Critic Reviews

She’s Gotta Have It melds Lee’s studied vision of Brooklyn in the age of sexting with the intimate yet ubiquitous inner thoughts and feelings of a generation of young, black artists and professionals without overtly praising or diminishing either.

The Netflix series is stunning in its visuals, performances, soundtrack, and voice. ... The show is unlike anything previously seen on the platform, and it feels like a high-water mark that may define an age of prestige Netflix television.

Lee has successfully expanded and altered the original film for a series format. Episodes have arcs. The season does as well. And while the men may steal focus from time to time, the update makes sure no one will forget Nola Darling anytime soon.

The show stands as a textbook example of how major filmmakers can and should adapt their work for television: by not trying to rewrite the rules of another medium, but by finding a way to make their signature style flow through those rules.

The series is awash in bursts of expressionist color, on-screen text, the breaking of the fourth wall, and riffs that allow Lee to revel in the actors' chemistry and in the intuitive power of his own imagination, leading to tones that daringly crash into one another.

She's Gotta Have It is a sumptuous character portrait, a deep and rewarding study of a black woman in our current era, this time portrayed by the dazzling DeWanda Wise. ... It manages, most importantly, not to feel dated. Its examination of topics including street harassment and gentrification feels vital.

The show quickly asserts itself as a generous rom-com, granting Nola and the boys their own journeys. Lee's returned to this material with purpose. [17 Nov 2017, p.46]

Lee, who hasn't committed to scripted TV this extensively before, gains confidence as he goes. The closing three episodes move the furthest from the movie's storyline and feel the most free and experimental. She's Gotta Have It is already a very good show and maybe a second season could rewrite some rules the way the movie did.

Yes, there are times when excess gets the better of this series. Pace occasionally becomes a problem, as we move from episode to episode that could be more tightly edited. Yet the sheer vitality of the performances keep us fully engaged.

One of the virtues of getting to make a TV show out of a movie is the opportunity to expand the world of that movie, to give each character his or her due. In She’s Gotta Have It, Lee does that, giving time not only to Nola but her lovers, her friends, her family, and her neighbors—ultimately giving us a sense not only of a woman but a community in flux.