Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection [2012]

MPAA (PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2215285/

Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection, written, directed and staring in no less than three roles Tyler Perry [IMDb], presents his take on the 4 year old financial crisis that our country finds itself in (the worst since the Great Depression) through the eyes of his increasingly famous character, the no nonsense Madea [IMDb] (played by Tyler Perry).

The movie begins with conscientious George Needleman (played by Eugene Levy) an accountant at a New York investment firm, who's found himself doing surprisingly well at his job in recent years, once again "putting his job first," and traveling from his spacious New York suburban home down to the city on a Saturday "to do some paperwork" rather than "go to the game" of his amiable but somewhat chubby and not particularly athletic son Howie (played by Devan Leos).  Indeed, as he leaves home, his probably inappropriately young for his age second wife Kate (played by Denise Richards) and 15 year old daughter from his first marriage Cindy (played by Danielle Campbell) are both (though for somewhat differing reasons) angry at him for "once again abandoning the family" to go back to work.  Sigh ... but at least he's doing "good work" and he's doing it actually "for the family ... if they only knew."

Well, he comes to the office and finds EVERYBODY there shredding everything in sight.  What happened?  George's boss tells him ... "I've never really told you, but what we've been doing here is running a gigantic Ponzi scheme for the last five years, and the Feds are coming to shut us down." "But how could that be?  I've been CFO here for the last 5 years.  Shouldn't I have noticed something?"  "That's great!  That's why we've always loved you!  Could you say that louder and into my microphone please?"  (He does).  Turns out that George Needleman was promoted way above his capacity over those last several years, PRECISELY so that he could be the company's fall-guy when the scheme was uncovered.

Switch to Altanta.  Heavy-set recently retired Madea is carrying a few bags of groceries out of the store when she's attacked by a young masked "thug" (who has no idea what he's up against) demanding that she give him her money.  She answers "No way!  Now I'm going to tell you son, do yourself a favor, GO GET A JOB!" "But I have a gun!" "Son, I spent years and years working to finally get this Social Security to be (spits to the side) on a 'fixed income.'  So there's no way I'm gonna give it to a puny thug like you with a puny gun.  Get yourself a job!" "This is my last warning!" "No, this is my last warning!"  Much then ensues over the next couple of minutes.  In the end, the masked thug scared for his life gives up.  And he's revealed to be Madea's own nephew Jake (played by Romeo Matthew).  What the heck just happened?

Well, Jake, Madea's nephew and son of a Baptist Minister, Pastor Nelson (played by John Amos), had been entrusted by his church to invest the church's money wisely so that it could pay-off its mortgage faster.  Where did Jake put the money?  Well in the best mutual fund that he could find ... the one run by Needleman's firm, the one that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.  So Jake, who had previous encounters with the law, and had been so grateful to his father and his father's church to be given "another chance" had lost all the church's money and was scared to death what they'd do to him, and more to the point that the news would "just crush" his dad.  Yes, the Bernie Madoff scandal that came to fore (and was also an elaborate Ponzi scheme) hurt a lot of charities and churches that trusted Bernie Madoff's firm with their money.

Okay, it turns out that another nephew of Madea's, Brian (played by Tyler Perry) an assistant federal prosecutor in Atlanta is put in charge of investigating Needleman's firm on behalf of a number of the churches and charities that lost their investments on account of that firm's malfeasance.  Prosecutors also understand that the firm possibly working as a front for the mob.  So when he talks to the very nervous/distraught Needleman, he realizes that he has to offer him and his family protection.  How?  By hiding them with Madea and her husband.  Who'd think of looking for a timid white-collar accountant and his family (all from New York) "in the hood" in Atlanta?  Much ensues ... ;-)

Of course everything turns out well.  Among the many things that are very nice about this film  -- Denise Richard's character Kate turns out to be more than just a "trophy wife" but a really nice person, Madea in her trademark way is able to knock some sense into the kids and make them more appreciate their parents -- is how Jake's father's Baptist Church is portrayed in the film and the Needleman family's relationship with it.  They don't mock it.  Instead, they go there and meet a lot of very nice people (yes, who are in great part AFRICAN AMERICAN / BLACK).  And indeed, Needleman finds how to "connect the dots" in his firm's Ponzi scheme while once being at one of their services.

This is the third Tyler Perry [IMDb] movie that I've reviewed on this blog.  And I do have to say that I've liked what I've seen.  In this film again, he is "kind/merciful" to the "big shots."  Indeed, Tyler Perry himself in real life is media mogul.  But he is also unflinching in showing the effect of malfeasance of some of the "big shots" on a lot of "smaller people" who had depended on them.

In one scene in the film, Asst Federal Prosecutor Brian is going through with Needleman some of the charities that Needleman's firm had hurt: "Look, these are charities that had been building wells in Africa, vaccinating kids, providing community services for the elderly and youth otherwise at risk.  You hurt them by, what you say, 'not paying attention.'  You're gonna have to help me, help make this right..."

Good job Tyler Perry, good job ...

Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family

MPAA (PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 stars)

IMDb listing -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787759/

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family (written, directed and starring Tyler Perry as Madea) continues the very successful Madea franchise, featuring Mabel (Madea) Simmons, a scrappy 70 year old African American grandmother who’s done all her life what she needed to in order to survive. As often the case in the Madea movies, she’s not necessarily the central character at the beginning of the film though she becomes more important as the movie progresses.

Also endearing in these movies is that even if often presented with exaggeration, the movies deal with real pain and real issues. In the opening scene in this movie, Madea’s niece Shirley (played by Loretta Divine) is told by her doctor, Dr Evans (played by Philip-Anthony Rodriguez) that her cancer has returned and this this time it was much more aggressive than before. Shirley wants to get her three children and their families together to tell them the sad news. This simple desire proves heartrendingly difficult to realize as Shirley’s adult and soon to be adult children are absorbed in their own lives, resentments and with their own demons:

Daughter Tammy (played by Natalie Desselle) is disappointed with her honest but modest auto-mechanic husband Harold (played by Rodney Perry). Their constant fighting makes it difficult for either of them to control their two soon to be teenage sons.

Second daughter Kimberly (played by Shannon Kane) has moved "uptown" and resents her simpler, "more ghetto" relatives. She even harps on her husband Calvin (played by Isaiah Mustafa) even though he appears to be the "perfect" for her – good looking, financially successful, a _nice guy_ and seemingly utterly devoted to her. Still, she can’t be happy.  (The reason why becomes revealed later in the movie and makes one cry).

Finally, there’s the 18 year old son Byron (played by Bow Bow) who’s already spent time in jail and fathered a child with a similarly young ex-girlfriend, Sabrina (played by Teyana Taylor). Sabrina turns out to be a gum-chewing, fast food restaurant working "baby mama from hell." But even though the two _don’t_ live together "he did make his bed," (Byron’s created a child) and so he’s got to live with the financial obligations and consequences. Byron’s new "high maintenance" girlfriend Renee (played by Lauren London) presents her own problems.

After several heartrending attempts by soft-spoken Shirley to get this family together for dinner to that she could them the news, "super ghetto" Madea increasingly takes over to knock some sense into Shirley’s kids so that she could do finally so, AND EVEN MADEA IS ONLY _PARTLY_ SUCCESSFUL.

Critics have complained that Tyler Perry exaggerates his characters too much. I can tell readers _without reservation_ that family dysfunction and resentment approaching the level presented here both _definitely exists_ and _definitely transcends ethnicity_. Consider simply that the recent South Korean movie "Shi" ("Poetry") about a grandmother raising an utterly clueless and ungrateful grandson for her daughter touches on almost exactly the same themes and arguably with even more brutal honesty. But obviously both parish life and even human life is filled with similar examples of people too absorbed in their own issues to see what’s going on even with loved ones around them. (Both the just and just ask Jesus at the Last Judgement "when did we see you [in need]?" Matthew 25:31-46).

Madea's Big Happy Family is probably not for little kids (because they probably wouldn’t get it) and but for teens and above I do believe the movie is excellent (the movie is IMHO appropriately rated PG-13, with multiple exaggerated references to drug use and some bleeped profanity), reminding us that we do have a duty to wake-up and care for those around us. God bless you Tyler Perry for giving us a tough message in the same way that Robin Williams often has – with a smile.


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Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  Chicago SunTimes (1 Star)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Chicago SunTimes (P. Sobczynski) review

Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor [2013] (written and directed by Tyler Perry) is a well-made African-American oriented film (and Tyler Perry is, of course, an African-American film maker) with a strong moral message -- DON'T CHEAT.  The film is slick, modern, and runs very much like the famous morality films Fatal Attraction [1987] and War of the Roses [1989] only that the central character (the one being tempted) is not played by Michael Douglas but is rather an African American character named Judith (played by Jurnee Smolett-Bell). 

The film begins at a run down, government run, probably "pro-bono" counseling service presumably in Washington D.C., where a rather poor young white couple has come for "marriage counseling."  The young husband doesn't know what's going on, but certainly wants to save his marriage.  The wife just feels that "it's over."  Upset and dispondent, the husband gets up and leaves.  The woman taking more time is stopped by the counselor who asks, "What's really going on?"  The young woman confesses to her, "He really deserves someone better than me."  Not buying it, the counselor a serious looking African American woman in her forties asks the young woman a la Danny DeVito's role in War of the Roses [1989], "Can I tell you a story?"  The young woman says yes.  And thus the counselor begins telling the story of Judith...

Judith was an African American woman born somewhere down South raised by her very Christian devoted mother (played by Ella Joyce).  Ma' was strict but kept her basically on the right path.  Judith's grades were good.  Though ma' never much liked Judith's childhood sweetheart Brice, she kept Judith and Brice honest (and probably scared ... ;-) throughout their teenage years, and finally when Judith (and Brice) were truly old enough, she consented to them getting married, which they did either during or shortly after college. 

The story resumes with the two, Judith (played by Jurnee Smolett-Bell) and Brice (played by Lance Gross) living as a young wide-eyed-happy recently married couple living in a nice small apartment in Washington D.C.  Each had "starter jobs" in their degree fields.  Brice found himself working in a small independent pharmacy, Judith with an MS in Counseling (and having dreams of opening up her own Marriage Counseling practice) working for now as an "in house" psychologist/advisor for a somewhat pretentious Washington D.C. "Match Making Service" run by a 40-something woman named Janice (played by Vanessa Williams). 

Indeed, Judith initially looked down on the place where she worked, suspecting it to be, at the end of the day, a higher-end Escort Service for older men even it pretended perhaps even hoped to be better than that.  Still it was a job ... and eventually Judith hoped to make enough money to be able to open up her own _honest_ marriage counseling practice.

Enter the Snake..., Harley (played by Robbie Jones), a rich African American entrepreneur, who according to Judith's more up-on-the-gossip/worldly coworker Ava (played by Kim Kardashian) made it big by inventing a somewhat slicker, more hip-hoppier version Facebook.  He comes to Janice's Service as a potential investor / social media partner.  Janice having liked Judith's previous work with improving her Service's questionaires asks Judith to work with Harley to see how the Service could further benefit from partnering with Harley's social media outlet.   Of course Harley, who's used to getting what he wants, decides that he wants the very married but previously rather sheltered (and also rather ambitious) Judith.   Much ensues ...

Of course, eventually Judith falls (otherwise there wouldn't be a story...).  What's perhaps interesting is the point at which she falls and how Harley finally gets to her.  Then once Judith falls, the film follows a trajectory similar to Michael Douglas' Fatal Attraction [1987].  Basically, the worst possible scenario plays out...

Now I don't quite understand the "hate" that many critics have given this film.  It's obvious that the film is intended to be a morality tale.  And I honestly don't see ANY DIFFERENCE in the story's setup or its playing-out from its white cousins -- Fatal Attraction [1987] and War of the Roses [1989] -- that I've already mentioned above.  If anything, the Tyler Perry's story is slicker and more updated to our time.

Now Parents, I would say that the film is not intended for kids or even for young teens even if its nudity (none at all) and violence (some but clearly more implied than shown) quotients are sufficiently low for the film to qualify for its PG-13 rating.   However, I just don't think that most kids or even teens would find the film particularly interesting, though young adults and younger married couples would probably enjoy AND UNDERSTAND it far more. For the film's message is both very simple and yet very professionally delivered: DON'T CHEAT.  And IMHO that's a message worth hearing.


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Tyler Perry's Good Deeds [2012]

MPAA (PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1885265/

Good Deeds (written and directed by Tyler Perry), is a very well-written/crafted movie, both gentle and pointed, that's certainly about our times but which chooses to be positive. 

The film is about two people: Wesley Deeds (played by Tyler Perry) and Lindsey Wakefield (played by Thandie Newton).

Wesley is a 30-something gentleman, 5th generation Ivy League graduate, who now heads his family's investment business from its high rise headquarters in San Francisco's business district.  He has both the temperament and the capability to lead the company well and thus be a good steward of the family's fortune for another generation.  But he's also unhappy.  A good son to his mother Wilemina (played by Phylicia Rashad), a good future husband to his fiance Natalie (played by Gabrielle Union), and a good/competent leader of his family's firm, he's nonetheless going through the motions.  He's good because he's always met expectations, done what he's supposed to do (and done so quite well).

Lindsey turns out to be a cleaning lady in the Deeds' high rise.  Behind on her rent, behind on her bills, alone, with an 7-8 year old daughter Ariel (played by Jordenn Thompson) in tow, she's constantly fighting to "keep it together" even as she's obviously terrified that she's one step away from final disaster. 

Even though Lindsey works for Deeds, the two "meet" for the first time when Lindsey cuts off Wesley in the Deeds' Building's parking garage to park in his reserved spot right by the elevator.  Wesley is annoyed.  His more problematic and certainly more hot-headed younger brother Walter (played by Brian White) is furious.  Lindsey, ever in defensive mode, doesn't care, calls both names and runs up to the building's maintenance office to pick-up her check.  She needs the check to cover her rent.  From this initial encounter, much ensues ...

There are many things to like about this movie.  Yes, the dialogue remains at times a little "stiff/unnatural"  It's obvious that the characters represent "types" rather than complex individuals.  Yet, Perry uses his characters and his film with purpose.  He's both challenging his viewers (and perhaps even the larger society) and doing so in a positive way.

It becomes obvious in the film that Lindsey had no idea of who she was actually working for.  When she runs into Wesley sometime later, having been transferred to the evening shift (Wesley habitually stays late working in the office), she has no idea that he actually runs the firm.  She assumes that "Deeds" who owned the firm had to be some "old white guy."  When she starts getting to know Wesley, it doesn't even enter into her head that she's talking to the CEO of the firm and that he's not even a "flash in the pan" / "upstart" but had inherited the firm from his father who inherited it from his.

On the other side of the coin, at a time when so much anger is being expressed at "the top 1%," both in film (Inside Job, Margin Call, Tower Heist, In Time, Man on a Ledge all good to very good films BTW...) and in society (with the Occupy Wall Street Movement), rather than condemning "the 1%," Tyler Perry (himself a theater mogul) offers "the 1%" a good example in Wesley Deeds.  Wesley uses his money and his power to get involved in Lindsey's life.  And as he does so, he finds himself.  He becomes "Good Deeds."

What a nice, nice film!


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Boo! A Madea Halloween [2016]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (D+)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Myers) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review


Boo! A Madea Halloween [2016] (written and directed by Tyler Perry [wikip] [IMDb]) continues the gleeful and sometimes instructive silliness of the tough / no nonsense / streetwise auntie Madea (played by Tyler Perry) who with all her quite ahem, "varied," experience just keeps _slapping_ her more dignified, better educated (and frankly _luckier_) younger relatives into shape.

Honestly, _most_ Readers "of a certain age" (I'm beginning to be "of certain age" ;-) _regardless_ of race, gender or ethnicity would both enjoy and understand / "get" Perry's Madea [wikip] [IMDb] movies (this is the third one I'm reviewing here since beginning my blog six years ago [1] [2]).  This is because, Madea's fighting / trying to make sense of and "trying to bring sense _to_" some of the main cultural shifts in Our Time ... notably the near universal breaking-down of discipline in the home:

Honestly, pretty much ALL of my (still late baby-boom) generation still remember _being whooped_ by our folks, when we did something wrong at home.  But nowadays, it would seem that ALL of us "just want to be friends" with our kids / young people today.  And yet, sometimes Parents / We "Older Folks" need to "draw a line" (and do so EVEN FOR THE SAKE OF THE YOUNG).

So that has been Madea's perennial battle ... knocking some sense into the young(er) folks -- BOTH middle aged and their kids ;-).

In the current installment, Madea's quite well educated, State Prosecutor nephew Brian (played also by Tyler Perry), well-to-do but now divorced, was having difficulty keeping his rambunctious 17-year-old daughter Tiffany (played by Diamond White) in line.  They were living in an upscale, presumably quite liberal (and even libertine) neighborhood, near some College of sorts, and there's "a Frat" down the street.  The Frat boys, not really realizing that Tifanny and her friends were "only 17," invite them to their Halloween Party.  And the girls SEVENTEEN after all, REALLY WANT TO GO ;-).  It was a "big deal" for them, OBVIOUSLY, OBVIOUSLY, SO, SO WRONG -- and ILLEGAL.  But to them, to be "validated" (not violated but validated) "by an older boy" AT THAT AGE, was "a big deal" ... and yet again NO.  THE REST OF US, SEE THIS AS OBVIOUSLY A REALLY BAD IDEA, putting ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE, the girls but EVEN THE FRAT BOYS at risk.

So what to do?  Well, desperate Brian, thinks of calling Aunt Madea to come over ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, to BABYSIT (!) his SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER (!) :-).  Well, THAT'S "not gonna work" ... 'cept ... ;-) ... this is Madea that we're talking about ;-) ;-) and ... much, much, much ensues ;-).

HONESTLY, this is a VERY FUN, and in Madea's strange sort of way WHOLESOME FILM.

I love Tyler Perry, and I find Madea "with a story for everything" _always_ a kick ;-)

Great / fun, fun job!


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The Single Moms Club [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RE.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (D+)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing

CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
TheSource (K. Lee) review
ChicagoTribune (R. Bentley) review
RE.com (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

BET coverage
Ebony coverage
Essence coverage
TheSource coverage

I want to give writer/director/actor Tyler Perry a hug.  Since beginning my blog, I have not only enjoyed but found positive value (often overwhelming positive value) in every film of his that I've reviewed here.   The current film, The Single Moms Club [2014] (written and directed by Tyler Perry) is IMHO signature Perry material.

Yes, the film is somewhat formulaic -- five single mothers from very diverse backgrounds are brought together to work on a project for their kids' school -- but if it is so, that's more a reflection of the distance that we still have to go as a society in coming to respect one another regardless of our background, than the fault of the writer/director's here.  Perry is showing us what would be possible, if we would _let go_ of a social pecking order that requires us to look down on others for reasons of race, class, luck ... so that we could "feel better" about ourselves.  And Perry ALSO shows us HOW DESPERATE AND LONELY WE ARE when we _choose_ to live our lives on such a slope, with people below us (and people above us...) with us trying "to keep our balance" or even "with our fingers clawing into the slope" in dire fear that we might be slipping down.

Indeed, at least 4 out of 5 women in this story appear terrified at the beginning of the story of _falling_ to a lower social class.

The film with Hillary (played by Amy Smart) a bewildered lawyer's ex, not yet realizing that her vindictive former husband is going to make her (and their daughter ...) pay for her having the audacity to challenge him (on what? we're really never told).  A year before she was "a lawyer's wife" living with a big house and with a maid ... Now she's going to be an lawyer's ex-wife living as small an alimony check as the law would allow.

Her long time (since at least college days)  friend Jan (played by Wendi McLendon) has long seen men as the enemy.  So she has purposefully sought to structure her life to be as "man free" as possible, to the point that she had a child (a girl ...) through artificial insemination some twelve years ago.  But it's not a man free world, and without a husband or at least a father of her child, she ironically finds herself at even a bigger disadvantage career-wise (in which she's really put all her aspirations) than if she had at least a lout of an ex.  At the beginning of the film, after 17 years at a publishing firm, she's FINALLY "up for partner" BUT her 12 year old (approaching her teenage years...) "has decided" to start acting-up ... IF THERE WAS A SECOND PARENT TO SHARE THIS "RITE OF PASSAGE" / BURDEN WITH, IT'D BE EASIER ... BUT THERE ISN'T ONE ...

Jan's desire to be "a success" DESPITE MEN, causes her to be brutally harsh to writers coming to the publishing firm in hopes of getting their manuscripts published, writers like African American single mom May (played by Nia Long) who works for "a local community paper" but like so many other such writers, despite responsibilities at work and at home (her ex, we find later, has a drug problem and together with him they have a 12 year-old boy) she dreams of perhaps "one day getting a book published."  But May's dream continues to depend today, at least in part, _on the mood_ of publishing AGENTS like Jan.  And interestingly IT'S THE AGENTS LIKE JAN (male or female) who in a "dog eat dog (publishing) world" CAN'T FAIL.  Jan _looks at May_ (and perhaps at her work...) and decides "this is too much of a risk (for ME)."

So Jan sends May off from her office packing, and BOTH have "appointments at school" (with regard to something that their kids have done) ... and to BOTH'S surprise ... THEY HAVE APPOINTMENTS AT THE SAME SCHOOL, AT THE SAME TIME (along with the other three (single) moms) over "bad behavior" that their kids have become involved with ... Two of the kids were caught "tagging" (spray painting with graffiti) a wall outside of school while three others were caught smoking.

The Principal tells the five assembled mothers: "Our policy is when the kids get in trouble, we try to get the parents involved.  There's a school dance coming up in 6 weeks ... Guess who we've decided is going to be the Committee to set-up the dance?"

"But we don't know each other?"  "Good.  You'll get to know each other now."

And thus we have the set-up of what becomes "The Single Moms Club" of the movie.

Now who are the other two moms?

Well there's Esperanza (played by Zulay Henau) whose husband, a upper-scale car salesman, left her "for a younger model."  To be sure, Esperanza, has found a new boyfriend too, BUT he's bartender in a restaurant (owned by his parents) a decent enough place (kind of "chain Mexican restaurant") but IT WOULD BE A STEP-DOWN economically from being _at least_ the ex-wife of a BMW salesman.

Finally, there's Lytia (played by Cocoa Brown) who has five kids.  The oldest two (as well as their father) are in jail.  The youngest two are in day-care and the middle one, 12-year-old Hakim (played by DeVion Harris) is in the (private) school with the others and Lytia is working as a waitress so that with whatever scholarships she can get for her son, her son can stay in that school.  And yes, there are neighbors who laugh at her, including the one who Lytia pays day-care to to take care of her two daughters: "You make less as a waitress than you could make being on welfare.  Why the heck do you do it?  Do you think you're better than us?"  (No ... she's doing this because she doesn't want her youngest son to end up in jail like his father and two older brothers ...)

So there, those are the five single moms of the story.  Yes, they are "from different backgrounds."  But thanks to being forced to work together by that Principal, as they start talking they realize that they have a lot in common.  Above all, THEY'RE ALL TERRIFIED ... THEY ALL FEEL that they are NOT "in control" of their lives.  And until they come together, they honestly don't know what would happen to them IF ... (fill in the blank...).

And interestingly enough, it's not like they hate men (not even Jan completely hates them ...).  BUT THEY ARE SCARED ... And part of the rest of the film is about getting them "less scared."

What helps them to become "less scared" is the _community_ that begins to form among them, and then A POSITIVE (WORTHWHILE) MAN coming among them.  Tyler Perry writes himself that role.  And it's not that his T.K. is rich (he's not).  But he has an honest job (he has "a lighting business" for stage productions) and he's _willing to wait_ for his interest (May) to "come to feel safe" around him.

Honestly, my hat off to the guy.  There would be / is some criticism (see above) that these women would "need men" at all.  But we _share_ this planet with each other.  So unless there is good reason to keep distance from someone (and not really knowing a person is a good reason ... for a while) the default position ought to be to _eventually_ let THE OTHER "in" (again, within reason / appropriately).

And this is because THE ALTERNATIVE would be to REMAIN FOREVER AFRAID and ALONE.  And honestly, I think Tyler Perry's often fundamentally religious message would be: God did not make us that way.


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Best Man's Holiday [2013]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChiTrib (3 Stars)  RE.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTirbune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

I found Best Man's Holiday [2013] (written and directed by Malcolm D. Lee) to be an unexpected surprise. Yes, parents note that the R-rating is deserved.  The film is NOT for kids, but DEFINITELY for parents with kids.  But I honestly found it to be far better than I expected it to be given some of the reviews above.

Further, together with a fair number of African-American films that I've reviewed here in recent years and a number of other African-American films that are scheduled to be released in the coming months, I do have to say that talk of a "Black Hollywood Renaissance" [BBC] [CNN] [Ebony] [HPost] is nnot unwarranted. 

I've come to believe this because of the sheer variety of the African American films (more often than not written/dirrected by African Americans and definitely starring predominantly African American casts) coming out from biopics/history (Fruitvale Station [2013], Lee Daniels: The Butler [2013], 12 Years a Slave [2013], Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom [2013]) to drama (Flight [2012], Tyler Perry's Good Deeds [2012], Tyler Perry's Temptation:Confessions of a Marriage Counselor [2013], Black Nativity [2013]), dramedies (Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family [2011], and the current film, Best Man's Holiday [2013]) to romcoms (Jumping the Broom [2011], Baggage Claim [2013]) to even action films like Alex Cross [2012] and because ALL of these films, while African American in orientation are UNIVERSAL IN THEME.

Additionally, Chicago hosts a number of excellent African / African American film festivals each year that often get into particulars of African and African American experience.  (Please scroll down my Film Festivals page to check the often excellent films that I've reviewed of this kind).  So honestly, this seems to be a remarkable time to be an African American film-maker or simply a follower of African American films).

So why was I so impressed by this film?  Well, I entered the film with rather low expectations, choosing to see it only after the weekend, on a Monday morning (before noon matinee...) ... expecting it to be something of an African-American Big Chill [1983] in which a number of former college friends (since becoming quite disparate) get together after 10-15 years for a not altogether clear reason to spend a somewhat raunchy, and certainly not particularly edifying weekend reminiscing about a distant past that didn't matter much to most of them anymore (the "Big Chill" wasn't called that for nothing...).

Elements of the "Big Chill" formula are certainly present in this film, actually a 15-years since sequel to an African American young adult dramedy/romcom called The Best Man [1999]: The former friends, many long since grown apart, are invited for initially rather unclear reason to spend the Christmas holiday at the palatial home of the by-far most successful couple of the bunch: NFL football star Lance Sullivan (played by Morris Chestnut) and his wife Mia (played by Monica Calhoun).

And yes, some of the invited guests, often far less successful than the Sullivans, like Lance's former best friend (and his former Best Man), writer, Harper Stewart (played by Taye Diggs) and his wife Robyn (played by Sanaa Lathan) wonder initially why they're being invited now to the Sullivans for, let's face it, as intimate a holiday as Christmas: Was it to show off?  And yes, though all the former friends do accept their invitation, there is friction in the air:

Harper's reeling from (1) having lost his teaching job at NYU (he says, "due to budget cuts...'), (2) having had his latest manuscript rejected by his publisher as unsellable (because his last book had been a flop and there seemed to nothing in the new work that inspired confidence that it would do better) even as (3) it seems that he and Robyn are finally going to have a baby (Robyn's 8 months pregnant after apparently enduring several miscarriages in the past, and the doctor's been warning her that it's not going to be an easy delivery ... it looks like the baby's gonna come out feet first, hence she recommends scheduling a c-section ... to be paid for ... how exactly??).  It's in the midst of all this drama at work and at home, that they get an invitation to come to their rich former friends for Christmas, even though hadn't done much of anything with them in years.

Indeed, one gets the sense that Harper wouldn't go at all if not for the "bug" having been put in his ear by his publisher to see if he could write a book about his retiring über-successful NFL running back friend.   But it's quite literally a "Hail Mary" ...

So they come to the Sullivan's suburban New Jersey estate and (of coruse) it's perfect -- beautiful snow-covered grounds, enormous front room when they with a gigantic Christmas tree standing by a beautiful grand-staircase leading to the upwards, somewhere (almost certainly again "grand and beautiful" ...).  And there to greet them oh so graciously are Mia, Mia and Lance's coutnt them THREE cute as a button kids..., and then Lance who'd seem to prefer to spit to the side rather shake Harper's hand (but Mia seemed to want this holiday to be spent together, so ...).

The other guests come with their own surprises and baggage.    There's Mia's never married, always "busy" former best-friend Jordan (played by Nia Long), also in publishing..., comes to the event with her very decent but also very white (...) boyfriend Brian (played by Eddie Cibrian) from an apparently "old moneyed" WASPish family with roots in the snow covered mountains of Vermont.

There's Quentin (played by Terrence Howard) who's also become quite successful as a NY music producer, but everybody seems to dismiss as slease.

There's education specialist charter-school operator Julian Murch (played by Herald Perrineau) who's been married and since divorced from another "member of the gang" invited to this party, Shelby (played by Melissa De Sausa).

Shelby, in turn, comes to the gathering, with presumably her and Julian's 10 year old daughter, with apparently a goal of causing as much grief as possible to her "goody-two-shoes" ex.  Why?  Presumably because while she's become wildly successful and perhaps wildly more successful than he (by being an actress in a raunchy Desperate Housewives [IMDb]  knockoff called "Real Housewives of Westchester County"), it appeared that Julian (focused on building schools for poor people...) was the one who _dumped_ her.

Yet, Julian comes with a second problem.  It's recently come to his attention that his second and presumably far more virtuous/compatible wife Candace (played by Regina Hall), who also works as HIS FUND-RAISING CHAIR for his School / Foundation "had a past" as well.  A 10-15 year old video had recently appeared on the Internet with her looking like she was prostituting herself at a late-1990s "white boy" Frat Party.  The person who had brought this to his attention had been a major donor to his school/foundation.

This last sub-plot CERTAINLY turns this film into an R-rated NOT FOR KIDS production BUT IT ALSO SERVES AS A REALLY GOOD WARNING TO YOUNG MEN / WOMEN : Your actions DO have consequences and PICTURES / VIDEOS of you doing ALL KINDS OF REALLY STUPID / INAPPROPRIATE (and yes IMMORAL) things CAN COME-UP YEARS LATER TO CAUSE YOU / YOUR LOVED ONES A GREAT DEAL OF PAIN.

So then, the group gets together...  Lance can't stand Harper but puts up with him for the sake of his wife Mia.  Harper, in turn, knows that Lance is still really angry at him (for reasons that we're reminded of eventually) BUT HE NEEDS HIM to save him and his wife/family.

Shelby's there to cause as much trouble to Julian as possible even as Julian has a really complicated problem to "disarm" that could blow-up both his work and his marriage.

And even Jordon, with other things in her life (ie white-boyfriend Brian) comes to the event thrown by her former best friend Mia in good part out of a sense of guilt (toward Mia, "why have we gotten so far apart?") and obligation (toward Harper ... who she thinks she can help by buttering up Lance with regards to Harper's much needed book deal).

So why the heck did Lance and Mia invite all these people together to share such a clearly awkward "Holiday Weekend" together?  Well, the reason, which becomes clear in the second half of the film HONESTLY BLOWS ALL THESE PETTY ISSUES AWAY and honestly makes this film FAR BETTER than I EVER EXPECTED IT TO BE.

I would also add that THIS IS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MOVIE.  So even though  IT'S A "HOLIDAY MOVIE" ... CHRIST BY NO MEANS  "GOES MISSING" IN THIS CHRIST-MAS FILM.  NO NOT BY A LONG SHOT.

This is an EXCELLENT FILM FOR ADULTS, PARENTS, MARRIED COUPLES.  It is really about what one really believes about EVERYTHING that ought to be important in life (FAMILY, FRIENDS and YES ... ultimately GOD) and then about being both INVITED and yes, at times, CHALLENGED TO "walk the walk."

Even with regard to Candace and her "little incident" put-up on the internet ... there is a story there, and yes, people do dumb things.  AND IF WE BELIEVE ... WE OUGHT TO BE CAPABLE OF FORGIVING THEM especially when it is SO PATENTLY OBVIOUS THAT EITHER THIS WAS A ONE-TIME THING OR THAT THE PERSON HAS SINCE UTTERLY CHANGED.

Honestly, what a film!


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Acrimony [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C-)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Walsh) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Castillo) review
AVClub (K. Rife) review


Acrimony [2018] (written and directed by Tyler Perry) is a well spun marital drama, if _somewhat_ exaggerated at times, that is worthy of married couples in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s to view.  It is definitely not for kids, but for those old enough to become involved in a serious relationship (and thus old enough to begin appreciating the consequences of getting involved in a serious relationship) this would not be bad viewing.

The film begins in court with Melinda (played wonderfully by Taraji P. Hensen) being ordered by the court to respect the restraining order filed by her former husband Robert (played also quite well / realistically by Lyriq Bent) against her and is ordered to attend some anger management classes.  From her expression, it's obvious that Melinda did not feel that the judge was being right with her.

Okay, she, eyes rolling, expression dripping with resentment comes to her first appointment for her anger management counseling, and expresses her feeling that none of this is just, and ... begins telling her story ... and ...

... well, and this is what's so good about Tyler Perry's story here, one starts to understand her, ONE SEES HER POINT.

... BUT ... ;-) ... and this then is what _really makes_ Perry's story here so interesting to me, as the story progresses, after she's had her say at her counselor's office, and the rest of the story develops, it becomes clear that she's only _partly_ right.  Yes, she has her story.  And yes, one understands her.  But in the second half of the story, one starts to see that the people that she's angry at, have THEIR TRUTHS / STORIES too.

So I found this to be a well written, well acted "marriage gone awry" story in which EVERYBODY in the story is at least PARTLY RIGHT (and hence, also, PARTLY WRONG).

Excellent job! 


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Black Nativity [2013]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (D)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RE.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

BET articles
Ebony articles
Essence.com articles
TheSource articles
 
It seems fitting that Black Nativity [2013] (directed and screenplay by Kasi Lemmons, based on the original stage play/musical [Amazon] by Langston Hughes [IMDb]) would come out this year as part of an ever increasingly impressive wave of African American cinema becoming known as the Black Hollywood Renaissance [BBC] [CNN] [Ebony] [HPost].  I write this because Langston Hughes [IMDb]'s original which he characterized as a "Gospel song play" premiered in 1961 and came out of the African American cultural birthing ground that was Harlem at the time.

I've also enjoyed following this African American Hollywood Renaissance in good part because those "who have eyes and ears" (and souls) that are open can see the obvious: that African American film-makers along with the actors/actresses who play in their films are not ashamed of their Christian faith.  And it's not a "pie in the sky" spirituality that's present in these films.  These films -- I think of films as varied as Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family [2011], Flight [2012], Tyler Perry's Temptation:Confessions of a Marriage Counselor [2013], Fruitvale Station [2013], 12 Years a Slave [2013], Best Man's Holiday [2013] and the current film Black Nativity [2013] -- often name/confront very real pain, dysfunction and betrayal on all kinds of levels.  But they also do so with a confident belief in a God who is _not blind_, who is capable of sorting things out and capable of resolving things with both Justice (toward the injured) and Mercy (toward those who caused injury).  In a phrase, contemporary African American cinema is emphatically NOT Godless.  And someone like me can not but notice and indeed APPLAUD. 

To the film at hand ...

Screenwriter/director Kasi Lemmons creation tells the story of Langston (played by Jacob Latimore), a 15 year old named actually after Langston Hughes the writer of the original stage play.  He's been growing up in Baltimore, raised by his mother Naima (played by Jennifer Hudson), alone, and there are really A HUGE NUMBER OF FUNDAMENTAL YET UNANSWERED QUESTIONS IN HIS LIFE:  Who was his father?  Who were his grandparents, ANY OF HIS GRANDPARENTS?  He hasn't known any of them. 

Now it hasn't been that his mother was evil, we definitely come to see that as the story continues.  However, Langston finds himself with a rather evocative name, yet with little understanding of why he had been given it, and no one to explain ANYTHING TO HIM but his ever harried mother in perpetual survival mode.

Things though had come to a breaking point just as the story begins with Naima realizing that she and her son were about to get evicted and thus deciding to send 15-year-old Langston up to New York (Harlem) to spend Christmas (and probably beyond ...) with her parents (his grandparents) WHO HE'S NEVER MET.  Why such a drastic move?  Apparently at the end of her rope, she tells him: "I'M THINKING ABOUT WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU."  She's avoided this moment for 15 years, so it's obvious that this was a crushingly painful crossroads for her to arrive at.

She puts Langston on a bus with her parents' phone number should he miss them when he arrives.  Yes, there's some confusion when he does arrive.  He doesn't know who he's looking for, they don't know who they are looking for.  (I'm simplifying things ... after various things happening they find each other).

The BIG SURPRISE is that Langston's grandparents don't seem particularly "evil" either.   Langston's grandfather turns out to be a preacher, the Rev. Cornell Cobbs (played exquisitely by Forest Whitaker).  Yes, he's a bit on the stricter side, but he's no monster.  Grandma, Aretha Cobbs (played by Angela Bassett) is a sweetheart.  WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?   Go see the rest of the film.

This is a great story about family conflict and reconciliation.  Yes, as Naima eventually finds her way up to New York as well.  And poor Langston who was an utterly lost soul / lost person at the beginning of the story NOT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT HIS PAST and WANDERING ABOUT AIMLESSLY in the present exclaims, "THIS IS MY CHRISTMAS MIRACLE" -- Note that nothing yet was resolved but in the same room (a Church), stood his Mother, his Grandparents and EVEN HIS FATHER ... and SUDDENLY THERE WAS HOPE that it all could come to make sense.  And one just wants to cry ...

This is a great story with a universal theme which anyone with a heart could understand.


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Men in Hope (orig. Muži v Naději) [2011]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (2 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CSFD* listing
FDb.cz* listing
Lidovky.cz* (A. Prokopová) review

Men in Hope (orig. Muži v Naději) [2011] [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDb]*(written and directed by Jiří Vejdělek [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDb]*) a smart/current if certainly morally provocative/challenging adult 30-40 something oriented "romantic" comedy (of the vein of the Marilyn Monroe classic The Seven Year Itch [1955] [IMDb] [TCM] that was also provocative/controversial in its time) finished off a remarkable and remarkably well rounded 2013 Czech That Film Tour cosponsored by the Czech Diplomatic Mission in the United States and Staropramen Beer that played recently at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.  In the course of the past year, the Gene Siskel Film Center has also hosted similar surveys of largely current films from Turkey, Hong Kong and Spain as well as similarly outstanding extended homages to the animated works of Studio Ghibli of Japan [2012] [2013]. 

I have to admit that for thematic reasons, I thought that this film was going to be the most difficult of the film tour to write about here on my blog.  Yet I wished to do so because (1) the film is indeed current, representative of the moral challenges present not only in the C.R. but across a good part of Europe today (and in my time in the seminary in Italy in the 1990s I came across similarly themed and similarly light-hearted Italian films) and (2) after the initial shock: "This film is trying to explore WHAT?" (the film was trying to explore the question: "Can one actually choose to be unfaithful to one's spouse for the sake of one's spouse/marriage?") AS IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE CASE, the comedy inevitably retreats back to safer pastures.  (The film's answer to its question becomes, unsurprisingly and resoundingly "No."  And one thinks of recent American films like the Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman vehicle No Strings Attached [2011] and the Justin Timberlake/Mila Kunis vehicle Friends With Benefits [2011] that while intended for younger audiences played a similar day-dreamy / coquettish dance with social convention / the moral order of things before returning by the end back to reality).

Yet the conventions of "romantic comedy" generally require that "all end well," the result here being that "all" needed to "end" at least "kinda well" for the protagonists of the film even after crossing the line of this rather provocative social experiment.  And so it does, to the perhaps rightful consternation of many viewers / social commentators (see the Czech language links - if through Chrome or Google Translate - given above).

One could note here the very different and far more morally decisive conclusion to African American film-maker Tyler Perry's recent movie Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor [2013].  Yet one needs to note here that Tyler Perry's Temptation was a very different kind of film - a drama rather than the adult oriented (intended for 30-40 somethings) romantic comedy (again of the vein of Marylin Monroe's Seven Year Itch [1955] [IMDb]) that we have here.

Still it is doubtful that anyone leaves the current film feeling that any of the film's protagonists came-out particularly vindicated.  The film ended "kinda okay" but (1) the traditional order of things (that adultery is definitely not a good idea...) is vindicated and (2) while none of the film's adulterers were ruined or publicly humiliated, all were certainly chastened, and resolved to very quietly "sin no more."  (Indeed, one thinks here of Jesus' resolution of the crisis involving "The woman caught in the very act of adultery" [John 8:1-11]).

Okay, so how does the film actually go? ;-)

The film begins with content, recently retired, now driving a taxi cab about town as a second job, "man of the world" and serial filanderer Rudolf (played by Bolek Polívka [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDb]*) concerned that his seemingly all-thumbed, increasingly put-upon, increasingly "hen pecked" son-in-law Ondřej (played by Jiří Macháček [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDb]*) is unhappy, and more to the point, that Ondřej's making his (Rudolf's) daughter Alice (played by Petra Hřebíčková [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDb]*) unhappy.

So, concerned for the sake of his daughter/son-in-law's marriage, Rudolf takes Ondřej to a pool hall one night and over a couple of drinks offers Ondřej some rather surprising and unsolicited advice to resolve his "problem":
      "You have to cheat my son(-in-law).  No woman likes a door-mat (even less a daughter of mine).  Women like a challenge.  So for the sake of your marriage you're going to have to cheat on your wife." ;-)
      "Well thanks very much there dear (father-in-law).  And by the way you know that you're asking me to cheat on your own daughter."
      "Yes.  How do you think I've kept things fresh with Alice's mother (your mother-in-law) Marta (played by Simona Stašová [IMDb] [CSFD]*[FDb]*) all these years ... by cheating on her."
      "And does she know?"
      "Whether she does or not, it does not matter.  It's not who one's with but who one comes back to.  And Alice's mom knows that I always come back to her, that I make her happy, that I keep things interesting with her both in and out of the sack, that I always keep her guessing and always, always leave her with a smile on her face."
      "And you know that can not possibly work for me."
      "Well something must..."
      "You know I can't lie ..."
      "Well, we're going to have to work on that ..."

And so then, the premise of the film is set-up.  It turns out that Rudolf wasn't just inviting Ondřej over for a few drinks and give him some odd, uterly unsolicited marital advice.  He's (of course) awaiting a lady, Šarlota (played by Vica Kerekes) a young voluptuous dancer/aerobics instructor transplant to Prague from Slovakia.  "She could be your grand-daughter."  "Yup, but women like that keep me fresh."  After introducing Ondřej (pronounced basically Ondray) to smiling 20-something Šarlota (pronounced Sharlota), Rudolf sort of chases him away asking him to "think about it." Ondřej now knowing more about his father-in-law than he ever really wanted to, kinda winces ... and goes home, arriving home, adding insult to injury, drenched by rain.

But Ondřej's life really was pretty unhappy both in the bedroom with his wife and outside of it.  So a few days later when he, surprise surprise runs into Šarlota on the street and gets past the question: "What would someone like you possibly see in an old dědek (grandpa) like him?" "He's funny, he makes me laugh," he finds it actually pleasant to talk to someone new.  And perhaps some of Rudolf's charm wears-off on him.  So they start talking and find that they hit it off ...

Much, of course, follows.  Yes, Ondřej's confidence does increase from being around someone who hasn't come to dismiss him (yet?) as a loser.  And that new confidence carries itself over to his other relationships, notably with his wife and even with their employees at the restaurant that the two had started sometime back and had been failing.

But of course, there are inevitable repercussions resulting from that kind of "lifestyle."  First, Rudolf himself, after perhaps a long streak of getting away with this, comes to be busted more or less in flagrante.  Then perhaps just as he and his wife are getting over that debacle, other, more or less inevitable things happen in their lives.  Then Ondřej, nice if rather simple guy that he is (or that he was at the beginning of the story) is really not cut out of this kind of complicated life.  So there are some inevitable bombs that await him as well as the story continues ...

So in the end, while the conventions of romantic comedy require that "all end well," the conventions of REALITY also require justice.  And while the film ends with a smile, it'd be hard for ANYBODY to see it as truly a happy ending or that Rudolf's advice to Ondřej at the beginning of the film was particularly good for him.

Yes, it may be nice to day dream sometimes ... but REALITY is REALITY and there really is no free lunch.  And after all is said and done, the film brings us back to earth and reminds us of this quite well.

ADDENDUM:

As is the case of most of the films in the 2013 Czech That Film series, at the time of the writing of this review, this film is available for viewing outside of the Czech Republic for free (quite possibly with the Czech Film Institute's blessing) on YouTube even with English subtitles (click the CC button on the viewer for the subtitles to appear).


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Casa de Mi Padre (The House of My Father) [2012]

MPAA (R) CNS/USCCB () Roger Ebert (2 Stars) Fr. Dennis (0 Stars)

IMDb listing -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1702425/
CNS/USCCB review -
Roger Ebert's review -
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120314/REVIEWS/120319992

Casa de Mi Padre (The House of My Father) directed by Matt Piedmont and written by Andrew Steele is and starring Will Farrell (all Gringos...) is perhaps a well-meaning if monumentally misguided comedy that's going to cause pain to countless Hispanic (Mexican-American and non) kids and teenagers across the United States for years to come.

All kinds off non-Hispanic viewers from the young to the old, from those thinking of themselves as progressive/liberal to those who are frankly racist are going to see this film and _think_ that by seeing it that they will "know" something of contemporary Mexican/Hispanic comedy and culture.  And they won't and won't be even close.

There is a lot of humor in this film that resembles the British humor of Monty Python and the Holy Grail [1975].  But most viewers of that film will instinctively understand that a man dressed as "King Arthur" skipping across a field with his servant banging two coconut shells together to make it sound like he's riding a horse is just a stupid joke that "of course King Arthur would really be riding a horse."

In Casa de Mi Padre, the dimwitted Armando (played by Will Farrell) repeatedly encounters "a talking white puma" in the desert.  This puma not represented by any living animal or even any CGI effects but rather by a large clumsy stuffed animal that one could win at a two bit carnival.  Further since it is a stuffed animal, it is moved around the screen by a more or less obvious off-screen hand making it move around the screen in exactly the same way that a 3 year old would move a stuffed animal that his/her dad won for him/her at said carnival er "fiesta."  Will viewers understand this to be a joke of the same kind as the "squire banging the two coconut shells together" behind "King Arthur" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail to pretend that King Arthur is riding a horse?  Or will many viewers not even realizing that this movie was written, directed and even starring in the lead role by Gringos say to themselves: "Those stupid Mexicans are so stupid that they had to use a stuffed animal to represent a real one in "their film?"  Of these kind of scenes racist stereotypes are born and fed ...

It would seem to me that when it comes to comedies about ethnicity of any kind there are really only two ways to go about it: (1) have the film be produced by people from the culture that it's about or (2) at least be accurate about the culture/subculture one's trying to represent.

IMHO this movie fails horribly on both counts.  Casa is not My Big Fat Greek Wedding [2002] written and starring Greek-American actress/screenwriter Nia Vardalos about growing-up the daughter of (Greek) immigrants in the United States.  It's not even Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family [2011] a comedy about written, directed and starring Tyler Perry and African-American writer, director, actor and even theater magnate about the challenges present in an African American family (though could easily be extended to any other family in America today).  Indeed, so good were both these comedies that they though they were set within the context of a particular culture/subculture, the issues involved/themes present easily translated ("crossed over") beyond that cultural/subcultural setting.

Instead, Casa de Mi Padre follows a long Hollywood tradition from the "Badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges" depiction of Mexican "banditos" posing as "federales" in the 1940s Humphrey Bogart movie Treasure of Sierra Madre [1948] and similarly appalling if at least without the pretension of "presenting to American audiences Mexican movie/telenovela culture" American comedies about/set in Mexico like the Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short comedy The Three Amigos [1986] or the Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini comedy The Mexican [2011].   All these exist in a "Mexico" created and sustained by Hollywood with little connection to actual Mexico or Mexicans.

But Casa de Mi Padre is being sold as a "cross over" piece to introduce Americans who don't know (and have little to no interest in learning...) Spanish to Hispanic "telenovela culture."  Yet it's really a sloppy (and proudly so...) conflation of at least several genres that do play on Spanish language TV in the United States that seems to be designed to feed American preconceived and largely negative stereotypes:

There are some REALLY GREAT, really WHOLESOME, UTTERLY FAMILY FRIENDLY Mexican "cowboy stories" / "horse operas" that have been produced over years / decades in Mexico.  When I was learning Spanish, I just fell in love with the films of ranchera singers Antonio Aguilar (El Moro de Cumpas [1977]) and especially Vicente Fernandez (Hijo del Pueblo [1974], El Macho [1987], Como Mexico no hay Dos [1981], etc).  If one truly wants to enter into this subculture and really appreciate the beauty of the Mexican "Vacquero" (Spanish for "cowboy") way of life, I'd recommend these films.  But yes, presently you'd have to learn Spanish to see them...

Then there is also the Telenovela culture.  But anyone who actually follows the Spanish language telenovelas knows that they are orders infinitely more sophisticated than presented in this stupid comedy.

Let's just begin that most of the telenovelas aren't set "in the campos" (aren't set in the countryside).  Instead, they are often set among the jet set in state-of-the-art modern sections of cities that really exist across all of Latin America.  So one doesn't get this ridiculous incongruence of plopping the drop-dead beautiful actress Genesis Rodriguez (who plays the "love interest" Sonia in this film) into the middle of a farm somewhere in the middle of Mexico and expect the audience to buy this as credible.  Then yes, "narcos" (drug traffickers) do play a role in _some_ telenovelas but by no means in all or even a large number of them.

Finally, a far better "cross over" effort to allow non-Spanish speaking (and with no interest in learning Spanish...) Americans to Hispanic telenovela culture was the Ugly Betty [2006-2010] television series that starred America Ferrera and was produced by Salma Hayek.  Betty La Fea [1999+] was a wildly popular telenovela that was playing on Spanish language TV when I was still stationed at an overwhelmingly Hispanic parish down in Kissimmee, FL (from the young to the old, everybody seemed to love it).  And Betty had absolutely nothing in common with something like this film Casa.

So overall, I'm rather appalled by this film.  And I would recommend that the next time a 'cross-over' film like this is seriously contemplated by Hollywood that it be written and directed by actual Hispanics.  How hard would it have been to ask someone like Salma Hayek, George Lopez, Robert Rodriguez, or Antonio Banderas for "a suggestion or two..."?

ADDENDUM:

So what then is the film actually about? ;-)  Well:  Raul (played by Diego Luna), the younger and far more intelligent/successful son of Don Miguel Ernesto (played by Pedro Armendaris, Jr) returns home "to the rancho" with his drop dead gorgeous bride Sonia (played by Genesis Rodriguez).  Don Miguel Ernesto is ecstatic because he won't have to leave his ranch then to his dimwitted older son Armando (played by Will Farrell).  But Raul and, indeed, Sonia (tragically...), are involved in drug trafficking.  Much ensues... Finally dimwitted Armando has to stand-up, take down the evil "narco" (drug king-pin) nicknamed Onza (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) and "save the family name ..."  Much of this takes place in the "magical countryside" filled with among other things, the white stuffed animal puma mentioned above, similarly stuffed animal (actually more wolf-looking than coyote looking) coyotes, beautiful "oases" for just perfect love making (actually the "love scene" involving exclusively shot after shot of "butt cheeks," shot in all kinds of angles, is probably what makes the film R-rated but even most kids would find both stupid and hilarious... but parents do take note...) and plenty of campfire settings where dimwitted Armando and his similarly dimwitted best friends can drink lots and lots of tequila, break lots and lots tequila bottles and shoot their pistolas many, many times in the air ...


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