The original release of Support the Girls in 2018 came at a curious point in American film distribution history and two factors influenced its box office performance.

(1) The big studios wanted to build Internet revenue by reducing the “theatrical window” — the period of time allotted to theatrical exhibitors before release to Internet streaming. Some distributors pursued “day and date” — wherein films were released simultaneously in theatres and on the Internet. By way of protest in this Pre-COVID time, some theatres would not show a film at all if it was released to Internet streaming at the same time.

Subsequently, release of Support the Girls was confined to only 35 theatres out of thousands — this small independent film never really had a chance in the marketplace.

(2) In addition to release problems, when promoted as a “big-hearted comedy” with a “bra-oriented” title, Support the Girls disappointed some folks expecting the raunchy boob-flash-laugh-fest stereotype that its marketing and trailer implies.

Instead, it’s a thoughtful, funny drama that addresses serious issues without preaching while featuring an outstanding lead performance by Regina Hall.

Most serious film critics got the drift, for example: Rotten Tomatoes, 93% Fresh, 44 top critics. The film received over two dozen nominations and awards, and Regina Hall won Best Actress at the New York Film Critic Awards – the very first Black actor to be so honored.

Film scholar and critic Alissa Wilkinson at Vox.com deftly conveys the essence and importance of this film, excerpted below:

Support the Girls, an outstanding, quietly feminist dramedy
by Alissa Wilkinson, Aug 24, 2018

Support the Girls is a barely concealed double entendre of a title for a film set in an even less coy Hooters-style bar called Double Whammies. Every day, the waitresses – pretty girls in crop tops and cutoffs – serve beer and wings to the mostly male clientele, though Double Whammies insists it’s a family-friendly “mainstream” place. “It’s like working at Chili’s or Applebees,” one of the veteran waitresses tells a new girl, “but the tips are way better.”

But Support the Girls is not at all the winkingly misogynist raunch-com for dudes that set-up might imply. Starting out as a workplace comedy featuring a sparkling female ensemble, the action – set mostly over a single day – morphs into an affecting, insightful depiction of the bone-weary work of being a woman in a man’s world.

It’s a feminist movie, to be sure, but not self-congratulatory. It’s easy to imagine an optimistic, rah-rah girl-power version of Support the Girls, but this is decidedly not that. For a lot of women trying to just earn a living, Hollywood-style empowerment takes a back seat to staying employed and keeping everyone around them at work and at home happy, boyfriends and bosses alike.

The result is a film that rings bitingly true, but respects its audience enough to let them connect the dots themselves. It’s funny and smart, but never wields its insights like a badge of honor. If anything, it’s an apology to its own characters for what women like them encounter all the time – one that sometimes bares some wincingly sharp teeth.

Lisa (Regina Hall, in an outstanding performance) is the backbone of Double Whammies, and also of Support the Girls. For many of the girls who work at the bar, Lisa is an almost motherly figure: She listens to their problems, offers advice, gently keeps them in line, and ferociously throws men out of the restaurant who disrespect the women who work there. Her boss (James Le Gros) obviously doesn’t give her enough credit.

And Lisa’s day isn’t just filled with keeping customers happy. She has to call the cable company to fix the TV before the big fight is on that night. She needs to train new waitresses and warn friendly, bubbly Maci (Haley Lu Richardson) away from one customer. She haggles over schedules and looks after the son of a waitress, Danyelle (Shayna McHayle), whose child care plan falls through. She goes to see an apartment for her deeply depressed husband (Lawrence Varnado), from whom she’s separating. And along with the black staff, she tries to ignore their employer’s casual racism.

In Support the Girls, the girls have to support themselves

Director Bujalski’s touch is light, and Hall’s deeply empathetic performance makes the whole thing feel authentic; you could almost believe you were watching a documentary in some spots.

But the issues that structure the film are serious. Support the Girls acknowledges that casual sexual harassment is, for many young women working for tips, just an accepted part of the job, something to be expected. It shows how some workplaces and corporations pride themselves on “diversity” initiatives while actually just doing the bare minimum to escape scrutiny for racial discrimination.

Being a working single mother, paying for medical care without adequate insurance, encountering stereotypes about black women, catering to the whims of a clientele that likes to see you suffer a little – all of this comes into the film.

Yet that’s not really the movie’s point. This isn’t an exposé or a screed or even a socially conscious neorealist film. These are just the realities of the workplace, like lots of others, and they’re the film’s setup. The real story of Support the Girls is that, in the end, the only people the girls can depend on for support is themselves.

And so, in the end, they do. “Girl power” is too strong a word, but the movie is cathartic all the same. The ways they support one another have little to do with performative feminism and everything to do with love and empathy. If they’re not going to be respected by the people around them, at least, in the end, they can do that for one another.

Alissa Wilkinson is Vox’s film critic. She’s been writing about film and culture since 2006, and her work has appeared at Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, The Atlantic, Books & Culture, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Paste, Pacific Standard, and others. Alissa is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and a 2017-18 Art of Nonfiction writing fellow with the Sundance Institute. Before joining Vox, she was the chief film critic at Christianity Today.

CANDICE CREAR

Candice Crear is the executive director of From Fatherless to Fearless, whose mission is to serve teen girls with strained or fatherless relationships on their journey to healing and wholeness. They provide mental, spiritual, financial, and physical health services through empowerment, community, and education. Essentially, they work with women to thrive after not having a stable father figure in their homes.
Learn more:  From Fatherless To Fearless

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DENISHA PORTER

Dehisha Porter is the executive director of All-In Cincinnati, a coalition housed at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation designed to enable Black women to thrive. They commissioned a study and determined that the median wage for Black women in Hamilton County including those with advanced degrees is $15 per hour. AIC’S work is dedicated to helping women to have better lives.
Learn more:  All-In Cincinnati

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RENIKA SMILEY

Renika Smiley is the executive director of Generation Now, whose mission is to build and leverage a diverse and inclusive workforce for young professionals and youth in Greater Cincinnati through professional development, training, job placement, and the creation of leadership and mentorship opportunities through networking. GEN NOW hosts a workforce development course for women in lower-wage jobs to find their career passions and thrive.
Learn more:  Generation Now