiling. You really have to think about what kind of a bang you’re getting for your buck. You’re potentially alienating the community that you most want to cooperate with law enforcement because they’re the ones who see the crime.”
City council member Dr. Jeff Warren said he had not yet read the report. “If you remember, around the time that Black Lives Matter occurred after the George Floyd killing, the council began a process where we were involved with the police department, trying to initiate reforms. Some of the reforms that we actually initiated were negated by the state legislature. … I think we’ve been in the process of reform since this current police chief came on board; we’re doing that right now. That’s one of the reasons I don’t really think that the city needs to be entering into a consent decree that will cost taxpayers multiple millions of dollars, when it’s something we’re already trying to do.”
When asked about the DOJ’s finding that MPD recruits are taught that people with bipolar disorder cannot feel pain, Warren, a family physician, responded, “I don’t know where they got that from. Just because it’s written in a report doesn’t mean that’s the truth.”
The treatment of what the MPD calls “mental consumers” is one issue where there may be consensus on reform. The DOJ report cites multiple high-ranking MPD officers, as well as Memphis Fire Department officials and 911 call-takers, who believe that a new department specializing in mental health situations is needed to shift the burden from the MPD.
“We should listen to them on that,” says Hensley. “If this city is so pro-police, listen to them on this subject. Clearly, there are a lot of mental health calls and a lot of mental health issues within our community that I think tie back to these issues of poverty, lack of housing, lack of investments in basic necessities. We have to come up with something different.”
Spickler says, “There’s data that shows that most interactions with people in mental health crises are not violent. There are ways of responding that wouldn’t lead you to have to tell people falsely that people with bipolar don’t feel pain. One of the great suggestions of this report is that we don’t have to send an armed person to some of the things that we send them to, like a stranded motorist, traffic accidents, and mental health calls. These are all things that can be handled with someone who has safety and resolution as their mission and not what we have in this police department — and most police departments, frankly — and that is a warrior mentality. There’s an arrogance to it, and there’s an offensiveness to it.
“There’s nothing about policing that should be offensive. It’s ‘to protect and serve,’ right? Many police departments across America have tried to shift to a guardian model, which is how policing, I think, is most effective. But throughout that report, you see very clear evidence that that is not the case at the Memphis Police Department. There is no guardian mentality. It’s not taught; it’s not modeled. It’s really not expected. What is expected is that you get what you want by whatever means necessary.”
Will Anything Change?
The election of Donald Trump, who has promised a “brutal approach” to law enforcement, has brought the next steps into question. Whether a future DOJ would sue to impose a settlement with the city is an open question.
“I’m not gonna speculate about their motivations, but I think it’s obvious to anybody that there’s a very good chance that a lot of this will be dropped or, at a minimum, they’ll be less aggressive about enforcing it with the new administration,” says DA Mulroy. “We’ve seen that before with the prior Trump administration. That could be anyone’s calculus in dealing with the aftermath of November 5th.”
At his press conference, Mayor Young said, “We would have the same position regardless of the outcome of the presidential election.”
A consent decree with the DOJ would result in federal monitors being assigned to the MPD in order to ensure that they do not violate citizens’ constitutional rights. In his regular Friday email on December 6th, Young wrote, “Instead of a broad and potentially prolonged federal oversight via a consent decree — which could impose millions in costs on our residents — we believe by taking a holistic, community-focused approach we can move further and faster toward the change we need with less cost to our community.”
These costs must be weighed against the costs of not acting, says Hensley. “I think they’re going to pay for it one way or another. First of all, they’re bloating the costs. We’ve looked at other cities, some of them have been high, but it’s spread out over time. There are just all these other elements that are being left out to make it seem like we’re going to go bankrupt next year. That’s disingenuous. Tyre Nichols’ family is suing them for $500 million — and that’s just one person. I’m not their chief financial officer, but you can look at that clearly and see the costs are going to be far worse if they don’t sign the consent decree, or if they don’t do these reforms.”
MATA Interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin (Photos: Courtesy MATA)
When we spoke to the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s interim CEO Bacarra Mauldin in August, she called the state of affairs at MATA “business unusual.”
This summer, Mauldin and her team were in the process of finalizing the budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (F25). They had promised their board they would present a balanced financial plan after it was announced that the agency was in a $60 million deficit. The balanced budget, with plans for bus route suspensions and more than 200 layoffs, was unanimously passed, and would only further affirm Mauldin’s confidence in her own assessment of the current climate as “business unusual.”
“It’s not everyday that you have your whole board replaced at once,” Mauldin says now, reflecting on the most recent move made by Memphis Mayor Paul Young.“I trust Mayor Young, we’ve partnered, and he has a vision for how he wants this to go. He sent a clear message that he wants things to change — and we intend for them to change — and I support his vision,” Mauldin says.
Young made the move to replace the entire MATA Board of Commissioners in October, following a draft report from transportation consulting firm TransPro. The 117-page recommendation — which one city council member called “scathing” — summarizes recommendations for the agency and analyzes bus usage, ridership, and on-time performance, among other things. Its purpose was to highlight the pressing challenges the agency faced and call for urgent action.
TransPro conducted its analysis from August 19th to October 11th — during which time the board passed the budget without questions. This proved to be a point of concern for TransPro when evaluating MATA. “Existing MATA board fails to provide reasonable oversight,” the report said. “Just a month ago the MATA board unanimously adopted a budget with no questions … for a fiscal year that started more than 100 days prior.”
The consulting firm found only 26 percent of the community believed in the agency’s ability to efficiently handle public funds. In order to gain the public’s trust regarding management of funds, they recommended the entire board be replaced.
“The MATA board as currently constituted should be replaced with new members who will take seriously their responsibility to act as the policy and oversight entity of the agency,” the report said. “New board members should be trained on expectations and responsibilities.”
Mayor Young’s decision exemplified his intentions to start a “clean slate” at the transit authority, which had been at the center of controversy and public discourse for months.
The new MATA board members pose for a group picture following their Oath of Office ceremony at City Hall on November 15, 2024.
In the Interim
In February, Mauldin was named interim CEO following the retirement of former MATA CEO Gary Rosenfeld. Her appointment came a few months after the agency opted to nix their controversial 2023 proposed winter service changes.
These changes were proposed as a way to enhance the agency’s on-time performance and efficiency. This included stopping service after 7 p.m. as well as suspension of numerous routes. After hearing from the public at both board and public meetings, as well as from state leaders such as Justin J. Pearson, the board of commissioners opted to keep service as usual.
MATA touted these adjustments as a way to give the public more reliable service, by addressing their shortage of mechanics and bus repair backlog. At the time, officials said they were missing 20 percent of all of their scheduled trips.
Mauldin took over as interim CEO in the aftermath, and one of the first things she did in her official capacity was retain the services of an external CFO, Hamish Davidson of J.S. Held LLC. According to Mauldin, MATA had not previously had a CFO — a crucial position in stabilizing the organization’s financials.
Shortly after publicly announcing that the agency had been operating in a deficit, officials presented their budget proposal to the Memphis City Council, who has historically been the agency’s primary source of operating funds. The council allocated more $30 million to the agency for FY25. During this time, they also said they would be more involved in MATA’s budget moving forward. Officials instantly began their process of refining the budget. Mauldin said their largest expense was wages and fringe benefits.
In the summer, Mauldin admitted that if they were still operating in the way they had been previously, they would require a budget of $85 million; instead, she proposed a draft budget of $67 million. With this draft proposal, Mauldin acknowledged there would be cuts that would impact routes, staff, and other factors. She added that these changes would “hurt,” yet they would provide the agency with a “solid sustainable foundation” to thrive.
The interim CEO said they had not been able to identify funding for their current operating system, which has caused them to make the proposed cuts. According to MATA, they would also be streamlining staffing and vendor costs, as they prepared to submit the final budget for approval.
Days before the agency presented their balanced financials, officials announced they would be suspending trolley services, after discovering a brake issue which resulted in a “costly recommendation” from Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). MATA opted to “temporarily suspend the service as opposed to making that spend” at the time. Eighteen employees were laid off as a result. The new budget was approved by the former MATA board at a meeting that same week, which included a plan to lay off more than 200 employees and suspend several ridership routes.
While the new board of commissioners voted to delay the proposed changes until February 2025, several problems have been left unanswered.
In analyzing these problems, many commentators note that these aren’t the result of one administration. Bennett Foster, executive director of Memphis For All, says most of these problems come as a result of previous leadership and people who “lack imagination.”
“Frankly, these white men who have been running MATA and running our city for the past eight years, they not only lack imagination for what MATA could be, but they also lack political will to do anything about it because of who MATA serves,” Foster says. “Black, working-class Memphians are not getting the services they need because of the people in charge and the people those leaders were serving.”
Foster says Mauldin has the “imagination and power to bring in people — both federally and statewide — to help progress the agency forward and bring in revenue.” But barriers remain in getting past these issues.
“Nobody wants to take blame for what happened, and politicians want to point the finger at management and management can’t really respond because [Mauldin] doesn’t know where they kept the receipts — it’s not her fault,” Foster says. “Of course as soon as a Black woman takes over it’s like, ‘Okay, now we need to hold you accountable.’”
Bacarra Mauldin hugs a MATA rider moments before a February 2024 event honoring the late MATA leader, William Hudson.
A Two-Fold Discussion
Conversations about MATA seem to fall in two different categories — evaluation of leadership and funding solutions — with many of the conversations intersecting. Groups such as the Memphis Bus Riders Union and Citizens for Better Service say these cuts sent the wrong message to riders and drivers, and that the changes sent a message that “[the board] was in favor of service cuts and layoffs.” Sammie Hunter, co-chair of the Memphis Bus Riders Union, was quoted as saying the budget was enough of a reason for Mayor Paul Young to “clean house.”
Further criticism of the administration and the board stemmed from a September city council presentation by the agency. Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton said Mauldin had been “gifted an issue from her predecessors” and condemned the agency for not asking for help in their budget crisis.
Officials reported they had been operating in an unrestricted budget deficit for the last 10 years, which also caused Cooper-Sutton to call out the board of commissioners, saying they should “share in accountability for the agency’s financial burdens.” Mauldin said the board did not know the state of affairs, and when she was given full visibility over their finances, she shared the information with the board.
“I know that it’s unbelievable,” Mauldin said. “I know that it’s unacceptable, but we have done everything in our power to bring this in-line so that we could provide the service this city needs and deserves.”
But there’s another side — funding — and that doesn’t solely rest on the shoulders of the agency. Much of the public discourse about MATA sheds light on the turbulence, but people like Foster say this doesn’t help procure additional funding.
“The people who are going to be impacted by these conversations are people that actually ride the bus,” Foster says. “It’s being used as an excuse to not take action and protect MATA from crumbling. Protect these riders — it should be talked about as a service, not [to talk about] these people who are in charge. Are we going to save MATA? People are thinking about the management — no, think about the riders. Are you willing to do what it takes to make sure they don’t experience an end to their bus routes?”
L. Rochelle Hubbard depends on MATA’s services for her day-to-day activities,with no part of her life that isn’t impacted by reliance on transit. Hubbard says she doesn’t feel like ridership is a priority in decision-making.
“It comes across that we’re at the bottom when decisions are made,” Hubbard says.
She adds that she’s thankful for advocacy groups such as Better Transit for a Better Memphis who have helped amplify their voices, but she can’t help but feel that, although the agency hears their riders, “very little is done.” Still, Hubbard hopes that the new board, who she says has members that represent the voices of riders, will bring new change.
“Keep the riders at the forefront of this fight to establish a better transit for better Memphis,” Hubbard says.
Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children, says, in his advocacy work, public transit has consistently been among the top issues people have talked about, by both community members and elected officials.
“We’ve had studies that show how things could be better for people to access jobs, healthcare, food, education, workforce development — almost anything you can think of could get better if we had a better transit system,” Orrin says. “We’ve created a transit system of necessity. Only people who have to ride transit for the most part ride it, even though a lot of people we hear from would like to ride public transit, whether it be for convenience or the environment … but we can’t rely on an ill-functioning and an ill-funded system.”
Ridership has plummeted as a result of Covid-19, playing a major factor in the state of transit, Mauldin said in a previous conversation. Agencies are also in the aftermath of Covid-19 relief funds running out.“That really propelled the state of financial instability for transit agencies across the country, large and small,” Mauldin said.
Mauldin says the agency’s debt has been growing due to the increased cost of doing business, decreased ridership, and flat funding. Officials say funding also impacts on-time performance.
With the city being the agency’s primary funding source, many people such as Foster say the city shares in the responsibility to maintain transit service. Foster says the agency seems to have not been a priority in current and previous administrations.
Fuel to Move Faster
These months of turmoil reached a climax when Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he was looking to start a “clean slate” by replacing all members of MATA’s board of commissioners following the release of a draft report from TransPro.
The analysis indicated that public transportation has its share of financial challenges — which MATA officials have continuously noted, citing lack of funding contributing to their budget woes. However, TransPro said MATAs challenges “are further amplified by a lack of focus on the daily needs of customers, poor financial management and oversight, and the pursuit of major projects that are straining the limited staff and fiscal resources of the authority.”
While many people have applauded the report — as it led to a change in board leadership — it isn’t without flaws. Orrin, for example, says people have problems with public transit and where the money is going. But, he says, the report fails to provide context for how public transit is funded locally as opposed to other cities.
“I affirm that people are concerned about having adequate public transit. I think working back from that, the cause is not necessarily what they relate there about whether [it’s funding] being put toward these bigger projects, because the challenge of making that kind of connection is that the bigger projects they list are supposed to make transit better.”
One example Orrin refers to is MATA’s Memphis Innovation Corridor, the first bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Memphis. BRT is commended as representing the future of public transit, as a bus route that operates like a rail line with 31 stops along the way.
Mauldin says they have not made any decisions to scale back from the project at this time, as they also value the contributions from federal partners such as Congressman Steve Cohen and the Federal Transit Administration.
“The BRT project is the core of the mobility system,” Mauldin explains. “We’re continuing to work with Mayor Young and his administration to see that project through at this point.”
She adds that the report also indicates making a new operation system a priority, a recommendation they are following.
“Overall, the report didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know,” Mauldin says. “Things were already underway, so it’s good to have that report to validate some of that. We’re using that report as fuel to move us a little faster in that direction that we were going. We’re well aware of some of the problems that existed, but again, those problems didn’t start on February 1st when I became the interim. We definitely are working very hard — from the moment I took over — to try to rectify as many of those as necessary, but the fundamental issue for all of that is a lack of funding. We just don’t have the dedicated funding.”
What’s Next?
Mauldin’s recent appointment as interim CEO comes after being at the agency for three and a half years. Though this year has had its share of controversy and setbacks, Mauldin views it as a valuable step forward in elevating public conversations around transit.
“Public transportation is more of a conversation today than it was when I first got here,” Mauldin says. “People are truly giving it the time and attention that it’s really needed for quite a long time. The fact that we’re talking about it means we’re on the right path to truly fixing it because we all know this community really needs and deserves quality transit.”
Currently, MATA is working on a financial plan to bring the trolleys back, with Mauldin saying they expect to bring something to the board “very soon.”
In evaluating the TransPro report, Mauldin says they are taking a “hard look” and working with Young on solutions, but there are a lot of things the report showed that they already knew.
Moving forward, MATA is looking to work with city, state, and federal partners to get more funding while also working with community groups and riders. And Mauldin says they’re not running from accountability.
“We’re not happy about the state of the transit authority right now and the service we provide,” she says. “We’re working every day, all day, half of the night even, trying to make service better, and I’m actually very proud of our team and what we’ve been able to accomplish so far along the journey.”
In the midst of chaos and discourse, Mauldin says she doesn’t want the work of the operators to get overlooked. While there is work to be done, she says the resilience and commitment of her team is important to address.
“The story of MATA is going to be a story of resilience,” Mauldin says. “We’re going to be the comeback kids. I believe that with all of the attention, all of the interest and development of our system, we’re going to be better on the other side because of this.”
Foster says they’re hopeful about Mauldin and her administration, saying they agree with who should take priority in decisions — the riders.
“I like her. I like the new board,” Foster says. “That’s promising, that’s giving me hope, and I do think what we saw in Nashville with the transit referendum is kind of sending a signal that people want public transit. People want that service, so I think we should prepare for something similar. We can put that on the ballot in 2026 and try to get some dedicated revenue.”
Cheri Lie Maid flicks her fan and struts during her judge’s introduction. (Photos: Ziggy Mack)
On a late-June night, Caleb Armstrong stood in front of an intimate crowd at Black Lodge. It was among the venue’s final events before closing last month, which made this night — and the images captured — all the more special. Armstrong was readying to emcee an event he held close to his heart.
Donning a chic all-black ensemble and a pair of stiletto boots — playing with both masculine and feminine undertones — he grabbed the mic. The audience looked on, excited to be a part of the birth, or rebirth, of ballroom here in Memphis. Some posed and vogued in their seats. Outfits enhanced the ambiance — with people dressed in one-of-a-kind pieces that fit the night’s various performance categories.
Like a quiet storm, one participant commanded the room in a smart black suit and a hat ornately decorated with small crystals. As they flicked their fan, they had both the accessory and the audience in the palm of their hand. A sultry vixen would dramatically ditch her trench coat, leaving little to the imagination as she faced a shirtless competitor in the “sex siren” category. Rounds later, a woman sported what could be described as “model basics” — a simple black top and relaxed jeans. She would later reveal her secret weapon— a face card that scored 10s in the “face” category. Others wore fits ranging from streetwear to full-on drag. Regardless of garb, this would be a night to remember — with the promise of more to come.
Tito Giuseppe (left) and Caleb Armstrong (right)
A New Era
“Ballroom is back!” Armstrong exclaimed from stage, pulling power from his high heels. The 28-year-old fitness instructor and longtime ballroom aficionado was seeing the end product of a long-sought dream and a much-anticipated revival.
This was one of those pinch-me moments for Armstrong. And he’s experienced those more frequently in the past few years. (Read on to hear about his brush with Beyoncé.)
This night was about ballroom, which may not be what you associate with “ballroom,” and doesn’t involve celebrities competing to revive their careers. Still largely underground, ballroom can be thought of as the ultimate face-off, with the collateral being pride, ferocity, and the ability to “serve.”
Participants come dressed in their best representation of the competition’s categories, mixed with the theme of the function. In a “sneaker vs. sneaker” face-off, one may choose to break out a sought-after pair of Jordans to go head-to-head with Comme des Garçons Converse, with the defining element being how the contestant sells the look to the audience and judges. Those in the “body” category may rely solely on their weekend Pilates classes and physiques to flex their goodies.
Outfits and presentation are only part of what the judges score. To receive 10s across the board, the contestant must command the room — marking every corner with their uniqueness and fierceness — thus garnering snaps, fan flicks, and audience applause.
If the judges like what they see, they’ll use their hands to display all 10 fingers to signify a vote of confidence. Those who compete in a category either receive “10s across the board” or are “chopped.”
Historian Tito Giuseppe’s presence at Black Lodge that summer night was notable. With his wealth of knowledge and experience, some might say he is ballroom history. He’s also the founder of the House of Giuseppe (more on “houses” later).
“Shout out to Black Lodge! Can we give it up for Black Lodge, y’all?” Giuseppe said as he joined Armstrong on stage and took the mic. “You all right now are a part of ballroom history. You people here tonight are really a part of an evolving culture that has been around for 53 years — and it’s making a resurgence here in your backyard.”
It was a night that was years in the making, one that encapsulated lifelong passions, a history spanning decades, and the desire to revive a sacred space for community in Memphis. Giuseppe called the night — the first ballroom event in Memphis in a long time — “groundbreaking,” and those who were lucky enough to witness it would agree.
Lessons in Serving
Giuseppe, who grew up in the North but now lives in Memphis, dates his entry into ballroom back to 1989 when he was a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Back then, there wasn’t representation of ballroom on TV or in the media. He says when he coaches and talks to the new guard, he wants them to understand the foundation upon which they’re building. While he believes there are upsides to increased exposure in popular media — including the iconic documentary Paris Is Burning, Ryan Murphy’s Pose, the ballroom competition show Legendary, and Beyoncé’s album Renaissance — understanding the culture’s origins before such exposure is crucial to its longevity and respect.
“Everything still stems back from 1971, when they started,” Giuseppe says. “[Things like] how you’re being judged, 10s and a chop [which essentially denotes a win and a loss] — those things stem from 53 years ago in its inception.”
As someone who lived in the movement during its golden era, Giuseppe today considers himself both a mentor and educator in the South, encompassing Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Mississippi. He says he is often approached by different houses in these areas to help cultivate and grow the culture.
“This is a teaching moment because we want you to understand. We don’t want you to say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve seen this on YouTube and now I get to see it in person,’” Giuseppe told the audience. “No. I want you to walk away with a knowledge of what this is. Not only do you educate yourself, but you get to talk about it with your girlfriends.”
Giuseppe says ballroom is known to have started in 1971 by Crystal LaBeija and Pepper LaBeija as a way to rebel against the prejudiced practices in drag pageants. The two African-American people of trans experience would enter events similar to drag pageants (also known as drag balls). While the LaBeijas were “really, really good,” they would never find themselves past first-runner up in a mostly Caucasian-dominated culture.
The LaBeijas’ original ballroom functions aimed to address the inequities in the drag space in that era, and, over time, Giuseppe says, they evolved. Today, people of all races, cisgender folks, and heterosexual women have dominated in the performance categories.
“It’s an underground culture that allows those of us who are participants in the culture to compete in different categories like ‘face,’ ‘realness,’ ‘runway,’ ‘body,’” Giuseppe says. “Think of it as the Olympics, so to speak.”
And “houses” are an integral part of ballroom culture. They serve as teams for participants — who aim to bring honor to said teams with trophy wins. They’re also considered chosen family. The houses are often named after luxury designers and fashion brands, such as Hervé Léger, Thierry Mugler, or Balenciaga, Giuseppe says, and “the house itself operates under a name, and those members are all considered ‘house members,’ but they operate like a family.”
The founders of these houses are considered founding mothers and fathers. Giuseppe, for example, is the founding father of the House of Giuseppe. There are then a set of “overall parents,” who, although they did not start the house, operate them on a “day-to-day basis from a wide standpoint,” he says.
“All of the chapters from the various cities, states, and countries answer to those two overall parents,” he says. “Then you have state parents, like a Texas mother and father, a Tennessee mother and father, and then it breaks down into cities. … They compete in those regions as the house itself.”
The idea of a chosen family is appealing to many, which is why people like Armstrong turn to ballroom for a sense of community. After coming out publicly “five or six years ago,” he sought to figure out his identity beyond sexuality. And that’s precisely how he “stumbled into the ballroom world.”
“I really admire the framework of the chosen family relationships that ballroom is founded on,” Armstrong says. “I think that’s kind of the heart of ballroom. I really spent years looking for genuine friends, and cultivating those friendships and relationships.”
A Revival With Purpose
The summer ball at Black Lodge was the brainchild of Armstrong and his closest friends — with the help of Giuseppe. During the event, one of those friends, Octavia Jones, commonly referred to as DJ Space Age, or Space Age, kept the runway booming and the vibes copacetic. In June of 2022 Jones launched Queer Memphis, an organization dedicated to curating networking and social events in hopes of creating more spaces and events for the local queer community. In her 15 years as a DJ, Jones has been able to see “what isn’t happening and things people wanted to see.”
Jones has attended ballroom events, but they’re “few and far between” in the city, happening once or twice a year, she says. Recognizing that dearth evolved into collaborating with Armstrong and others to put on their first ballroom event this June, with the hope of establishing consistency.
“I haven’t seen anything that’s been consistent, I think, ever in the city of Memphis,” Jones says. “I know myself and especially Caleb have attended balls outside of Memphis, in New York, Nashville, and Atlanta. We kind of ended up talking about just pressing the reset button and activating something in Memphis.”
The culture and history are the major draws for Jones, who feels ballroom serves as a way for the LGBTQ community to take a multifaceted approach to self-expression. And she wanted to have a hand in giving people more outlets to express themselves beyond the local drag scene, producing events such as the one at Black Lodge.
Cheri Lie Maid, a Memphis drag performer and ballroom enthusiast, served as one of three judges at the event, alongside Mariah Da’Goat Kelly and Juan Martinez. Cheri says their affinity for makeup and LGBTQ culture led them to discovering ballroom, which served as an entry point into drag.
“I came across ballroom on YouTube and the first thing I was watching was a butch queen up in drag — a man who is in makeup, or in hair and heels, performing ballroom voguing but in a different element, basically,” Cheri says, “which means it’s feminine and not like old-wave or new-wave.”
There are some drag elements in ballroom, as it was birthed from that art form, Cheri says. But there are also elements of ballroom in drag. And while ballroom was Cheri’s first love, drag serves as a way for them to marry that interest with a love of makeup.
“Ballroom is very much a masculine field and a feminine field,” Cheri says. “We understand that those two are very humanly categorized, so we tend to think those are the only two categories we can go through, that it’s either/or. Some people like to play with both.”
This is part of what Cheri appreciates about ballroom though — it’s made to encompass and welcome as many queer people as possible.
“That’s what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ community,” Cheri says, “because you know what you are and you know what you present, but it’s better for you to be among your people who want to bring you up and see you as a better person.”
Armstrong echoes these sentiments, as he drew inspiration from the iconic OTA (open to all) Balls in New York. He wanted to incorporate these themes not only into his events but also into the community he hoped to create out of them. He knew ballroom had more to give than just an experience.
“When I was looking for friends, I was looking for friends who had that special light but needed a platform to showcase that,” Armstrong says. “A lot of my friends are drag queens. We are in the club bucking it, twirling it every weekend, giving a look — being those girls. I think a piece of that goes back to representation and visibility. I try to be the person I wanted my inner child to see growing up.”
Mariah Da’Goat Kelly performs before sitting at the judge’s table.
This Is What I Wanna See
For Armstrong, things have come full circle. He remembers watching a “nasty” Vogue Femme Final ballroom battle between Lasseindra and Ida “Inxi” Holmlund on YouTube in 2015 and being captivated by the subculture for the first time. Fast-forward to being featured in a project praised for its contributions to both pop culture and queer iconography.
In one of the biggest flexes of the 21st century, Armstrong was able to add the credit “Featured in Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé” to his Instagram bio.
“My friends will tell you they are sick of me,” Armstrong says with a laugh. “I’ll be like, ‘Do y’all know that Beyoncé knows me?’ I’ve loved her for so long, and to be featured and recognized by not only Beyoncé but that project specifically holds such a special place in my heart. Renaissance obviously did something for the Black queer culture that can’t be undone, and it represents us so well.”
That project was the 2023 musical documentary that was the culmination of Beyoncé’s summer tour celebrating her seventh studio album, a blend of Black dance music, disco, and house, with samples from Donna Summer, Teena Marie, Moi Renee, Big Freedia, and more.
Armstrong remembers getting into Club Renaissance and being thrust into a full-on vogue-off prior to Beyoncé taking the stage. Not only did his infectious energy catch the attention of Beyoncé’s team, his bold, fringed, silver two-piece outfit in the tour’s TV-test screen set (ingeniously modeled after the Progress Pride flag) truly defined being “the visual.”
“For her to see me, that was my most joyous, my most authentic [self]. … I was feeling opulent, I was feeling ova [high], I was feeling the fantasy,” Armstrong says. “For me to be my complete, extra, over-abundant self and for her to see me and amplify it even more … it was the biggest love letter.”
Representation is an important part of an individual’s path to authenticity, and, like many things in queer culture, it is not monolithic. While people are familiar with some of what Memphis LGBTQ life has to offer, they’ve only gotten a taste. In the absence of consistent ballroom culture here, many travel to other cities. Giuseppe encourages people to experience it. Cheri does too, and believes no one should have to travel for it, as it has the ability to touch and change lives — like it did theirs.
This ballroom revival gives Memphis a chance to be a part of history while adding the city’s own signature. Cheri, Jones, and Armstrong have seen the way culture builds on top of itself, through people like Giuseppe, and through visiting places where the scene originated. They’re respecting tradition while building on that foundation. Their dreams are as big as the groundwork laid before them, and they know the legacy they’re stepping into.
“We have our own style, our own culture here,” Armstrong says. “Why don’t we cultivate that? Let’s put Memphis on the map. I feel like Memphis, no shade, we’re a Southern city, so we’re very ‘banjee’ [have swagger]. We’re very gritty, very raw. … Once we continue with the balls, our style will create its own signature and [people will be able to] say, ‘Oh, that’s a Memphis girl. … Oh, we see Memphis is in the house, we see how she’s bucking it.”
Ready for more Memphis ballroom? Prepare to mash at Atomic Rose’s Monster Ball on October 25th. Visit @QueerMemphis on Instagram for updates.
One of the most difficult tasks filmmakers have is catching the complex dynamics of female friendships. From revenge-seeking first wives to teenagers sharing a magical pair of pants, writers have tried to discover how to frame such stories.
It’s not uncommon for these movies to convey the idea that these relationships are essential to tackling adversity, portraying femininity as a bond that can transcend both time and the nature of their unique situations. But these themes are not monolithic; they are dependent on setting, societal norms, and race.
These themes can be more challenging when directors try capturing the magic of Black female friendships — specifically those that have stood the test of time. Director Tina Mabry decides to take on this narrative with no inhibition in Hulu’s The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, based on a 2013 novel of the same name written by Edward Kelsey Moore.
The film follows a trio whose friendship has withstood 30 years of laughter, transformation, and tragedy. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor narrates the story as Odette, the gutsy, outspoken woman whose fearlessness would not only usher in the group’s bond but also prove to be an inspiring theme throughout the movie. Odette’s power is supplemented across the screen by Clarice (Uzo Aduba, of Orange Is the New Black fame), whose grace and desire to save face can sometimes be detrimental. The friendship is completed when Odette and Clarice decide to welcome introverted Barbara Jean (Sanaa Lathan) into their fold after intervening in her abusive home life.
Known lovingly as “The Supremes” at their local diner (Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat) due to their inherent glow and beauty, the ladies navigate their complex lives, often pulling strength from each other. With a friendship birthed in the 1960s, the film follows a “now-and-then” structure, told through both flashback and present-day perspectives.
As a Black woman, I was a bit trepidatious, thanks to my former experiences with Black-female focused films. The word “strong” is often used to describe a Black woman’s life experience both on and off the screen. While this term can be used to positively evaluate tenacity, it can also be scary when filmmakers express their characters’ strengths through trauma. I identify with many of the young women in my generation who are still traumatized by Lee Daniels’ Precious, which, it turned out, was not a hopeful story about a teenage girl. Many films and shows seem to compete to find out “How much can we put a Black woman through on screen?”
It’s not to say that we wish for a euphemistic model of storytelling. The beauty of life is enhanced by how we emerge from life’s troubles. Director Mabry, a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, doesn’t shy away from this challenge. Odette says, of Barbara Jean’s trials, that God “is always picking on her,” given everything she’s been through from losing her mother who suffered from alcohol abuse to losing her son to racist violence and hate. She’s faced with the decision either to become a victim of her circumstances, as her mother did, or to grapple with her destiny by intervening on her own behalf.
Part of the beauty in Mabry’s story is that we see the cards these characters are dealt. At times, their fates seem unavoidable. But Mabry’s storytelling is realistic and balanced with joy. These Black women are not solely characterized by hardship.
The director makes aging and growing look appealing, even rewarding. It’s refreshing to see these Black women growing older in a way where they can enjoy life. Odette is set to grapple with the likelihood of having a future, with her inclination to tackle destiny on her own terms, pausing occasionally to touch grass. Clarice learns that it’s never too late to break our own habits, no matter how much we’ve sacrificed. In the end, the movie is a remarkable take on perspective, as life doesn’t necessarily have to happen to us; it grants us the opportunity to take charge.
Mabry has left me hopeful that a new era of more complex storytelling for Black women is upon us, where we are defined by more than just our strength.
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat is streaming on Hulu.
Bad boys will be bad boys in a Bad Boys movie. (Photo: Frank Masi | Columbia Pictures)
For the past few years it’s seemed as if Hollywood had been infected by a plague, and legacy media were the most susceptible. Movie screens and streaming libraries have been filled with reboots and continuations to stories that were either major successes in their heyday, or built cult followings which capitalists sought to seize. Every so often a new trailer or press junket would drop, teasing a new installment of some saga that would leave the audience wondering, “They still make that?” or “Did we ask for that?”
This phenomenon becomes even more of an enigma when certain franchises return after hitting the screens decades ago, since it can potentially alienate audiences who don’t fully understand the lore. However, Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is an exception, leaving the viewer either satiated as a longtime fan or eager to start from the beginning.
The movie serves as the fourth installment of the series. Like the last film, the pandemic-era Bad Boys for Life, original director Michael Bay is replaced by Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with a story by Chris Bremner, Aquaman scribe Will Beall, and George Gallo. Reprising roles they originated in 1995 are stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, along with supporting actors Paola Nüñez and Jacob Muntaz Scipio, with Eric Dane. New to the franchise are Better Call Saul standout Rhea Seehorn and Ioan Gruffudd.
The film opens with the titular pair Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) in another one of their iconic car chases. Both men appear dapper and on a time crunch as their latest mission —Mike’s wedding to his former physical therapist Christine (Melanie Liburd) — brings a new sense of urgency. But en route to the nuptials, Marcus asks to stop at the gas station for a ginger ale, much to Mike’s dismay. Marcus’ junk food addiction gets the best of him, and as he piles his order onto the counter, he finds himself at gunpoint in a gas station robbery.
Within seconds, the pair annihilate the assailant, and Mike makes it to the church on time. As the couple is pronounced husband and wife, we see the wedding party joined with a memorial photo of Captain Conrad Howard, who died in Bad Boys for Life while trying to take down a Miami drug cartel.
At the reception are Rita Secada (Núñez), as well as Howard’s daughter Judy (Seehorn) and granddaughter Callie (Quinn Hemphill). But the celebration is cut short as Marcus’ diet of sweet garbage finally catches up with him, and he suffers a heart attack. As he’s rushed to the ER, Marcus hallucinates Howard’s ghost, who informs him that it’s not his time to go. Marcus awakens with a new lease on life.
That ghost seems to be busy. As Marcus is recovering, city officials are notified that Howard is seemingly committing fraud from beyond the grave. Mike and Marcus, forever indebted to Howard, take on the mission to clear their late captain’s name.
Their first stop is the prison where Mike’s son Armando (Scipio) is being held, as he’s been convicted of Howard’s murder. Armando believes he can identify the real perpetrator, but as word spreads through the prison, he finds himself the target of a deadly attack in the yard. With his safety at risk, he’s moved to Miami. But his transfer helicopter becomes a target for the cartels, and our heroes miss death by an inch in the ensuing crash. Mike, Marcus, and Armando continue their mission as fugitives.
With the help of Advanced Miami Metro Operations agents Dorn (Alexander Ludwig) and Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens), they not only uncover the mastermind of the hoax, but follow the trail of deception and forbidden alliances.
While it may be a part of the series, and the conclusion of a story Adil and Bilall began in the last film, first-time viewers needn’t worry about being confused. Longtime fans will be reminded as to why this pair works so well together in the buddy-cop genre. Thousands of slap-happy think pieces and unsolicited marriage tidbits later, Smith is still refreshing, and we’re reminded of why the camera loves him. Lawrence’s comedic legacy precedes him, and his impeccable delivery doesn’t disappoint. Both actors manage to balance out the comedic and action elements without doing too much.
The film ends on an open note, with the plot wrapped up, but no major cliffhangers. If there’s going to be a reboot, why not give Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino a shot? Bad Girls, anyone?
Bad Boys: Ride or Die Now playing Multiple locations
