Oct

8

TALKIES: Tyler Perry’s The Family that Preys Review

by Zack Lee | Filed Under TALKIES 

Normally I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Tyler Perry’s movies, but considering his recent monumental accomplishment of opening up the first Black movie studio in Atlanta, I thought it was only right to show him some love. As many of you may know, Tyler Perry’s claim to fan was his highly popular Madea series. And in my opinion, is one of the last people still making possibly Black movies on a consistent basis.

Now to the review…

With an ensemble cast including Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, Robin Givens & Mr. Perry himself, The Family That Preys continues Perry’s winning streak @ the box office. The basic synopsis of the movie is about two family’s from different walks of life that share a life long friendship. On one side, you have the Cartwrights, a wealthy white Mother and son. And on the opposite end is the Pratts, a black family of a mother and two daughters. The movie begins without a back story and leaves the opening scene to quickly fill in the character’s relationships. Jillian Cartwright & Alice Pratt are good friends. William Cartwright is the plotting son of Jillian and “supposed” heir to the Cartwright business. Alice Pratt is the mother of two daughters, played by Sanaa Lathan & the lovely Taraji P. Henson. Both daughters are the antithesis of either and according to the mother, have never gotten along. Each daughter is also married and the movie’s opening scene takes place at Andrea’s (Sanaa) wedding.

One thing I find common in Tyler Perry’s movies are his one dimensional characters. They’re either antagonist or protagonist and any of his attempts at having multi-dimensional personalities don’t hit the nail. The problem this causes is the extremities to which each character’s personalities are pushed. For example, Sanaa’s husband Chris, played by Rockmond Dunbar, is the good natured husband that works low level construction and lives a humble, albeit naive, existence with his highly successful wife who happens to work for the same company. His wife Andrea treats him horribly and frequently puts him down, resents his “inability” to find success, criticizes his dreams and to top it off, cheats on the side with their boss, William Cartwright. Now, be it beyond me to say that there aren’t men out there who are just like Chris, that put up with such behavior, but I haven’t met many personally. There’s one scene in particular that I find absurd. Chris discovers that Andrea has a separate account with a LOT of money in it and decides to confront her. When confronted, Andrea lashes out at Chris and tells him he will never compare to William Cartwright, calls him weak, and says he will never have his own business. Its extreme cases like this that I find are common in Tyler Perry movies and makes a big “?” mark appear over my head.

All that aside, the movie overall has good intentions and delivers a message about appreciating life, the fruits of friendship and the folly of adultery. I would recommend seeing this movie in theaters if only to support Tyler Perry’s accomplishments. Other than that, the movie is definitely an enjoyable watch on your favorite streaming website.

Zack Lee



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