If Not Now, When? (film)

If Not Now, When? is an American drama film written by Tamara Bass and directed by Bass with Meagan Good (in their feature directorial debut). The film stars Meagan Holder, Mekia Cox, Tamara Bass and Meagan Good as four friends who forced back together when one of them suffers a crisis. Valarie Pettiford, Edwin Hodge, Lexi Underwood, Niles Fitch, Todd Williams, and McKinley Freeman round out the cast.

The film premiered at the 2019 American Black Film Festival. It later was released on January 8, 2021, by Vertical Entertainment. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 17 critics' reviews are positive.

Film critic Lisa Kennedy from Variety wrote in her review: "The drama “If Not Now, When?” owes more to Waiting to Exhale than to the women-centric films of Tyler Perry. That's a good thing, as well as intentional on the part of its first-time feature directors, actors Meagan Good and Tamara Bass." Katie Walsh from Los Angeles Times also give it positive review praising Bass' writing and performances, particularly Meagan Holder' performance. Monica Castillo from RogerEbert.com gave it a negative review writing: "Between its amateurish direction, pedestrian cinematography, and overly plotted script, the narrative and visuals don’t coalesce into a story that feels restorative, cathartic, or even joyful." Teo Bugbee from The New York Times also gave it a negative review.