Hell Yes: A Girlfriends Movie May Be In the Works

By Kara Brown  |  October 16, 2014 | 11:45pm

Please pull out your inhaler, Prozac, Pinot Grigio or whatever it is you use to calm yourself down because this news had me hyperventilating. Although rumors have been swirling for some time, we finally have confirmation that a Girlfriends movie might possibly maybe be in the works at some point in the future. Yes, even that level of vagueness excites me.

In an interview with Nicole Bitchie, Girlfriends star Golden Brooks discussed the possibility of taking the show to the big screen:

Oh my gosh, girl! That is like the question of the decade! I hope so. I can’t say- will there be a Girlfriends movie? Maybe. I can’t say yes, I can’t say no. But you know, Mara Brock Akil, myself, Tracy, Jill and Reggie, we all had a sit-down about it, but that is a Mara and Kelsey Grammer question, but you never know…

And that’s all I need for the daydreaming to begin.

Girlfriends has been described as “the black Sex and the City,” but I absolutely hate that description because it suggests that everything is somehow rooted in, or a reference to, whiteness. The two shows don’t even have much in common aside from that they’re both about four female friends navigating life, love and their careers—the topic of probably every sitcom ever.

Girlfriends ran for eight seasons between 2000 and 2008. At one point, it was one of the highest-rated television shows for black adults. In the interview, Brooks notes that the show never hit the level of Friends or The Cosby Show—but seriously, how many shows do? Regardless, there is still a fan base out there that they hope would support the film.

Yes- I know what happens to Maya. I know about that third book. I know what happens to Joan. Um, yeah, you never know. I’d be open to it. So we just have to see- there have been talks about it. Nothing has been set in stone. But I really hope it definitely happens. I think the fans deserve it!

Yes, we most certainly do.

Whether your liked the show or not, Girlfriends was important. Along with sitcoms from the 90s like Sister, Sister, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Living Single, one of the best things about the show was that it showed the diversity of experiences of black women.

Three of the women were professionals and one was a mother. Joan, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, was an adorable dork while Jill Marie Jones’ character Toni was unabashedly looking for a rich husband and ended up with a white, Jewish doctor. Lynn was a biracial vegan who didn’t even see herself as a black woman until college.

Other than Orange Is the New Black and the Shondaland properties, there isn’t a show currently on air now that can claim such a varied representation of any women of color.

For the love of everything that is good in the world, I hope this project gets off the ground. Because with shows like Veronica Mars, Miami Vice and 21 Jump Street getting the movie treatment, coupled with the fact that we’ve been made to suffer through what might be three Sex and the City films, we’ve certainly earned this.

Image via The CW.

 
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