Every once in a while, I watch what I like to call “a lil’ Tubi movie.” The best friend was down for the count due to surgery (she’s fine), so it was me and the TV. While aimlessly scrolling, I found “Sinderella.” With a title like that, this is obviously a take on the classic Cinderella with Black people in Atlanta. Surprisingly, there was no mention of lemon pepper anywhere in this movie.
“Sinderella” is the story of Ella who is forced to the assistant to her stepsisters, Morgan and Meghan, by her stepmother, Vivian. Ella’s mom, we later find out, died from cancer and her dad just died. There is no explanation for what happened to him. Vivian talks a lot about this “brand” that Meghan and Morgan are building. The brand is just being escorts. High end escorts, but escorts nonetheless. Natasha Eli Pearson is the actress who plays Vivian and I hate her. You’ve done your job, ma’am.
Ella has dreams of owning a shoe boutique. It’s a nice twist on the shoe bit in the original. I would have loved for her to dream bigger and say she wanted to be a shoe designer and have sketches, but it was cute.
Fast forward to her being thrown out of her home and Roman finding her. When we meet Roman, we don’t know exactly what he does. He comes to the house and employs the twins (Morgan and Meghan) to host a “Baddies Ball” since he will be out of town.
Ella goes to said ball, and I thought there would be a masquerade theme but there wasn’t. The twins see her, and of course, tell their mom, but they do mention that she looks good. Ella is sweet so her in the room with the rest of the “baddies” made us feel bad for her. You get a clear sense that she is not like the rest of the women in the club. Before she goes home, we see that she connects with a mystery man. When he gives her his number but doesn’t put his name in her phone, he gave me the Lyric vibe from “Jason’s Lyric.” He gave her a, “If it’s meant to be you’ll fine me” line. Spoiler alert: They do find each other later but not under the best circumstances.
Back to Roman. Roman, I guess, is like Ghost from “Power.” He owns a bunch of nightclubs and his son is his numbers guy. That son ends up being the mystery guy at the club, and this point, Ella is dating Roman. Here’s what bothered me about this. Her “dating” Roman irritated me because it seemed as though because he was buying her things and got her off the street that her debt had to be paid by being a girlfriend. That didn’t really seem that clear to Ella or myself. Glad I wasn’t alone in that.
Ella does have one friend—Chelsea. We don’t see but so much of Chelsea to really establish a solid friendship. When we meet her for the first time, I thought she was more of a work friend than a personal friend. That relationship could have been better established because it could have given us another layer to the story.
I liked the ending where she chooses herself. Not the murder plot. The murder plot was a bit theatrical and not in the best way, and yes, I know I’m saying this about a Tubi movie. Tubi doesn’t get a pass. There was another scene that was pixelated and I thought it was the TV and found out it was not. What made it worse is that scene wasn’t terrible but the cinematography was.
Although I appreciate the ending, I never like when a movie sets me up for something that never happens. For me, it feels like you lied to me, and the ending felt a bit like that.
Did I enjoy the movie? Sure. Are there things that I wish were better? Yes, but overall, it’s a cute watch. For all my Tubi fans, check it out.
