Sunday dinner even though he and Teri are divorcing; Lem and Bird are expecting their first child, Teri and Maxine have made peace and the former opts to not sell the family house. Faith is finally becoming part of the family again and Uncle Pete, who never came out of his room, starts to join the family. Main cast Vanessa Williams as Teri Vivica A. Fox as Maxine Nia Long as Bird Michael Beach as Miles Mekhi Phifer as Lem Gina Ravera as Faith Brandon Hammond as Ahmad Irma P. Hall as Josephine "Big Mama" Joseph Jeffrey D. Sams as Kenny Halle Berry and Whitney Houston were both considered for the role of Teri. Regina King, Kenya Moore and Jada Pinkett Smith were all considered for the role of Bird. Vivica A. Fox auditioned for the role of Teri, but landed the role of Maxine instead. The character Miles (Michael Beach) plays keyboards in an R&B group called "Milestone"; the vocalists of the group are portrayed by two sibling teams of professional R&B performers: brothers K-Ci and Jo-Jo Hailey (of Jodeci and K-Ci & JoJo); and Babyface and his brothers Kevon Edmonds and Melvin Edmonds (both of After 7). Production Soul Food was shot primarily on location in the Chicago area. A later Tillman-produced film, Barbershop, would also take place in and be shot on location in Chicago. Soundtrack A soundtrack containing R&B and hip-hop was released on August 19, 1997 by LaFace Records. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified 2x Multi-Platinum for over 2 million copies sold. Reception Soul Food received generally positive reviews from critics. It holds an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 44 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Much like its titular cuisine, Soul Food blends a series of savory ingredients to offer warm, generous helpings of nourishment and comfort". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars. Godfrey Cheshire of Variety magazine wrote: "Soul Food serves up family melodrama-cum-comedy that's tasty and satisfying, if not particularly profound or original." The film earned $43,700,855 during its original theatrical run. The film opened at #3 in its opening weekend