Sunday, April 4, 2010
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Sunday, April 4, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
Why Did I Get Married Too
La Femme Noir, With A War Of
Roses To Follow
Sharon Leal as Dianne and Jill Scott as Sheila in Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get
Married Too", which opened on Friday in the U.S. and Canada.
Lionsgate
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Sunday, April 4, 2010
"Why Did I Get Married Too" is not so much a sequel to the 2008 film as it is a
continuation for the hardest working man in film, Tyler Perry, who bangs out
about two films a calendar year. He's already gearing up for the film
adaptation of "For Colored Girls...", based on Ntozake Shange's anthology of
poems, which arrives on the big screen next January.
"Married Too" opened on Friday in the U.S. and Canada, and brings back the cast
from the first film (which this reviewer has not seen.) On a vacation
retreat in the Bahamas, Dianne, Pat, Sheila and Angela and their respective
husbands Terry, Gavin, Troy and Marcus converse among themselves about the state
of their marriages. Revelations, secrets and stories are traded.
Tensions brew. Misunderstandings ensue.
The extended conversational pieces Mr. Perry orchestrates are lively,
interesting and entertaining. While these give way to thought-provoking
episodes, the third act is undone by mayhem and disaster. All the good
work by the actors is undone. That's a shame because "Why Did I Get
Married Too" has its moments of authenticity and truth. Complexities are
drawn from the mechanics of marriage and the very real issues and politics
affecting it in Mr. Perry's story, which sustains entertainment value to a
point. The problem however, is that some of the players on the stage are
more caricature than character, though they largely avoid the buffoonery often
present in some of the director's prior films.
Furthermore, hysteria stifles each act, thanks largely to the character Angela
(Tasha Smith), who as walking, talking one-woman farce knows one volume and
pitch. Even so, Ms. Smith is hilarious at times, bringing comic energy and
unyielding insanity to fuel Angela. There's good work from both Janet
Jackson and Jill Scott as Patricia and Sheila respectively. The men of the
film most often resemble a Greek Chorus, particularly early on in their
get-togethers.
As produced and written by Mr. Perry "Married Too" is laden with clichés and
conveniently bow-wrapped, ribbon-tying moments that undercut it. The
bright, sunny disposition of the first act and part of the second yields to grim
melodrama in the third, further desecrated by poor editing. The script's
final act needed more development, and the fashion in which it unfolds and
concludes indicates that the director probably felt he needed to wrap things up,
and quickly. At two hours and one minute, the film is about 20 minutes too
long and its brutal knock-down, drag-out encounters will be jarring to
unsuspecting viewers.
"Why Did I Get Married Too" has some weak, unconvincing and manipulative moments
in the third act that severely undercut any semblance of realism. The
film, for all its dramatic rigor and provocative moments sinks hard and fast,
wasting its early promise.
With: Sharon Leal, Tyler Perry, Malik Yoba, Michael Jai White, Lamman Rucker,
Richard T. Jones, Louis Gossett Jr., Cicely Tyson, Florence Henderson.
"Why Did I Get Married Too" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America
for thematic material including sexuality, language, drug references and some
domestic violence. The film's
running time is two hours and one minute.
FOLLOW
Unscripted review of "Why Did I Get Married Too"
Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film
Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times -
here
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