SummaryOctavia Spencer stars as Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made African-American woman millionaire in this four-part limited series based on Walker's great-great-grandaughter's book On Her Own Ground.
SummaryOctavia Spencer stars as Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made African-American woman millionaire in this four-part limited series based on Walker's great-great-grandaughter's book On Her Own Ground.
Fresh, lively and fast-paced period drama. ... Spencer’s performance is dazzling. ... “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker” isn’t just a wonderful tribute to yet another unsung hero — it’s an engrossing and uplifting series that shines light in otherwise dark times.
It is decidedly an old-school, good-time miniseries dropped into a world that will measure it by upper-crusty limited series standards. It also confidently strides through such nagging issues as colorism, class discrimination, and sexism black people visited upon each other in post-slavery, pre-Gilded Age America, all while it caresses, thoughtfully, the complex social and personal issues wrapped up in the relationship between black dignity and our hair, and the impossible, ugly beauty standards erected as an obstacle to opportunity.
Standout performances by Spencer, Ejogo and more make Self Made a pleasurable watch. It’s just too bad that the story of Madam C.J. Walker isn’t given time to slow down and breathe.
Self Made, despite its incredible cast and incredible source material, feels too trapped within the “greatest hits biopic film” template, content to rush through every plot point of Walker’s life without slowing and settling to figure out who Walker is.
Unfortunately, the inspiration inherent in Walker’s story is in short supply in the script. ... Spencer’s intelligent, restrained performance is faultless but a little dry — with the exception of one early scene in which the tyranny of light skin and straight hair bring Walker to tears, she doesn’t really grab us. Ejogo, on the other hand, is fully alive as the O.M.G. (original mean girl) Munroe.
The eminently talented Spencer gives it the best she’s got, despite some truly cringeworthy dialogue. But once her business is established as a success near the end of Chapter 2, the plot devolves into a series of telenovela storylines.
The talented cast can’t overcome dialogue that can be painfully stiff (“Your impeccable reputation precedes you”) or anachronistic (“on the regular,” “lying-ass liar”) but is uniformly painful. ... Normally, a show this bad would at least be amusing to watch. But when you consider the richness of the subject and the larger issues it raises—the politics of black hair, Walker’s anti-lynching work, sexism and colorism in the black community—its incompetence is just depressing.