Edward Kelsey Moore’s 2013 novel, The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, is a sweeping melodrama about the lives, loves, and many troubles of three Black women in the small, fictional Southern Indiana town of Plainview. The friends deal with a wide range of issues, including infidelity, addiction, unintended pregnancy, terminal illness, and other unexpected tragedies; all the while, they reflect on their friendship, the choices they’ve made, and what’s truly important in life. A new film version, starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan, and Uzo Aduba, delivers on the soapier aspects of the tale, while offering many fine performances along the way. However, as faithful as the adaptation is, it disappointingly changes one element that made the novel truly stand out. It premieres on Hulu on Aug. 23.

The main characters include the outspoken, courageous Odette, who’s fiercely loyal to those she loves; Clarice, a talented pianist who never had a chance to pursue her dreams; and Barbara Jean, who has a troubled upbringing and later has a secret relationship with a young man known as “the King of the Pretty White Boys,” who works at local diner Earl’s All-You-Can Eat. That restaurant is the center of the town’s Black community, and a frequent stop for churchgoers on Sunday afternoons; its owner’s son reverently nicknamed the three women the Supremes, after the famed singing trio. 

As the novel goes on, the women support one another through a seemingly unending number of trials: Clarice suffers through her husband Richmond’s humiliating infidelities; Barbara Jean self-medicates with alcohol after multiple personal tragedies, and even urges the love of her life to commit murder for her; and Odette is diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—the one challenge that, as tough as she is, she might not be able to overcome.

The movie version—co-written and directed by Tina Mabry, who previously helmed the acclaimed 2009 film Mississippi Damned—bounces between the past and present with skill and grace, and it’s extremely faithful to the exceedingly eventful novel, much to the filmmakers’ credit. However, there’s no mention of one element that takes up quite a bit of the book: the fact that Odette can see dead people. Specifically, she receives visits from the spirit of her quirky mother, who gossips about goings-on in the town; early on, her mom even lets her know that Big Earl, owner of the All-You-Can-Eat, has died. Later, Odette sees the ghost of Eleanor Roosevelt, too. Needless to say, this is a memorable ability, and its absence in the movie version is keenly felt. One can’t help but wonder who would have played the ghostly First Lady—Jane Alexander? Gillian Anderson? Kathryn Hahn?

Still, it’s not a dealbreaker. The movie version rolls along briskly, which gives the wonderful cast plenty to do. Ellis-Taylor, who recently gave a breathtaking performance as author Isabel Wilkerson in the Ava DuVernay film Origin, shines as Odette, who never backs down from a fight; Aduba, who may be best known for her role on Orange Is the New Black, delivers a nuanced take on Clarice, who summons the strength to make a change in her life; and Lathan is stunning as the emotionally scarred Barbara Jean, who affectingly comes to terms with her trauma and finds love once again. The actors who play the younger versions of the characters in the 1960s also do fine work, with Kyanna Simone, as young Odette, as a standout. Several other supporting players are notable, too, including Mekhi Phifer as Odette’s loving spouse, James, and Russell Hornsby as the unfaithful Richmond. Overall, it makes for a compulsively watchable film, and a great acting showcase—despite the distinct lack of ghostly apparitions.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.