When I watch a Tyler Perry film, I get the sense that Mr. Perry and subtlety are not close friends. Heck, I don't think they even make eye contact. Perry has made a mint these past couple years with a series of films that are supposed to be uplifting and rekindle our love in the human spirit, but wind up only making us question just what Perry is thinking, and who exactly told him he knew how to write a screenplay, let alone direct. His movies are so ham-fisted and over the top in their melodrama that they start to resemble bizarre comic masterpieces, but for reasons that the filmmaker never intends.
Daddy's Little Girls is no different. It is a dumb, labored live action cartoon disguised as an adult drama. In the world of Tyler Perry, bargain basement-level sitcom comedy writing collides head-on with unspeakably awful melodrama. Urban slang like "oh snap" acts as dramatic dialogue. And contradictions of morals, especially toward violence, runs rampant. The only reason
Daddy's Little Girls is a step up from the man's previous work is that it does not feature Mr. Perry himself dressed in drag as a loud, abusive 80-year old-woman in the lead role. Oh snap, indeed.
The story centers on a hard-working down on his luck guy named Monty (Idris Elba). He's working two jobs as a mechanic and as a chauffeur so that he can support his three young daughters that he has from a past marriage with an unfaithful spouse (Tasha Smith) who dumped him for the neighborhood drug dealer. One day, while Monty is on the job, an accident occurs at home while his daughters are left by themselves. The evil ex-wife uses this as an excuse to try to portray Monty as a bad father, and that she should have total custody of the children, even though she obviously doesn't care about them. Desperate to have his children back, Monty turns to a high powered and successful lawyer named Julia (Gabrielle Union) whom he once worked for as her chauffeur. Julia is loud, obnoxious, and spoiled, but that's only because she can't find a decent black guy, and her two best friends keep on hooking her up with bad blind dates. Naturally, as the two work together to plan out a case for Monty's defense, they start to fall for each other. However, there's a secret in Monty's past that may not only threaten his case, but also his blooming relationship with Julia.
Taking a crack at an original screenplay (original meaning not based on one of Mr. Perry's plays) for the first time, Perry still falls back on all the same tricks that have made his past two films surprise successes. He paints his characters in such extreme blacks and whites that you find yourself laughing when the movie is trying to be serious. The heroic characters are so good that you can practically see the halos shining over their heads. The evil characters are bad in such a cartoonishly over the top manner that you keep on waiting for them to tie someone to the train tracks, cackling as they do so. The subtlety is further bludgeoned by the awful music score that hits you over the head with feeling, as if the audience somehow can't figure out what they're supposed to be feeling as they're watching the scene. Like Perry's previous films, the characters constantly and endlessly preach and shout about the importance of family, God, and love. The movie also looks down upon violence, yet seems to find it a suitable solution at the same time. Throughout the movie, we get to witness the evil ex-wife and her cruel drug dealer boyfriend savagely abuse and beat Monty's little girls, while dark "ominous" music blasts on the soundtrack. And yet, at the end of the film when Monty decides to take the law into his own hands, become a vigilante and beat the life out of the villains, the movie asks us to cheer. I say violence is violence. You can't make an anti-violence movie, only to climax with a scene where the hero intentionally rams his car into the villain's, then drags him out of the vehicle and beats him savagely, the local neighborhood cheering him on until the police arrive. The fact that this is a film of contradicting morals is only the start of its many problems.
For most of the movie, the plight of Monty trying to get his girls back is completely forgotten about. Most of the film's running time is actually devoted to him hitting on Julia. They spend maybe three minutes working on their defense, and even less time in an actual courtroom. Instead, they get drunk, contemplate sleeping together, go to aquariums, and try to deal with the fact that they are falling in love even though she's a successful "corporate woman", and he's a "thug" from the hood. In fact, for most of the movie, Monty doesn't even seem to care that his children are in the care of an abusive drug addict, as he only seems to be interested in getting in the sack with his lawyer. A more appropriate title for this movie would have been "
Tyler Perry's How a Brother From the Hood Can Score With a Successful Black Woman". My guess is that he thought the title was too long, and wouldn't fit on most theater display signs, so he changed it. The little girls of the title are simply used as a plot device, and as a tool to show just how evil Monty's ex-wife is. (Not only does she abuse them, but she also tries to force the eldest daughter to sell drugs at school.) This is such an incredibly idiotic movie, it can't even come up with a decent excuse for it's characters to break off their relationship halfway through, so Perry is instead forced to give us one of the dumbest and plot-hole ridden excuses I've ever seen. What I'm about to write could technically be labeled a spoiler, so please, skip the next paragraph if you really are planning to see
Daddy's Little Girls. You have been warned...
As I mentioned before, Monty has a past. He had sex with a white girl when he was on the high school football team. Things ended badly after their brief make out session, and then the girl's parents walked in. Because the girl was angry about what happened between them, she accused Monty of raping her, and he was sent to prison. When Julia finds out about this in the courtroom, she gets mad at Monty, because she claims he told her he didn't have a criminal record. The thing here is we never get to see this scene. At one point, Julia does ask if Monty has anything in his past that the other side could use against him in the trial, but he never gets to respond to her. Yet, here, Julia says that Monty told her no, even though he never technically said anything. Their break up is therefore based on a response that never even happened. Wait, it gets even better! Julia finally comes running back to Monty and stands up for him in the courtroom after she sees a report about him on the news, where the anchorwoman states that Monty was wrongfully accused of rape. Okay, so obviously it is a well-known fact that he was eventually found innocent, and that the girl he had sex with eventually admitted the truth. So, why is this so damning if everyone knows it was a consensual sexual act? And even more, why didn't Monty say anything about this when Julia confronts him about it outside the courthouse, and breaks off their relationship? When Julia asks if Monty raped the girl, he says "yes". So, what, the woman reporting the morning news knows that Monty did not actually rape her, but somehow Monty didn't get that memo? This isn't just incompetent storytelling, this is brain dead storytelling.
Tyler Perry has gathered a loyal cult following over the years, because he uses positive black characters and a message of hope and love in his films and plays that click with his audience. That's all well and good, but the man plainly and clearly has no place behind the camera or at a word processor.
Daddy's Little Girls is such an astonishingly stupid movie that all the preachings of peace and love can't save it. Tyler Perry is a complete hack, and is fleecing his fanbase with moronic morality tales filled with contradicting morals. As long as the people keep on slurping it up and begging for more, he'll be glad to oblige by filling movie screens with his complete lack of talent.
Daddy's Little Girls is just as big of a fraud as the man's past work.
1 comments
When I watch a Tyler Perry film, I get the sense that Mr. Perry and subtlety are not close friends. Heck, I don't think they even make eye contact. Perry has made a mint these past couple years with a series of films that are supposed to be uplifting and rekindle our love in the human spirit, but wind up only making us question just what Perry is thinking, and who exactly told him he knew how to write a screenplay, let alone direct. His movies are so ham-fisted and over the top in their melodrama that they start to resemble bizarre comic masterpieces, but for reasons that the filmmaker never intends. Daddy's Little Girls is no different. It is a dumb, labored live action cartoon disguised as an adult drama. In the world of Tyler Perry, bargain basement-level sitcom comedy writing collides head-on with unspeakably awful melodrama. Urban slang like "oh snap" acts as dramatic dialogue. And contradictions of morals, especially toward violence, runs rampant. The only reason Daddy's Little Girls is a step up from the man's previous work is that it does not feature Mr. Perry himself dressed in drag as a loud, abusive 80-year old-woman in the lead role. Oh snap, indeed.
The story centers on a hard-working down on his luck guy named Monty (Idris Elba). He's working two jobs as a mechanic and as a chauffeur so that he can support his three young daughters that he has from a past marriage with an unfaithful spouse (Tasha Smith) who dumped him for the neighborhood drug dealer. One day, while Monty is on the job, an accident occurs at home while his daughters are left by themselves. The evil ex-wife uses this as an excuse to try to portray Monty as a bad father, and that she should have total custody of the children, even though she obviously doesn't care about them. Desperate to have his children back, Monty turns to a high powered and successful lawyer named Julia (Gabrielle Union) whom he once worked for as her chauffeur. Julia is loud, obnoxious, and spoiled, but that's only because she can't find a decent black guy, and her two best friends keep on hooking her up with bad blind dates. Naturally, as the two work together to plan out a case for Monty's defense, they start to fall for each other. However, there's a secret in Monty's past that may not only threaten his case, but also his blooming relationship with Julia.
Taking a crack at an original screenplay (original meaning not based on one of Mr. Perry's plays) for the first time, Perry still falls back on all the same tricks that have made his past two films surprise successes. He paints his characters in such extreme blacks and whites that you find yourself laughing when the movie is trying to be serious. The heroic characters are so good that you can practically see the halos shining over their heads. The evil characters are bad in such a cartoonishly over the top manner that you keep on waiting for them to tie someone to the train tracks, cackling as they do so. The subtlety is further bludgeoned by the awful music score that hits you over the head with feeling, as if the audience somehow can't figure out what they're supposed to be feeling as they're watching the scene. Like Perry's previous films, the characters constantly and endlessly preach and shout about the importance of family, God, and love. The movie also looks down upon violence, yet seems to find it a suitable solution at the same time. Throughout the movie, we get to witness the evil ex-wife and her cruel drug dealer boyfriend savagely abuse and beat Monty's little girls, while dark "ominous" music blasts on the soundtrack. And yet, at the end of the film when Monty decides to take the law into his own hands, become a vigilante and beat the life out of the villains, the movie asks us to cheer. I say violence is violence. You can't make an anti-violence movie, only to climax with a scene where the hero intentionally rams his car into the villain's, then drags him out of the vehicle and beats him savagely, the local neighborhood cheering him on until the police arrive. The fact that this is a film of contradicting morals is only the start of its many problems.
For most of the movie, the plight of Monty trying to get his girls back is completely forgotten about. Most of the film's running time is actually devoted to him hitting on Julia. They spend maybe three minutes working on their defense, and even less time in an actual courtroom. Instead, they get drunk, contemplate sleeping together, go to aquariums, and try to deal with the fact that they are falling in love even though she's a successful "corporate woman", and he's a "thug" from the hood. In fact, for most of the movie, Monty doesn't even seem to care that his children are in the care of an abusive drug addict, as he only seems to be interested in getting in the sack with his lawyer. A more appropriate title for this movie would have been "Tyler Perry's How a Brother From the Hood Can Score With a Successful Black Woman". My guess is that he thought the title was too long, and wouldn't fit on most theater display signs, so he changed it. The little girls of the title are simply used as a plot device, and as a tool to show just how evil Monty's ex-wife is. (Not only does she abuse them, but she also tries to force the eldest daughter to sell drugs at school.) This is such an incredibly idiotic movie, it can't even come up with a decent excuse for it's characters to break off their relationship halfway through, so Perry is instead forced to give us one of the dumbest and plot-hole ridden excuses I've ever seen. What I'm about to write could technically be labeled a spoiler, so please, skip the next paragraph if you really are planning to see Daddy's Little Girls. You have been warned...
As I mentioned before, Monty has a past. He had sex with a white girl when he was on the high school football team. Things ended badly after their brief make out session, and then the girl's parents walked in. Because the girl was angry about what happened between them, she accused Monty of raping her, and he was sent to prison. When Julia finds out about this in the courtroom, she gets mad at Monty, because she claims he told her he didn't have a criminal record. The thing here is we never get to see this scene. At one point, Julia does ask if Monty has anything in his past that the other side could use against him in the trial, but he never gets to respond to her. Yet, here, Julia says that Monty told her no, even though he never technically said anything. Their break up is therefore based on a response that never even happened. Wait, it gets even better! Julia finally comes running back to Monty and stands up for him in the courtroom after she sees a report about him on the news, where the anchorwoman states that Monty was wrongfully accused of rape. Okay, so obviously it is a well-known fact that he was eventually found innocent, and that the girl he had sex with eventually admitted the truth. So, why is this so damning if everyone knows it was a consensual sexual act? And even more, why didn't Monty say anything about this when Julia confronts him about it outside the courthouse, and breaks off their relationship? When Julia asks if Monty raped the girl, he says "yes". So, what, the woman reporting the morning news knows that Monty did not actually rape her, but somehow Monty didn't get that memo? This isn't just incompetent storytelling, this is brain dead storytelling.
1 Comments:
HALLELUJAH! PREACH IT BROTHA!
Tyler Perry sucks!!! I have to endure his videos being played at work, and I must agree with you--he has NO TALENT!!!!!!!!! Is there really no other black person out there that can write/direct? Are the masses of African American moviegoers truely stuck with this no-talent hack? Please, young black America, give yourselves and the rest of the world a taste of what you're REALLY made of!
By
bizriak, at 11:00 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home