# Barry (2016 film)
*Barry* is a 2016 American drama film directed by Vikram Gandhi and written by Adam Mansbach that presents a fictionalized account of [Barack Obama](https://www.edgepedia.org/barack-obama)'s first year as a transfer student at Columbia University in New York City in 1981, when the future 44th president was known to friends as "Barry".[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry) It was released as a Netflix Original Movie on December 16, 2016, runs 104 minutes, and carries an NR rating.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/barry)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Vikram Gandhi; screenplay by Adam Mansbach[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry) |
| Lead cast | Devon Terrell as Barack Obama, with Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Mitchell, Ellar Coltrane, and Ashley Judd as his Kansas-born mother[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry) • [3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-2016) |
| Setting | Fall 1981, New York City under Mayor Koch, as Obama arrives as a transfer student at Columbia University[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry) |
| Release | Netflix Original Movie, December 16, 2016; 104 minutes, NR[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/barry) |
| Recognition | Nominated for Best First Screenplay at the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry) |
| Producers | Cinetic Media and Black Bear Pictures; producers Gandhi, Teddy Schwarzman, Ben Stillman, and Dana O'Keefe[4](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/compton-jason-mitchell-boyhood-ellar-coltrane-join-young-160014739.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The film follows 19-year-old Barry Obama ([Devon Terrell](https://www.edgepedia.org/devon-terrell)) as he arrives in New York, is stopped by a campus police officer who asks for ID he does not yet have, and settles into an apartment with his roommate Will (Ellar Coltrane).[5](https://time.com/4598000/review-barry-barack-obama-movie/) As he moves through pickup basketball games, Columbia classes, and the Harlem streets, he meets a savvy graduate student ([Jason Mitchell](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-mitchell)), a liberal classmate named Charlotte ([Anya Taylor-Joy](https://www.edgepedia.org/anya-taylor-joy)), and renews a friendship with an old acquaintance (Avi Nash).[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/barry)
The drama centers on strained relationships with his Kansas-born mother ([Ashley Judd](https://www.edgepedia.org/ashley-judd)), his estranged Kenyan father, and his classmates, as issues of inequality force him to confront questions about his own identity; the film presents these experiences as beginning to shape his views on race, government, and what it means to be an American.[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry) The character never goes by "Barack" in the film; he is shown as someone who likes to dance, smoke, and play basketball.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-2016)
### Content notes
Common Sense Media, which recommends the film for ages 16 and up, notes frequent profanity, continuous cigarette smoking by the lead, beer and hard liquor in party scenes, a featured character's cocaine use, a threatened assault in which a street thug pulls a gun, and the hero being punched in the face at a party; there is no overt sexual activity or nudity.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/barry) The same review credits the film with positive messages about thinking for oneself, curiosity, and standing up for one's beliefs as they form.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/barry)
## Production and approach to accuracy
**Casting and development.** Jason Mitchell, then known for *[Straight Outta Compton](https://www.edgepedia.org/straight-outta-compton-film)*, and Ellar Coltrane of *[Boyhood](https://www.edgepedia.org/boyhood-2014-film)* joined the cast in March 2016, shortly after Devon Terrell and Anya Taylor-Joy were announced in the leads.[4](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/compton-jason-mitchell-boyhood-ellar-coltrane-join-young-160014739.html) Gandhi had won the 2011 SXSW audience award for his previous film *Kumare* and was working as a correspondent and producer for HBO's *Vice* when he took the project.[4](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/compton-jason-mitchell-boyhood-ellar-coltrane-join-young-160014739.html) Gandhi and Mansbach finished the script in October 2015, and the film moved from casting in March to worldwide release by December.[6](https://www.fastcompany.com/3066696/barry-director-vikram-gandhi-on-why-his-obama-biopic-is-like-a-superhero-origin)
**Sources.** The story draws on research into public records and on details from Obama's 1995 memoir *[Dreams from My Father](https://www.edgepedia.org/dreams-from-my-father)*, which explores the same search for identity.[6](https://www.fastcompany.com/3066696/barry-director-vikram-gandhi-on-why-his-obama-biopic-is-like-a-superhero-origin) • [7](https://www.bustle.com/articles/200323-how-accurate-is-barry-the-film-stays-loyal-to-obamas-college-years) Gandhi told Forbes that his goal was to tell the story of "a mixed-race kid in New York in 1981 that would one day become the 44th President of the United States".[7](https://www.bustle.com/articles/200323-how-accurate-is-barry-the-film-stays-loyal-to-obamas-college-years)
**Composite characters.** Some elements of Obama's Columbia years were modified while staying loyal to the overall experience. Charlotte, Barry's wealthy white girlfriend, is not based on a single person from Obama's college history but is a composite of several relationships from that period; Gandhi said it was more important to capture what Obama went through than to reproduce specific individuals.[7](https://www.bustle.com/articles/200323-how-accurate-is-barry-the-film-stays-loyal-to-obamas-college-years) Gandhi's own background informed the setting: he also attended Columbia and lived in the building next door to the one where Obama had lived on 109th Street in Morningside Heights.[7](https://www.bustle.com/articles/200323-how-accurate-is-barry-the-film-stays-loyal-to-obamas-college-years)
## Reception and comparison with Southside with You
*Barry* arrived a few months after *[Southside with You](https://www.edgepedia.org/southside-with-you)* (2016), Richard Tanne's film about Barack and [Michelle Obama](https://www.edgepedia.org/michelle-obama)'s first date in 1989, which premiered at Sundance and was mostly well received by critics.[4](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/compton-jason-mitchell-boyhood-ellar-coltrane-join-young-160014739.html) • [8](https://www.csmonitor.com/Arts-Culture/Movies/2016/1021/Obama-biopic-Barry-on-Netflix-after-praise-for-Southside-with-You) Reviewers treated the two as companion pieces: TIME noted that Terrell, like Parker Sawyers in the earlier film, captures the loping rhythms of Obama's speech patterns, seeming just a little behind the beat when telling a joke or making a declarative statement.[5](https://time.com/4598000/review-barry-barack-obama-movie/)
Critics differed on the film's dramatic success. TIME called it a sharp, well-observed picture that examines how race is not always the major thing that divides people.[5](https://time.com/4598000/review-barry-barack-obama-movie/) The RogerEbert.com review, by Nick Allen, argued that the film's scant narrative eloquence limits its ideas about identity and race to food for thought, and that unlike *Southside with You* it hardly works as a story that can stand without the reader knowing how Obama's life turned out.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-2016) Screen's Toronto review observed that Gandhi uses poetic license to suggest that Obama's New York years helped solidify the man he would become, dropping hints about his later work as a community organizer, senator, and president.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/barry-toronto-review/5109326.article)
The screenplay's nomination for Best First Screenplay at the 2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards recognized Mansbach's script.[1](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry)
## References
1. [Barry, Black Bear Pictures film page](https://www.blackbearpictures.com/film-and-tv/barry)
2. [Parents' Guide to Barry, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/barry)
3. [Barry movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-2016)
4. ['Compton's' Jason Mitchell, 'Boyhood's' Ellar Coltrane Join Young Barack Obama Movie 'Barry', Variety via Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/compton-jason-mitchell-boyhood-ellar-coltrane-join-young-160014739.html)
5. [Review: Smart, Perceptive Barry Shows a President in the Making, TIME](https://time.com/4598000/review-barry-barack-obama-movie/)
6. ["Barry" Director Vikram Gandhi On Why His Obama Biopic Is Like A Superhero Origin Tale, Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/3066696/barry-director-vikram-gandhi-on-why-his-obama-biopic-is-like-a-superhero-origin)
7. [How Accurate Is 'Barry'? The Film Stays Loyal To Obama's College Years, Bustle](https://www.bustle.com/articles/200323-how-accurate-is-barry-the-film-stays-loyal-to-obamas-college-years)
8. [Obama biopic 'Barry' on Netflix, after praise for 'Southside with You', The Christian Science Monitor](https://www.csmonitor.com/Arts-Culture/Movies/2016/1021/Obama-biopic-Barry-on-Netflix-after-praise-for-Southside-with-You)
9. ['Barry': Toronto Review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/barry-toronto-review/5109326.article)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Biographical films of political, royal, military, and criminal figures › Political and revolutionary biopics*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license