This movie wasn't anything we haven't seen already before. I'm happy that Taraji P. Henson finally got her "Glenn Close" moment here, and she's not a half-bad psychopath, if I do say so myself. The rest of the movie was just underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, Taraji, definitely outdid herself, so she was not my problem at all. So, what is my problem?
Well... It appears that black women just can't seem to catch a break in Hollywood, nor can we seem to distance ourselves from these stereotypes, and Tyler Perry should know better. Come on now... A man can get with a woman, use her for everything she's worth, leech off her for 18 years while he accomplishes nothing, and somehow he walks away smelling like roses and looking like the victim of another crazy and "bitter" black woman. I'm sorry, was he misunderstood the whole time? I THINK NOT! Let me explain further....
This movie is about Melinda and Robert Gayle (Taraji P. Henson and Lyriq Bent). The story starts out as an unconventional love story, where the two meet in college, and right from the start you can see that this is a match made in HELL. The relationship is toxic from the very beginning. Robert swoops in after Melinda's mother dies, and right when she needs a shoulder to cry on the most. Of course, we learn that Melinda's mother willed her a beautiful home and a rather substantial amount of money. And Robert is her "Prince Charming?" Yeah, right! Some "Mr. Wonderful" he was. Robert was a bum who uses Melinda to buy him a car, which she does, and then he stops calling her completely after that. Later on, she finds out that he's hooked up with another girl, and needless to say, she doesn't handle it well at all. This is the first time you realize that Melinda is clearly not wrapped too tight in the head, especially since her own inability to properly channel her rage would be the reason she ends up irreparably damaging her own body. Now, why this man would even press his luck by messing with someone as unhinged as she started out, is beyond me. By the same token, why she would forgive a lying, cheating, user of a man and move forward with him, is also beyond me. At any rate, the two continue the relationship against her sisters' advice.
Naturally, after learning that Melinda has some money, Robert falls on hard times. Never mind the fact that he claimed he was paying for school through student loans and scholarships. What's coming next? You guessed it! Robert, proceeds to use Melinda to pay for the remainder of his schooling, which includes his rather expensive tuition, books, and all other fees for the next year. Mind you, they aren't even married yet! At this point, Melinda was still completely oblivious to the fact that she was this man's cash cow. Against her better judgment, she decides to marry him. I say "against her better judgment" because we could actually hear her thoughts as she was walking down the aisle, but she still chose to go through with a marriage that was doomed before it began. Why get married?
After they get married, for the next 18 years, he proceeds to sit around and leech off his supportive wife, while she slaves and works two jobs to pay all of their bills. Meanwhile, he plays around with his toys and some sort of light/energy machine that he's invented. Actually, let me back up a little bit... Finally, his graduation is upon us, so you think things are about to get better for these two, right? WRONG! Keep in mind that we also learn at this point WHY he hasn't been able to get/keep a job. He's actually a felon, who was a youthful offender, and he served jail-time for his crime, which he assumed his record would be expunged or sealed due to his status. Now, how much of that story is true, we never got to see. And of course, he chose to withhold this information until AFTER they got married.
Anyways, fast-forward 18 years into their marriage, and you'll see he's running through all of his wife's money, and he is definitely more trouble than he's worth. Not only that, he's emotionally detached, physically cold, and not very loving or affectionate toward Melinda at all the whole time she's working like a dog. Can you imagine why ANY woman would want to put up with a man like this for 18 whole years?
For me, this part of the story becomes problematic because it was presented to the audience one way, but I guess the "coup de gras" was supposed to be that this man was simply misunderstood the WHOLE time, or perhaps this was all apart of Melinda's descension into madness?
As the story progresses, there's complete reversal of fortune in Robert's favor. Done intentionally? Maybe, maybe not. At this point, Melinda is not the same trusting fool she was when she married him, and is tired of him, quite frankly. And really, who can blame her at this point? Either way, she jumps to conclusions, completely emasculates her husband in front of her siblings and their husbands, in only a way that only a true "angry black woman" can, and she DUMPS HIM!
This part of the story is also problematic for me because after all she's been through, we're supposed to sympathize with him as someone who's being done wrong and mistreated unfairly... I THINK NOT! They completely flipped the script on us and had this man redeem himself. Now, I'm all for redemption, but let's not present it this way, not at the risk of making him look like a swell guy who tried to do the right thing for the right reasons, he just had a run of bad luck. Because from where I sat, he looked like a bum who was too lazy to work and was free-loading off his wife. Only to turn it all around, and present him to us like he was a decent man who was actually trying to do the right thing, and was STILL dogged out and dismissed by his uncaring wife, who refused to stand by her husband when he needed her the most.
Again, what exactly is Mr. Perry trying to sell us here? Was this stuff all in her mind or what? Well, the fact that he tried to atone for all he did does suggest to me that she wasn't crazy the entire time. And if that's true, he's no victim any more than she is a saint. I mean, he caked it on real thick with the undying declarations of love and everything, which was the complete antithesis of who we saw. My point? Robert's whole character was just as mess, and quite frankly, I don't know what happened. I think Tyler Perry himself forgot what the hell he was doing and couldn't figure out in which direction he wanted to take this man.
However, he did do exactly what we (the black female audience) expected him to do, which was make the black woman appear to be completely irrational, vindictive and deranged, and him the innocent victim who tried to make amends and move on with his life with a new woman after his ungrateful and insecure wife left him. Did I mention the fact that the new "wifey" is the same girl he cheated on her with BEFORE they got married? Knowing that, what woman wouldn't have thought the same thing Melinda did?
All in all, I've said way more than I intended to say, but I won't be watching this movie a second time, which is unfortunate because I adore Taraji P. Henson. I just find myself liking Tyler Perry's movies less and less these days. He needs to learn to write for black women instead of pushing this same old "mad black woman" narrative. Don't do it! We get enough of that in society with having people trying to paint us as lunatics. Don't discard your core audience the way a lot of people tend to do when people feel they have arrived and they no longer need us. We were with you when you were on the "chittlin' circuit." And before people claim that this isn't the case, review his body of work and then revisit this review and talk to me.
Let's see... "Tyler Perry's Temptation", black cheating wife, who cheats on and dogs out a good man for a bad boy and regrets it. "Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman," the name says it all, a black woman gets mad and wants revenge from her husband cheating and leaving her for a non-black woman, and proceeds to allow her "bitterness" to turn her into a raging lunatic. "Daddy's Little Girls," another angry black "baby mama" who is literally using her new boyfriend to make her daughters' father's life a living hell. "Why Did I Get Married Too?" Completely ruined the whole female cast from the first film and made them all into the same stereotype. I mean, he DESTROYED Patricia's character completely, and made Angela's loud-mouth worse, which we didn't think was possible. "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," a selfish black woman, who only cares about herself, has extremely low standards in men, very little self-worth, with a horrible attitude and outlook on life. "Madea Goes to Jail," a manipulative, deceitful, successful black woman who couldn't handle competition, and a black woman as a prostitute AND junkie. He doubled-down there! "The Family That Preys," another black cheating wife who's "swirling" on her husband, who's shallow and obsessed with money, and also emasculates her man every chance she gets, and makes stupid choices the ENTIRE movie. I could keep going on and on! His movies are FULL of these stereotypical black women. We got the same formula here with "Acrimony," only with a lot less humor, and he dialed up the CRAZY black woman a few notches.
I mean, black women just can't catch a break with Tyler Perry. Don't be that guy, Tyler. It's not a good look! This movie was in no way a psychological "thriller." I get that the audience themselves were supposed to walk away feeling emotionally drained, and pretty much the same way Melinda felt, which is what you were aiming for. I'm sorry, this just didn't work for me!
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