Documentary: American Promise

[Anonymous]

Yes, people, please understand these tiny little 'townhomes' you see in this documentary are very expensive brownstones in NY. Those are VERY nice homes for Brooklyn.

A poor kid would be in an apartment.

[Anonymous]

DISCLAIMER: I know this is completely inappropriate. But I've gotta get it off my chest.

Is it just me or do the Brewsters (the filmmakers) seem to have absolutely NO chemistry whatsoever? I mean Idris and that little girl on the subway who rejected him had more chemistry than those two.

Even in recent interviews, they have the chemistry of siblings--who's parents divorced and one lives with Mom while the other's with dad.

I notice in interviews that the dad doesn't appear to wear a ring. (I don't think the mom does either.) Leading me to wonder if they're divorced.

According to the official PBS site they didn't marry until after both of their children were born. Idris had already started school at Dalton by then. Makes you wonder if they married for the sake of presenting a more solid family in the movie.

But I digress. This is off topic and quite inappropriate.

But it was killing me! I had to say it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One boy is wealthy and the other is poor

The "poor" kid lives in a 2+ mil brownstone and his mom is a nurse.

His dad is a systems engineer for CBS.

Really?? They acted like they were hard up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DISCLAIMER: I know this is completely inappropriate. But I've gotta get it off my chest.

Is it just me or do the Brewsters (the filmmakers) seem to have absolutely NO chemistry whatsoever? I mean Idris and that little girl on the subway who rejected him had more chemistry than those two.

Even in recent interviews, they have the chemistry of siblings--who's parents divorced and one lives with Mom while the other's with dad.

I notice in interviews that the dad doesn't appear to wear a ring. (I don't think the mom does either.) Leading me to wonder if they're divorced.

According to the official PBS site they didn't marry until after both of their children were born. Idris had already started school at Dalton by then. Makes you wonder if they married for the sake of presenting a more solid family in the movie.

But I digress. This is off topic and quite inappropriate.

But it was killing me! I had to say it!

I didn't see that at all. The focus of the film were the kids not the parent's relationship with each other. I really felt their frustration and commiserate with them. But, I also felt sorry for Idris when his dad revealed that they account for every hour of the kid's day on a spreadsheet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One boy is wealthy and the other is poor

The "poor" kid lives in a 2+ mil brownstone and his mom is a nurse.

His dad is a systems engineer for CBS.

Really?? They acted like they were hard up.

B/c the wife was fighting colon cancer and other tragedies in their family. Also, it's very expensive living in NYC and most people are "hard up" unless they are billionaires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DISCLAIMER: I know this is completely inappropriate. But I've gotta get it off my chest.

Is it just me or do the Brewsters (the filmmakers) seem to have absolutely NO chemistry whatsoever? I mean Idris and that little girl on the subway who rejected him had more chemistry than those two.

Even in recent interviews, they have the chemistry of siblings--who's parents divorced and one lives with Mom while the other's with dad.

I notice in interviews that the dad doesn't appear to wear a ring. (I don't think the mom does either.) Leading me to wonder if they're divorced.

According to the official PBS site they didn't marry until after both of their children were born. Idris had already started school at Dalton by then. Makes you wonder if they married for the sake of presenting a more solid family in the movie.

But I digress. This is off topic and quite inappropriate.

But it was killing me! I had to say it!

I didn't see that at all. The focus of the film were the kids not the parent's relationship with each other. I really felt their frustration and commiserate with them. But, I also felt sorry for Idris when his dad revealed that they account for every hour of the kid's day on a spreadsheet!

I agree that the movie centered on the kids' and their education. It's just that....

For one Idris' dad just seemed like an emotionally distant piece of work. And Seun's parents--although they didn't kiss and hug for the cameras--seemed to have more chemistry. We did see them laugh and talk to one another when they were in the same room, even though the discussion was education. The Brewster's? Did they address each other even once--except to complain about Idris?

And yes, I felt their pain too. I actually laughed out loud at a few parts. Not because they were funny but because they were so darned reminiscient of my experiences. Ex: Hearing Michele use the expression "half-assed". How many times have I used that same phrase when discussing my teen son's efforts? The lackadaisical approach to the college application process? It's so funny once you've been through it all. Only then can you look back and laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One boy is wealthy and the other is poor

The "poor" kid lives in a 2+ mil brownstone and his mom is a nurse.

His dad is a systems engineer for CBS.

Really?? They acted like they were hard up.

They were not hard up for NY. NY is a different beast. It's like a country separated and a part from the US.

That family can rake in $1 million per year (which I doubt they're doing but they must be doing okay to live in a brownstone) and still 'struggle' in that city.

Wasn't there an article posted on this site last year about how parents in NY making over $400K complained they couldn't make ends meet? Oh there was no sympathy for those poor guys at all.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine who lost his job in NYC told me that there was no way he and his family could stay in NYC unless his next job made a minimum of 600k a yr. Between his mortgage and private school for his three kids, they'll have to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DISCLAIMER: I know this is completely inappropriate. But I've gotta get it off my chest.

Is it just me or do the Brewsters (the filmmakers) seem to have absolutely NO chemistry whatsoever? I mean Idris and that little girl on the subway who rejected him had more chemistry than those two.

Even in recent interviews, they have the chemistry of siblings--who's parents divorced and one lives with Mom while the other's with dad.

I notice in interviews that the dad doesn't appear to wear a ring. (I don't think the mom does either.) Leading me to wonder if they're divorced.

According to the official PBS site they didn't marry until after both of their children were born. Idris had already started school at Dalton by then. Makes you wonder if they married for the sake of presenting a more solid family in the movie.

But I digress. This is off topic and quite inappropriate.

But it was killing me! I had to say it!

I didn't see that at all. The focus of the film were the kids not the parent's relationship with each other. I really felt their frustration and commiserate with them. But, I also felt sorry for Idris when his dad revealed that they account for every hour of the kid's day on a spreadsheet!

I agree that the movie centered on the kids' and their education. It's just that....

For one Idris' dad just seemed like an emotionally distant piece of work. And Seun's parents--although they didn't kiss and hug for the cameras--seemed to have more chemistry. We did see them laugh and talk to one another when they were in the same room, even though the discussion was education. The Brewster's? Did they address each other even once--except to complain about Idris?

And yes, I felt their pain too. I actually laughed out loud at a few parts. Not because they were funny but because they were so darned reminiscient of my experiences. Ex: Hearing Michele use the expression "half-assed". How many times have I used that same phrase when discussing my teen son's efforts? The lackadaisical approach to the college application process? It's so funny once you've been through it all. Only then can you look back and laugh.

Could it be b/c he's a psychiatrist?!? A lot of them step back... Also, it's their film so they did the editing.

[Anonymous]

Seun's parents didn't seem very wealthy to me. I am curious about where their other kids went to school. Probably not at private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seun's parents didn't seem very wealthy to me. I am curious about where their other kids went to school. Probably not at private schools.

They don't appear wealthy. However, they're not poor. They are what would be considered middle class in New York.

If they lived in our area making the same salaries, they'd be living much, much better. NY is VERY expensive for everyone.

[Anonymous]

I felt so bad for Idris at the end of the film. His parents acted like total jerks when he didn't get into Stanford, etc. Calling him lazy, etc. No wonder he wanted to go clear across the country for college.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't surprising that the "poor" kid's mom was an immigrant.

[Anonymous]

I think that by buying into the hyperinvolved, hypercompetitive ethos of wealthy white parents, Idris's parents ended up not just crippling him emotionally, but hampering his success as well. What was their ultimate goal? If it was to have a hard-working, self-motivated kid who'd have a good chance of getting into a top school, they'd be much better off doing exactly the opposite of what they did: Enroll him in an "average" school where this very bright kid would be an academic star (top 1%, valedictorian -- don't college's love to see that?) without having to resort to daily multi-hour study sessions and ADHD medication. Provide academic enrichment but don't check his homework, so he'd have a chance to develop his own time management skills and motivation. The fact that he'd have more time to work on his basketball game wouldn't hurt either.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the recommendation OP. I just watched the film and found it very moving.