Movie review
May 7, 2021 · 117 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The 2021 comedy-drama follows veteran comedy writer Charlie Berns, played by Billy Crystal, who is slowly losing his memory and forms an unlikely friendship with young New York street singer Emma Payge, played by Tiffany Haddish. Their bond brings humor, emotional support, and personal growth while dealing with dementia, family regrets, and trust across generations. The story stays focused on individual relationships and everyday life challenges in a modern setting without visible identity-driven themes or activist framing in the narrative or marketing.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Here Today.
Woke representation / casting
The film features a prominent Black female co-lead as a talented street singer in a contemporary New York setting that fits the unlikely friendship premise; reviews and marketing show no quota-style emphasis, identity signaling, or mismatch with story logic.
Woke political dialogue
No evidence of explicit political, activist, identity-focused, or social-justice dialogue appears in the reported story, scenes, or reviews.
Identity-driven story themes
The core premise and arcs center on personal dementia struggles, comedy writing, generational friendship, and emotional trust without any race, gender, sexuality, or social-justice framing.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The narrative remains personal and character-focused with no activist-style critiques of institutions, patriarchy, traditional norms, or cultural systems.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. This is an original screenplay with no established characters, source material, or historical figures altered for ideological or identity reasons.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No documented right-leaning or anti-woke complaints exist that treat the film as pushing woke, DEI, or identity-politics messaging; coverage stayed on entertainment and sentiment.
Creator track record context
Key creatives include Billy Crystal with liberal political support and mainstream comedy output plus other producers with mixed records including one humanitarian-themed project; the overall pattern stays mild classical liberal without recurring identity-driven or activist creative focus.
Production
