As a Sequel, "The Whole Ten Yards" is an Incomplete Pass

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 55 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Howard Deutch
WRITERS: George Gallo; from a story Mitchell Kapner (based upon characters created by Mitchell Kapner)
PRODUCERS: Allan Kaufman, Arnold Rifkin, Elie Samaha, and David Willis
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Neil Roach (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Seth Flaum
COMPOSER: John Debney

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Kevin Pollack, Natasha Henstridge, Frank Collison, Johnny Messner, Silas Weir Mitchell, Tasha Smith, and Ellisa Gallay

The Whole Ten Yards is a 2004 crime comedy. It is also a sequel to the 2000 film, The Whole Nine Yards, a title derived from the popular expression that means completely and everything.

Many critics have already asked, “Why is there a sequel to 2000’s The Whole Nine Yards?” It’s a legitimate question. Nine Yards was a nice crime comedy and caper film with some really neat characters, but half the really good ones bit the bullet or were looking at jail time by the end of the film. Who knows why The Whole Ten Yards exists, but it’s a fairly decent film with a lot of belly laughs, although its plot is almost nonexistent and the script lumbers around like a shooting victim on weak legs.

Lazlo Gogolak (Kevin Pollack) is just out of prison, and he’s looking for his son Yanni’s killer. Yanni (also played by Pollack in the first film) was one of those funny characters that got whacked in Nine Yards. Lazlo knows the killer is Jimmy “The Tulip” Tudeski (Bruce Willis), but he also knows Jimmy is hiding somewhere. So Lazlo finds the next best thing, Jimmy’s former neighbor and the second husband of Jimmy’s ex-wife Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge). That would be hapless fall guy Nick Oseransky or Oz (Matthew Perry), as his friends call him.

When Lazlo kidnaps Cynthia, Oz runs to Jimmy for help and inadvertently leads Lazlo and his band of merry killer idiots to Jimmy’s hideaway in Mexico where he lives with his wife Jill (Amanda Peet), Oz’s former assistant and a budding contract killer. Things aren’t going well for Jimmy and Jill. They’re trying to have a baby, but Jimmy may be shooting blanks. Jimmy also has something Lazlo wants, and Lazlo has something Jimmy wants. Everyone’s playing everyone, and poor Oz, just like the last time, is caught in the middle.

There are numerous hilarious, laugh-out-loud scenes in The Whole Ten Yards. Ten Yards, however, is totally a character driven piece. The plot and story are crippled and confusing, and the story has too much subterfuge for its own good. Even as a character piece, this film feels stretched thin. The actors have to be “on” all the time, or the film will fall apart; thus, a lot of the comedy routines and scenes feel like they go on too long or they’re too over the top. Perry frantically bounces off the walls, but he mostly succeeds in making both his character endearing and the film viewable. Amanda Peet maintains the sexy energy she had the first time. Willis is good, but a lot of his scenes are poorly written and/or staged.

Poor Natasha Henstridge is wasted, as is Kevin Pollack. The Whole Ten Yards is not so much a wasted opportunity as it is a wasted effort. As funny as it can be in moments, it’s largely forgettable and you do have to wonder why it’s here. Still, it’ll make a good rental when you “just want something to watch.”

5 of 10
C+

Review: "Jumping the Broom" Hops with Family Melodrama

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 71 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Jumping the Broom (2011)
Running time: 112 minutes (1 hour, 52 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Salim Akil
WRITERS: Elizabeth Hunter and Arlene Gibbs; from a story by Elizabeth Hunter
PRODUCERS: Tracey E. Edmonds, Elizabeth Hunter, T.D. Jakes, Michael Mahoney, Glendon Palmer, and Curtis Wallace
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anastas N. Michos
EDITOR: Terilyn A. Shropshire

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine, Meagan Good, Tasha Smith, Julie Bowen, DeRay Davis, Valarie Pettiford, Mike Epps, Pooch Hall, Romeo Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gary Dourdan, T.D. Jakes, El DeBarge, Tenika Davis, and Vera Cudjoe

Jumping the Broom is a 2011 comedy and drama film that focuses on an African-American wedding. In fact, the film’s title is taken from an African-American tradition in which the bride and groom jump over a broom after being married. In the movie, two very different families meet and clash on Martha’s Vineyard in the days leading to the sudden wedding of a young couple.

Jumping the Broom focuses on Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton) and Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso), who are engaged to get married after knowing each other for only half a year. Jason’s family, the Taylors, is a downtown working class family from Brooklyn. Sabrina’s family, the Watsons, is an uptown group, and her parents have an estate in Chilmark on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Jason’s mother, Pam Taylor (Loretta Devine), is very upset that Jason is getting married to Sabrina at the last minute. Sabrina’s mother, Claudine Watson (Angela Bassett), is just as upset as Pam about this quickie marriage. What most upsets both mothers, however, is that they barely know each other’s family. As the two families come together at the Watson’s estate for the two-and-a-half day wedding event, everyone knows that class warfare is about to ensue. But no one suspects that some ugly family secrets are about to spill out into the open.

Obviously, Jumping the Broom is a hyper-idealized version of what happens when families get together for a big, busy, complex, and problematic event like a wedding (or a funeral). The things that this movie gets right are the petty feuds, unresolved disputes, simmering grievances, clashes of culture and class, the egos, the jealousies, the cheating, the selfishness, the marital discord, the second thoughts, etc. I could go on, but if you have a large enough family and have been to a big family get together, you know the pain and this movie will be painfully familiar. Jumping the Broom is good because it takes the pain and ugliness and shows us the good side of two families coming together for the first time, while spinning some remarkably sharp comic insights.

The film has some problems. Some of the dialogue is stiff, or is that just some bad acting? Also, there are way too many characters. DeRay Davis’ Malcolm has potential, but is extraneous here, as he pretty much serves the same purpose as Mike Epps’ Willie Earl Taylor, but less effectively. On the other hand, there is absolutely not enough of Vera Cudjoe’s Mabel.

Still, Jumping the Broom is kind of like an African-American version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and non-African-Americans can enjoy Jumping the Broom the same way non-Greek Americans really dug My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Jumping the Broom is a universal tale of two families joining to celebrate two people bringing both clans together.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

----------------------

Review: "Why Did I Get Married?" Finds Laughs in the Drama of Married Life

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? (2007)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual references, and language
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
WRITER: Tyler Perry (based upon his play)
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Toyomichi Kurita
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
2008 Image Awards winner

DRAMA with elements of comedy and romance

Starring: Tyler Perry, Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Sharon Leal, Malik Yoba, Richard T. Jones, Tasha Smith, Michael Jai White, Denise Boutte, Lamman Tucker, Keesha Sharp, and Kaira Whitehead

Why Did I Get Married? is the fourth Tyler Perry film in a little over two-and half years and Perry’s third directorial effort. Perry’s tried and true formula of inspiration, friendship, prayer, and God is evident in every moment of Why Did I Get Married?, and Perry’s continues to improve as a filmmaker.

Eight married college friends reunite for their annual retreat to an exotic locale. This year the retreat is a beautiful Lake Leland home in the snowy mountains of Colorado. Best-selling author and popular psychologist, Patricia (Janet Jackson), and her successful architect husband, Gavin (Malik Yoba), share a tragedy that may tear their marriage apart if the two ever decide to be open about it. Rising attorney Dianne (Sharon Leal) is career driven, but her supportive husband, Terry (Tyler Perry), is fed-up that his marriage is sexless and that the couple has only one child. Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White) argue all the time. The final couple is Shelia (Jill Scott), a sweet woman troubled by body-image issues because of she is way overweight. Her weight issues are exacerbated by her emotionally abusive husband, Mike (Richard T. Jones), who has actually brought his barely-secret mistress, Trina (Denise Boutte), on the retreat.

The friends expect fun and relaxation on their retreat, but when the secrets and lies come pouring out, friendships and marriages seem broken beyond repair. Then, Sheriff Troy (Lamman Tucker) comes to the rescue.

Tyler Perry’s “Black gospel theatre” stage plays are loud, raucous, and preachy, and the ones that Perry has adapted to film retain much of their spell-the-message-in-capital-letters charm. Not all of the acting is good Janet Jackson as Patricia and Sharon Leal as Dianne love to act it out loudly and, thus, are a bit too over the top. Still, Why Did I Get Married? works. You’ll find yourself pulling oh-so hard for the downtrodden and mistreated (especially Shelia), and loving it when the villains get their comeuppance (especially Mike). There’s plenty of reason to call up giant belly laughs or even howl with laughter (thanks to the delightful scene-stealing Tasha Smith as Angela).

The message here, as it always is in Perry’s work, is believe in yourself and never believe that God has abandoned you. Well, then, thank God for Tyler Perry – for making fine, entertaining films like Why Did I Get Married? with this simply, but too true message.

8 of 10
A

Thursday, February 28, 2008

NOTES:
2008 Image Awards: 1 win: “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Janet Jackson); 3 nominations: “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” (Jill Scott), “Outstanding Motion Picture,” and “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Tyler Perry)

-----------------------------

Review: Tyler Perry's First Top Notch Drama, "Daddy's Little Girls"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 98 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls (2007)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic material , drug and sexual content, some violence, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Toyomichi Kurita
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy

DRAMA/ROMANCE with elements of comedy

Starring: Gabrielle Union, Idris Elba, Louis Gossett, Jr., Tasha Smith, Gary Sturgis, Tracee Ellis Ross, Malinda Williams, Terri J. Vaughn, Cassie Davis, Sierra Aylina McClain, China Anna McClain, and Lauryn Aylina McClain

In the romantic drama, Daddy’s Little Girls, impresario Tyler Perry leaves behind Madea, the character that made him so rich and famous, and steps into the background to act as writer/director/co-producer. The film features a rarity in American film, the working class black father who is totally dedicated to his children, and with this subject matter, Perry makes his best film to date.

Working class dad and mechanic, Monty James (Idris Elba) suddenly finds himself in custody of his three daughters, Sierra (Sierra Aylina McClain), China (China Anna McClain), and Lauryn (Lauryn McClain). However, his ex-wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith) is challenging Monty for custody, but he can’t let her take the children because she lives with Joseph (Gary Sturgis), a dangerous mini-drug kingpin. He finds help and later love in Ivy League-educated attorney, Julia Rossmore (Gabrielle Union), but their class differences and Monty’s criminal record threaten to tear them apart, and perhaps, cost Monty his children.

What makes Daddy’s Little Girls Tyler Perry’s best film to date is the strong character writing. Perry takes much heat from African-American critics of both his stage and screen work for dabbling in stereotypes. What he actually uses are familiar character types to tell stories that are moral lessons and parable about family values, and his audience can identify with both characters and the messages behind the film. The way he works is quite sly. On the surface, his plays and films as bawdy, working-class comedies set in black communities (urban, suburban, or rural), but after he gives his audience several acts of rowdy comedy, he leaps into his messages about family, community, and God. In fact, his characters often find solace and healing through these three institutions.

In Daddy’s Little Girls, Perry leaps right into the drama. Poverty, dysfunctional families, terminal illness, urban crime, social injustice (particularly in the legal system), and class prejudice are all topics Perry uses to build the screenplay for this film, and it works. Daddy’s Little Girls is both entertaining and uplifting. Of all his films, this one, more than the others, is directed at his core audience of conservative, working class African-Americans. To mainstream (read: white) American audiences, this may seem like a foreign film, but many viewers from working class backgrounds should identify with this.

If this film has one glaring fault, it’s that the script doesn’t give enough time to the daddy and his little girls of Daddy’s Little Girls. The film is mostly about the developing relationship between Monty and Julia, for which Idris Elba and Gabrielle Union respectively give fine performances. Tasha Smith as the big bad mama, Jennifer, adds spice, and Louis Gossett, Jr. as Willie, brings refined acting to this delightful and heartwarming message movie.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, June 23, 2007

---------------------------

Tasha Hopes for Third "Why Did I Get Married?" in Paris

According to the BET.com blog, What the Flick, Tasha Smith, a co-star in the Tyler Perry films, Why Did I Get Married? and Why Did I Get Married Too?, hopes for a third film in this franchise.

Review: Why Did I Get Married Too?

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 of (2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic material including sexuality, language, drug references and some domestic violence
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Toyomichi Kurita
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy

DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring: Tyler Perry, Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Sharon Neal, Malik Yoba, Richard T. Jones, Tasha Smith, Lamman Rucker, Michael Jai White, Louis Gossett Jr., Cicely Tyson, Richard Whiten, and K Callan

We last saw them in the 2007 film, Why Did I Get Married?, working through marriage and relationship issues at a beautiful house in the snowy mountains of Colorado. Now, Why Did I Get Married Too? reunites those four close couples. They have gathered together in the Bahamas for their annual one-week reunion. They’re eager to reconnect and share news about their lives and relationships, but there are some changes and looming troubles.

Best-selling author and popular psychologist, Patricia (Janet Jackson), and her successful architect husband, Gavin (Malik Yoba), show their friends smiles, but their marriage is deeply troubled. Successful attorney, Dianne (Sharon Leal) and her supportive husband, Terry (Tyler Perry), once had sexless marriage, but while there is now plenty of lovemaking, a secret threatens to destroy their union.

Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White) still argue all the time, but now Marcus has a successful new career as a television sports commentator. Angela, who once criticized Marcus for not having a job, is now jealous that Marcus makes more money than she does, and that envy drives her suspicious that he is cheating on her.

Shelia (Jill Scott) replaced her emotionally abusive and philandering husband, Mike (Richard T. Jones), with the former Colorado sheriff, Troy (Lamman Rucker). However, a recent move, a new baby, and Troy’s difficulty finding a job have put a strain on their marriage. Then, Mike also decides to visit the Bahamas.

2007’s Why Did I Get Married? was a scandalous relationship comedy and engaging reunion drama. It had plenty of soap opera theatrics and over-the-top drama with a capitol “D.” Why Did I Get Married Too? is also filled with theatrics and big “D” drama, but this second film is also darker and edgier. These squabbling couples now have even bigger problems, problems that would give marriage counselors pause. In each case, husband and wife are unsatisfied with each other, and instead of talking through their problems, they scream at each other, rant and rave, and storm out the door.

It’s fun to watch… sometimes. Other times, it’s painful to watch – not only because the anger is so raw, but also because sometimes the couples’ problems seemed contrived. This might be Tyler Perry’s best effort at writing emotional character drama and at constructing multi-layered conflict. This may also be his worst screenwriting simply because the quarreling and marital problems come across as greatly exaggerated. Perry packs this movie’s two hours with wall-to-wall marital discord; then, he ties it up with a pat happy ending that simply cannot wash away the grit Why Did I Get Married Too? leaves in the viewer’s mouth.

This is still a Tyler Perry movie, so it is entertaining, and there is also a cameo at the end that adds much needed sweet to the previous two hour’s sour. Still, with all the arguing the characters do here, the question is not Why Did I Get Married Too? but why are any of them still married!

6 of 10
B

Sunday, April 11, 2010