Cast:
Tyler Perry (Terry), Sharon Leal (Dianne), Malik Yoba (Gavin Agnew), Janet Jackson (Dr. Patricia Agnew), Michael Jai White (Marcus Williams), Tasha Smith (Angela), Richard T. Jones (Mike), Jill Scott (Sheila), Lamman Rucker (Troy), and Denise Boutte (Trina) Written and Directed by Tyler Perry (#872 - A Madea Christmas)
Review:
“First of all, the messages are very important to me. I don’t just want to do film for the sake of doing film. And it’s never been about money for me. It’s always been about “What can I leave to uplift and inspire?” Even when I was doing plays early on. So, that’s where it comes from, first of all. It’s about, “What message can I bury into a great story?” And I think it’s resonating with people because so many folks are looking for answers. So many people are searching. So many want love and hope and romance. In my own life, finding that forgiveness has been very important. And that’s where it seems to begin with me for a lot of what I do.”
The story of Tyler Perry is a story of persistent faith. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1969 to a household wracked in abuse. He was inspired by an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to keep a diary of his daily thoughts and experiences that set him on a path to become a writer, one that led to him to do a musical. I Know I've Been Changed was first staged in community theater in Georgia in 1992, albeit to little reception. He continued onward and refined it to eventual attention in 1998. This would lead to a litany of stage productions over the years with him as director, writer, producer, and actor. In 2005, he adapted his play Diary of A Mad Black Woman into a film as writer/producer/star, which featured him as his most notable character in Madea; he made his directorial debut with Madea's Family Reunion the following year. Ultimately, Perry has made over a dozen films and countless television shows that has a perception of audience appeal regardless of critical scrutiny (whether that involves film critics or filmmakers such as Spike Lee); he has a film studio that bears his name that is located in the heart of Atlanta.
Why Did I Get Married? was the third directorial effort from Perry, who also wrote, starred, and co-produced the film based his play of the same name with considerable changes. A sequel was done in 2010 along with a TV spinoff in Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse (White and Smith are the only two actors to act in both projects). Admittedly, one can see where the appeal lies in Perry's attempts at doing pop psychology with melodrama on the level of a soap opera or an off-kilter religious movie. For 113 minutes, the movie certainly labors in the elements of comedy-drama to various highs and lows that make it a fascinating mediocre movie. It is a very drawn-out movie, one that is best fit for a very long rainy day for those who like to roll with a movie for the sake of watching what they assume is obviously going to happen in the art of a soap opera, which means it is mildly entertaining to me but ultimately too hollow to really remember. That isn't to say it is forgettable, it just will be one of those movies that comes and leaves in the brain just like that. One can see the appeal of the film before saying "it's just not my thing". Strangely enough, it is the dynamic between White and Smith that sticks out the most in terms of entertaining quality, which is quite the feat in a cast that has a writer/director/actor and, well, singers with varying acting experience that include Janet Jackson. Of the four rifts in marriage portrayed here, they play their rift with the most energy and most charm that makes each side out to be as ridiculous as the other without making one lose sight of why they look like a couple. In other words, when the film is trying to be humorous or "dramatic", it is them who make it work to relatively interesting levels. Perry and Leal, as the "lead duo", don't exactly make this into high-strung drama, to put it nicely, which is amusing considering that Yoba and Jackson have as much tension in "close relations" as one does when quietly standing in an elevator. Maybe this is what happens if you made a religious movie but some of the opening pages out. Scott is probably the only other actor that makes the movie a possible focus point in terms of finding a sort of spiritual and emotional rebirth. When the film finds itself on the part of delivering certain secrets (because hey, one guy knows a whole bunch of their stuff), the movie probably illustrates its strengths and weaknesses quite well: its staged drama only becomes interesting when I actually care about what is going on screen without just riffing it as having the foundation of a three-legged chair. Again though, there are mildly interesting actors here, and I do find some of its take on marriage means in the modern sense to be compelling. It is a movie with a general sense of uplifting ambition that will work for those who are curious about its filmmaker and work less for those who believe there are better ways to use their time.
Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.
Next Time: For the final installment of Movie Night's third edition of Black History Month with films, a review...in three parts.
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