Sorry this is so late. I've been trying to post this entry since early last week, but was having difficulty logging into BLOGGER. It kept telling me to accept the terms of use..... wtf? Well...its Thursday and I'm a few days [too many] behind with my updates so.....I've given in (or given up)........I am now part of the BLOGGER BETA FAMILY. Let's celebrate!!!! Apparently....they've decided that everyone must make the switch to their new BETA version of BLOGGER.....originally you had the option of keeping the old account or moving over to the new and improved. (I guess I was not seeing enough of the plethora of new advertisements using the old version - oh no! WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!!!) I'ma keep it moving and pray that this transition goes without a hitch. So far....no issues, but I'm not quite ready to sing BETA's praises.

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2/15/07

Went to Pizza Hut and the movies last night (Valentine's Day - Thank you, boo!) &........had a great time! I was feeling all nostalgic last night so I wanted some throwback grub. My date and I were sitting back laughing about how a trip to pizza hut used to "keep us in line" when we were kids. Youngstaz, before Dominos, Pizza Bolis and Papa Johns....we had THE PIZZA HUT EXPERIENCE.

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After dinner......we decided to check out the new Tyler Perry movie, Daddy's Little Girls. Warning: Other sites on-line offer more detailed and prolly less opinionated reviews than the one to follow.....so I pray that you will take this with a grain of salt and a pinch of pepper:

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The cast included: Gabrielle Union (Deliver Us From Eva), Idris Elba (THE WIRE), Tasha Smith, Gary Sturgis, Tracee Ellis Ross (Girl Friends), Lou Gossett, Jr. (Officer and a Gentleman), Malinda Williams, Terri J. Vaughn (The Steve Harvey Show). Let's start there...... I thought the film was well-casted. I'm not saying that everyone was believable or that any one gave us an Oscar-worthy performance, but for the audience this movie was trying to draw....this line-up would as T.I. put it, "Bring Em Out".

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Both leads are super attractive (Union, arguably Black America's NEW sweetheart (where has Nia Long been?) and Elba, America's favorite dope man dope man Russell "Stringer" Bell) and each effectively conveys the emotion of the stock character he/she was playing. Stock character is a word that is more commonly used in the theater (Side note: Black theater is generally built around them).
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I can't find anything substantial about any of them that I dislike. I love seeing black people in love. If you paid attention to TV or the radio.....you could almost believe that the only thing we do is have sex (NOTHING ELSE!!!)

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Gabrielle played the part of an over educated, career and success driven, and incredibly uptight woman , ...who like the good majority of us out here with a college degree and 0 baby daddies wonder - "where are the good black men?"
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Monty aka Stringer aka Idris aka ashy black (what was up with the coloring of the movie. Dude looked ashy as hell throughout the whole movie .....lol!) played the part of a hardworking and very loving father of 3 beautiful young girls. Plagued by the typical ghetto woes (except he has a job and a promising future), Monty is a man who walks that thin line between law abiding citizen and a man on the run. Love is such a motivator. Perry did an excellent job of giving Monty dialogue that helped us feel his frustration as a result of being in a situation that many single moms face everyday - I don't know how, but we will make it.

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Momma always told me......at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is having someone that will listen to you.....and if you follow grandma's mantra...make sure you find a man that loves you more than him. <------- Maybe Union's character felt safe with a "Monty". When I was younger....I didn't get it. I'm not gonna lie and act like I make the best dating decisions TODAY, but at least I have things in better perspective.

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You can have the most famous man.....have all the money.....bear his beautiful babies.....endure through his issues AND it don't mean he will love, cherish and treat you with the respect that is owed a good woman......ask Kim Porter. No diss ...REAL TALK! But all in all.....it really depends on what you want. I think that educated women often times put themselves in situations where NO MAN (especially a black one - I am not sure where the prejudice originates) will live up to the fantasy. We go out get an education....make the decision to forgo motherhood until we are established...(many of us) buy our first homes prior to marriage......we learn to please ourselves........We are focused, mayne......

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buuuuud......after the focusing puts us in a comfortable position....the things that REALLY matter start to invade our brain capacity usually reserved for plotting, strategizing and trying to get ahead.

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LOVE ----> COMPANIONSHIP -------> BABIES ------> REAL UNDERSTANDING -----> DO MATTER!!!!

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Ole girl was so in need of love aaaaaaaand here comes ole Monty to save de day.

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Their movie courtship was cute...a bit contrived, but cute.

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Let me get this straight......
I am a daughter of a well to do attorney...graduated from what I imagine was a top university....Im a partner in my firm.......I have money, prestige, credit AND.....my only options are 40 year old rappers, married men and a man from the wrong side of the tracks with a drug dealer loving, ghetto fabulous baby mama and 3 pre-pubescent smart mouth daughters? YEAH RIGHT!!! I mean....IT IS BAD out here, but let's be for real. And I feel my sistas pain about only wanting to date black men, but come awn.......... THE MEN were STOCK characters as well. They all embodied the worst of the "pickings".

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I can't front..........
The little girls were adorable, but really over the top. I dated a man with twin girls (they were 2 at the time) and Im sorry, but if those girls were his...........I doubt I'd stick around very long. A woman with no kids....is generally not gonna step in like that. Call is selfishness if you want....let's deal with reality. I know it sounds good to act like most of us are above materialism, but yeah right.....you might get a man to take care of another man's kids (my hat goes off to you brother as long as you take care of your own), but a sista (a young child-less one, at that) - HECK TO THE NAW!!!!
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That is what made the story kind of fake to me. While I applaud Perry's effort to show a slice of American life rarely seen, the storyline was unbelievable to me. TRUE: Educated women date blue collar men everyday, but Union was stuck up (Monty was hired as her driver. She didn't even want him to talk to her directly when the first met). He took her to what looked like a neighborhood juke joint and she looked as if she didn't want to rub up against the walls.

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Based on the storyline and glimpses of her past she offered, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. There was no indication that she was rejecting her life (background) to date him (which I would imagine dating outside of one's class would)......there was no real event to bring them together as fast and completely as these two were after only a few scenes.

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What was the common thread for them?
What greater force bough them together?
What made her open to a relationship with him?

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At least if they had sex and they showed a shot of her with a big cheesy smile in the morning ......I could feel like I get their attraction a little. I DIDN'T GET IT!!!! I didn't feel any chemistry between the two at all to be honest....but this fact didn't really take away from the story per se......I just wished I could have felt more of - ELECTRICITY.
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Was he a sympathy lay that got good?

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Does a man want to be admired or felt sorry for when he meets a woman that is in a higher tax bracket?
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David E Talbert was a pioneer of this genre. His Play Beauty Shop IMO opened the flood gates for the litany of "Mama Don't" plays as I like to call them (was an actual name of a play...LOL!) or Gospel Dramas that have followed and become part of Black American culture.

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I say black specifically because although black theater is not as recognized as a distinct and qualitatively different genre as it used to be, Black people are the ones that have made Talbert, Perry and now Eric Jerome Dickey's ( a wonderful writer who's books lend them self very easy to this type of theatrical interpretation) household names.

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I don't feel like I can adequately give my review of Tyler Perry's movie without highlighting how his movie making style always resembles/feels like a play. <------ Not saying this is a good or bad thing, but the style lends it self better to some stories over others (The Madia play to movie translation worked well IMO because she is theatrical and melodramatic by design).

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Example: In a movie.....usually through a series of conversations or scenes one comes to understand or view the "antagonist" or bad guy's role in the unfolding drama on your own over time (hopefully...LOL! movies today sometimes appear to have no point), but with plays...you know the bad guys because of the music (BOOMING: du du du daaaaaaaaaaah!) or the meneacing looks and lighting. There is often no need to even have this person talk...their idiosyncracies and weaknesses are not shown most times because the writer only needs their imposing presence to carry the story along not to make you feel more for the protagonist, per se. There presence alone ("negative") in the drama will endear you to the protagonist (main character). That's all that's necessary. I wish I could talk about this in more technical terms, but that would require waaaaay to much time. In this movie, the bad guy definitely felt like a bad guy, but he also felt like a cartoon. No feelings or paradox within his personality were shown.....just a menacing scowl and raspy voice.

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It was good to see Lou Gossett Jr. I havent seen anything from him in a minute. I had the opportunity to meet him a few years ago in ATL (All-Star Weekend). He was very gracious!!!! (Thats old Hollywood! These new jacks will smile at you like you are "slow" and keep it moving) He even took the cap off of his head and gave it to me. He is a spokesperson for this truly powerful organization and movement called ERACISM. I still have cap (to this day - I should post a picture when I get home)......but it is waaaay to small for me to wear (either Lou Gossett has an extra small peanut head or my head is larger than average....LOL! I choose to think it was the former). I know this is off topic, but you can get you a cap too....so then you can be like me...he he!

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Whats her name from the Steve Harvery show.....Lovita Alize Jenkins! She was a trip in this movie. I definitely did not like her (she was one of Union's 2 nosey, tryna tell a sista not to date a particular man, bunned up girlfriends) character, but that says 2 things:1) we all know someone like her (she genuinely means well) and 2) she played her part well. Her and Ross (anutha girlfriend - and guess what yall - It looked like they actually got her mane under control) did an excellent job of helping the viewing audience to "feel" the pressures that are often placed on Black women (in particular) to marry the man with the best looks, most money, the squeekiest clean background, least baggage, etc. I mean...if the pressure one puts on him or her self doesn't kill you or make you feel like saying NEVER MIND!!!!! ....you can have friends like these.
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I think I've rambled enough........to make a long story short:
Overall, Good Movie. I do think that Perry might want to work with a script writer on future projects that tell real life stories. I wish that I would have felt more of a connection with the characters and not just given glimpses of their lives to edge the story a long (the way in which the revealed his past run-ins with the law was WACK!!!) His Madia stories are fun and different....its hard to criticize them because she represents a world he has created. I think guys will like it a lot (especially if they can relate). While I think the story line is kind of UNREAL, I do think it was entertaining. I will not be buying this movie, but I would not discourage you from doing so.

I give this one a 7.5

Labels: movies, reviews