Tyler Perry Inc.

A few weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to see Tyler Perry's new flick Why Did I Get Married Too? and have to admit that I did have a specific level of excitement at seeing the movie as I was such a fan of its predecessor. Well....that all ended about twenty minutes into the film...

There were so many things wrong with the movie (at least for me) that I am not sure where to begin and if you have not seen the movie yet please do not continue reading this post as I am going to go into detail. Okay...so where do I begin...

First, let me say that I like Tyler Perry very much. I like him because I think the man is a genius for tapping into a money making machine that went untouched and unrecognized until he came along and claimed it as his own baby and made it his dynasty. I like him because the man is genuinely very funny as his main character, Medea, and his plays and films offer along with comedy (1) an opportunity for black actors to develop their talent and pursue their passion (2) a strong promotion of spiritual and personal growth and (3) really good and important life lessons. I like him because he has also opened the door to more blacks being involved in the film and television industry where they have not had the opportunity to do so prior to his success. I like him.

I think, however, that he is beginning to bite off more than he can chew when it comes to his films which is causing his work to lose its detail and this last film effort proved that. The film was all over the place from the plot to the characters to the editing. It never really came together and made sense which was sad because the first film at least went into a specific direction with all of the characters and yes there was drama (which us black folks love) but it didn't cloud the story instead it added to the entertainment. With this movie there was so much going on that at times it was overwhelming and in the end completely too far fetched. I left the movie very disappointed and a little insulted as I kind of felt like Perry didn't think his audience was smart enough to remember what even happened in the first film. This whole journey started out with four married couples who dealt with general marital and family issues that arise and some were more unfortunate than others but in the second act to there was so much going on at once the movie should have been titled When Will The Divorce Be Final?

The characters were not the only thing that was off because time between this vacation and the last vacation they took together was muddled from the beginning of the film. Terry and Diane apparently had another child but the little boy looked to be about five or six which didn't make sense in regards the time of the last vacation they took in the mountains and the rest of the dialogue which would have made the boy three years of age at the most (Tyler, you need to talk to your casting department). The entire Sheila, Troy and Mike love triangle was a joke...who just settles for their abusive ex-husband to hang around during their vacation that they spent their last dime paying for to spend with their friends...WHO?!! And who told the man that they were going to be down there anyway...that is the person who should be slapped. I never really understood what the hell was going on with Patricia and Gavin. Why they were getting divorced was never really set in stone and it felt like all of a sudden they were at war with each other. Our of nowhere he's this raging alcoholic who is burning the last pictures of his deceased son and chugging vodka from an Absolut bottle (REALLY??!!). And she has lost all control, swinging golf clubs and sitting in the house not taking showers until finally getting herself together enough to go to the man's job and completely make the situation worse. And Marcus should have left Angela after the last vacation because the woman is completely nuts and became psychotic in this movie.

But the old characters were only the beginning of the problem. I was delighted when Louis Gossett Jr and Cicely Tyson came on screen until they started talking. Gossett Jr lost his island accent about two sentences into his dialogue and everthing was wrong with Cicely from her hair (she looked like a voodoo witch), her speech (I couldn't understand a word she said) and she looked lost throughout her scene. Also, when do we as black people just invite stangers to our homes for dinner after first meeting them on an island we are visiting for a vacation (REALLY??!!!).

There were so many issues that plagued the film from scenes being way too long (the opening scene with the men on the beach took about 20 minutes) to bad editing (throughout the film it felt more like a play being passed off as a major motion picture due to the choppy editing) to story details being missed. I walked out vowing that Tyler Perry's movies would be a strictly DVD rental for me from now on. It is a bit unfortunate because to me he had seemed to be getting the hang of drama. I thought that his last few have been pretty decent. I really liked The Family That Preys. The story was well thought out and wasn't to over dramatized, the characters were pretty relatable and a bit easier to identify with. I was glad that none of the black characters were your usual drug addicts, prostitutes and struggling single mothers that we always see in films (most of which are Tyler Perry's) but instead these were two families of successful people who were intertwined in a bit of mess and none of the mess was far fetched but could and has actually happened to people. Unlike most of Perry's characters which I find a bit stereotypical, I was able to at least identify with the female characters on some level.
I think it is time for Perry to start utilizing his resources more. He does way too much on his own which may be clouding his judgement in what is best for and will work for his films especially the dramas which audiences have a tendency to pay attention to more. With comedy, the audience can be easily distracted by the laughs which can cause the minor details to be missed but with drama the audience should be completely engaged because with a good drama there is an emotional investment in what happens to the characters. So maybe it is time for Perry to take a step back and let some one else take the reins in some aspects of putting the film together. When you are the writer, director, producer and star of the film of course you can experience tunnel vision but another creative voice being involved can help with the tiny details that could have been missed. It kind of reminds me of when Spike Lee re-emerged from his creative slump in a point in his career when audiences started to tire of the moving side walk bit and Lee making appearances in all of his films. But with the help of Martin Scorsese (and others) along came Clockers, which joined the likes of Do The Right Thing and School Daze as one of Lee's best films.

I want to make it clear that I am not giving up on Perry, I really do like him...I really do. But I will be thinking twice for a while before I spend the cash on a movie ticket to see his work (movies cost $12.50 a pop in NYC). But I am very excited that Medea is making a return.