The movie was good but not as good as the first. Now I did get my kiki's in (laughs) and I even released some tears, but certain parts in the movie didn't seem right to me as well. There were parts in the movie that didn't belong or weren't cohesive with the first movie for me. It also left me asking a lot of questions.
A part in the movie I didn't understand was Patricia (Janet Jackson) and Gavin's (Malik Yoba) conflict in the movie. It didn't make sense that Patricia was the psychologist and the one person her friends looked to for relationship advice, wrote all these books on relationships and how to keep a strong marriage, yet, she couldn't manage her own relationship. That didn't seem right to me. And the best thing they could come up with was, "We just don't love each other anymore." Really? I don't believe that. If it were as simple as that, then the rest of the movie wouldn't have went the way it did. Now maybe I didn't catch what their conflict was but that was the first thing I noticed.
Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White) were just like they were in the first. Although it was their antics that brought in the most kiki's for me, I think it was a little too over the top at times. What happened to all those promises Angela made at the end of the first movie? I didn't see no improvement in her character whatsoever. She did too much for me. Like when she thought Marcus was cheating and she got her gun and started shooting. Really? Thats what I mean when I say over the top.
Diane (Sharon Leal) and Terry (Tyler Perry), and, Sheila (Jill Scott) and Troy (Lamman Rucker) seemed to have the more realistic problems in their marriages. Diane was having an "affair" if thats what you want to call it. It was something more than a sexual affair. She was having more of an emotional affair, if that makes sense. Diane seemed to be more emotionally attached to this other guy than she was to Terry. Sheila and Troy were having financial problems Troy was having a hard time finding a job and it was starting to hurt his pride. That was understandable.
One of my favorite parts of the movie was when all the couples were on the beach and were answering the question, "Why did I get married?" Sheila's speech touched me. I empathized with her understood how she felt. Another one of my favorite parts was when Mike (Richard T. Jones), Sheila's ex-husband, realized his faults and mistakes and became a better person toward the end of the movie. Its always good to see a character go through a change for the better. I also couldn't get over how gorgeous Janet looked throughout the movie. She was stunning. Whoever was the makeup artist, you get two snaps and a pop for that one.
If I had to give this movie a grade, I would have to give it a B-. Oh, and one more thing, what was the significance of Patricia going to Gavin's job with that big cake with that gay guy popping out of it vogueing? Was that really necessary? And they threw in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in at the end because? I'm just saying.
Great review William.
ReplyDeleteInteresting points. I half agree with you overall.
ReplyDeletePatricia's character made perfect sense to me. (And I agree Janet was gorgeous for most of the movie) It's very common for psychologists to often neglect their own mental health, as they are often concerned about evaluating others. Irony is good for advancing plots. Ever seen a doctor that eats poorly or smokes? Same concept.
I think Gavin's character should've been developed more to help the viewers understand some details the bigger picture that lead to their rocky marriage. I could see some tension in their relationship throughout the movie, but I felt that we knew too little about the both of them that when it did explode it was hard to follow everyone's POV (for me at least).
Angela & Marcus were the only reason why I laughed besides Janet's character creepily reappearing in certain scenes. I do agree that at some points it was over the top. If Tyler Perry wants his movies to be taken seriously, I think he's going to need to clearly define the difference between the foolishness and comedy (Madea movies) and dramas(The Family That Preys). All this up and down of emotions and cross-genre stuff makes it hard to get a good grasp of what direction he was trying to go with the movie.
Sheila & Troy's relationship was probably the most realistic, except all of the extra stuff with Mike jumbled in made it seem over the top too towards the end. Everything else just seemed like EXTRA drama just for the sake of drama, though I do understand that the movie was supposed to portray the issues in each relationship.
B- sounds about right though.