So Tiffany and I, along with friends, Tamara and Joy, decided to watch the movie "Temptation" last night.
I listened to people's opinions and the reviews for this movie and the majority of them were basically "OMG, that was a great movie!" or "Chile, that movie was so deep!" and "Boy, I didn't expect that one!", oh and my favorite "It was life-changing!"....So, I thought this was definitely a "must-see".
Hmmmm...Really???
Unfortunately, Tyler Perry (TP) will receive the public backlash and not the writers. I guess that's what happens when you attach your name to the beginning of the movie title.
Dear Writer's, I think I could have written a better script, thank you!
I do not despise TP movies like a lot of people apparently do (Good Deeds was actually pretty OK, oh and For Colored Girls) but I'm not a HUGE fan either.
Temptation, Temptation, Temptation...is highly predictable much like all of his other flicks. This is disappointing to me because TP, being a man with such influence, had a great opportunity to create an extraordinary movie that could have really shaken the ground. An opportunity to enter people's minds and jack it right up. This did not.
I will give my opinion but I will expose some details because I need to make my point, dangit! Sorry! So if you haven't watched it yet you can stop reading now.
The characters Judith (Journee Smollet-Bell) and her husband Brice (Lance Cross) had a "fairy-tale" love story. They met as kids, fell in love, and were inseparable by the time they were teenagers and married by 19 (SERIOUSLY?). Hmmmm....say...what?, maybe 1% of the population in the world experiences that type of relationship? Ten minutes into the movie and already I cannot relate.
Brice is a settled pharmacist and Judith is an ambitious therapist or marriage counselor with a master's degree wanting her own firm. She is employed at a high-class matchmaking firm which goes against her Christian upbringing. These characters lacked depth and there was absolutely no relationship development. Honestly, there weren't any MAJOR issues that I could see that warranted Judith's extreme behaviour. Ok, he forgot her birthday 2 years in a row....that was very unrealistic and not believable. If there are husbands out there like this then tings really mash up!
Judith wanted to grow, and Brice was comfortable. Judith didn't really seem to communicate her thoughts and feelings of unhappiness to her husband. Then here comes Harley (Robbie Jones) aka Mr. Captain Save Her, an extremely wealthy guy who walks into the match-making firm and says all the right predictable things to get Judith's heart racing, like "If I was your man, I would never forget your birthday." (yawn) and "I can help you with your firm, I am a business man" (aww, how sweet) and "Does [your husband] challenge your mind? (you mean like how you seem to do?!) Sighhhhh. Judith's head was gone in a second (poor judy) and soon she turned into a tight dress wearing, cocaine sniffing, wine swirling adulteress. Well damn...
OK, I might mash a few corns here but I have to talk about Judith's mother because her role is important. The mother is a God fearing woman who taught her daughter how to be a good Christian woman, how to cook for her husband, how to take care of her husband, how to always be there for him, and of course preached to her about not to being swayed by the devil and the demons. BUT...did she ever sit down and talk about the real nitty gritty of what goes on in the real world? Judith's mother wasn't always a Christian, I'm sure she knows the deal. When did she have REAL conversations with her very young, very innocent daughter about marriage instead of shouting scriptures at her? I'm not saying that conversations from the Bible aren't real conversations and I'm not saying that any of this could or would have been avoided BUT what was her role in her daughter's demise?
After the movie I heard a group of older ladies call Judith a "stupid little girl". Wow, no sympathy for this leading lady! A bit harsh, eh? No she wasn't stupid. She made a horrible mistake, one that she was obviously never equipped to avoid. "Yeah, ya stupid, and because you so stupid to allow the devil into ya life you ga pay with catastrophic consequences". That's all I could hear coming out of their mouths. Hmmmmm.....is that the lesson we should take from this movie?
So many things I would have changed in this movie to make it believable. Tyler Perry, you should give me a call, let's create something people can really relate to.
Have you watched it? What do you think about this movie? Did you enjoy it? What message did you receive from it? Would you change anything? If so, what would you change?
Signed,
A disappointed, Candilaria
