Very, very poor directing. Just a side note: why do black directors/writers have to overcompensate for the success of their black lead characters, making them uberly successful, hot shot six figure executives as if tacitly saying that can't happen in real life? It's okay for them to be moderately successful.
193 Reviews
Overall this film really did very little for me
smatysia10 September 2019
I saw a film with Tiffany Haddish recently, I think it was called "Night School" and just loved her in it. Liked her more than the movie as a whole. So, I sat down to watch this one, and found it disappointing. Miss Haddish played a similarly edgy character (more so actually) but it never really gelled for me. The rest of the cast acted well, with the exceptions of Whoopi Goldberg and Chris Rock in small parts. Overall this film really did very little for me. Can't recommend it.
No Fooling Around With This Review
rgkarim3 November 2018
Tiffany Haddish has gotten a major career surge since her time back in Girl's Trip. Her wild, loud, and aggressive personality has brought laughs on a variety of stages and it looks like there is no end in sight for the young woman's success given the number of things she has produced. And this weekend, the young woman tries again in a comedy that hopefully will bring some more magic to the mix. Robbie K with another review in the works, hoping to help guide your decision making process for the films. Let's get started as my focus today is on:
Movie: Nobody's Fool (2018)
Director: Tyler Perry Writer: Tyler Perry Stars: Tiffany Haddish, Courtney Henggeler, Missi Pyle
LIKES:
Tiffany Haddish The star character needs to be mentioned, for Haddish is back in full swing with little to no filter. For most of this, I enjoyed her antics, her shouting bringing some solid dialog to life as she acts out every vengeful, hateful thought you've felt for someone who betrays you. It comes natural to her, and her energy runs through much of the movie keeping you not only into the movie, but awake as you laugh yourself silly enough to cry tears. The simplistic fun will be the bait for this movie and the heart of the entertainment.
Fast Pace: Given some of my dislikes to the movie, the pace of the movie helps curb those the factors by getting through the movie as fast as possible. Yes, you won't have to worry about prolonged, drawn out character development, or story design because this movie is all about the entertainment value and shoving it in your face. While normally rapid fire doesn't work for me, but this time, getting through the movie faster was a good thing.
Breaks From the Comedy: It's important to find some device to slow down and allow things to reset. Many don't like to do this, choosing to maximize the laughs to the point of making you either want to vomit, or laughing too hard your sides split. Surprisingly, Nobody's Fool utilizes the technique to allow a reprieve from the in your face comedy, giving the story some growing room to flourish and proceed, and build up for more future laughs. This kept me laughing through much of the movie, and for the most part at least brought some small balance to this extreme film.
The Lessons: Nobody's Fool is certainly about the laughs and drama, but the movie surprisingly has a crown jewel embedded in the raunchy mines of sex appeal and crude humor. The moral building, life lesson is a strong one, and the scene is very well-designed to bring the emotional heat with it. It utilizes all the techniques to bring it to full swing, it's just too bad that moment was then lost in more comedic craziness. Still kudos for trying.
Boyz II Men Song: Okay, small deterrent, but when a movie can use a song well and sort of revive the nostalgia you get bonus points with me. Nobody's Fool hits one of the best songs from the R&B group and while a little cheesy, utilizes it as a device to help the story and maximize the emotion. This might have been my favorite scene of the bunch, mostly because I like the song.
DISLIKES:
Filter Removed: Filters are tricky, but upon removal they can lead to the balance shifting way too much towards the aggressive, crude, and uncreative writing that many shows seem to go with. Nobody's Fool falls into this category, and while Haddish's delivery is top notch, I get tired of the over use of certain words. Probably won't bother many, but to this reviewer the stale writing is a little too much.
The Story: Linear, predictable, and quite boring, Nobody's Fool's story is like a Tyler Perry Drama trying to be funny without Madea. Rather than strong, character guided drama that leaves both main character and audience a little stronger and better. In this film though, the drama is mostly just excitement and gossip starting, trashy, sex driven antics that don't add much to the story. The silver lining of this, it adds fodder for Haddish and Whoopi Goldberg to bring some fantastic comedy work.
Danica: When you have a main character you expect mistakes and flaws at the beginning, but by the end can give them more respect. Not the case with this movie. Danica is not a character I jumped on board with, awful core characteristics, strong flaws, grandiose dialog, and a lack of intelligence that is surprisingly present. While there is some tapering, development and growth of Danica was rather shallow and quite honestly disappointing to see. Danica was not my cup of tea and I strongly wanted classic Tyler Perry to come back in and work his drama story magic.
Editing/Rush: Movies these days seems to have difficulty finding the art of knowing when enough is enough, and this movie continues to prove the theory. While still short enough, nobody's fool's editing is rather spotty at times, with extra scenes sort of piece into the film in an odd, awkward attempt to bridge to the next sequence. Some of these scenes were semi worth the inclusion, but many I felt were needless exclusion meant to be included on the deleted scenes section of the movie, including the final scene. Sorry if they are some of your favorite moments (which weren't ruined by the trailer), but editing needed to let these moments go.
The VERDICT:
Nobody's Fool is the predictable, fun, laugh riot that you are expecting when it comes to the trailer and the actress. And while it is funny at part, the movie's main thing is a lack of balance between drama and comedy. This film is designed to just be the aggressive, in your face smack fest that Haddish's energy is and if that's what you want, you've got to check this film out. Yet, if you are looking for a little more story, character development, and drama that is a little higher than a high school relationship gone wrong, this film is not meant for the theater visit.
Overall my scores are:
Comedy/Drama: 6.5-7.0 Movie Overall: 4.5-5.0
Movie: Nobody's Fool (2018)
Director: Tyler Perry Writer: Tyler Perry Stars: Tiffany Haddish, Courtney Henggeler, Missi Pyle
LIKES:
Tiffany Haddish The star character needs to be mentioned, for Haddish is back in full swing with little to no filter. For most of this, I enjoyed her antics, her shouting bringing some solid dialog to life as she acts out every vengeful, hateful thought you've felt for someone who betrays you. It comes natural to her, and her energy runs through much of the movie keeping you not only into the movie, but awake as you laugh yourself silly enough to cry tears. The simplistic fun will be the bait for this movie and the heart of the entertainment.
Fast Pace: Given some of my dislikes to the movie, the pace of the movie helps curb those the factors by getting through the movie as fast as possible. Yes, you won't have to worry about prolonged, drawn out character development, or story design because this movie is all about the entertainment value and shoving it in your face. While normally rapid fire doesn't work for me, but this time, getting through the movie faster was a good thing.
Breaks From the Comedy: It's important to find some device to slow down and allow things to reset. Many don't like to do this, choosing to maximize the laughs to the point of making you either want to vomit, or laughing too hard your sides split. Surprisingly, Nobody's Fool utilizes the technique to allow a reprieve from the in your face comedy, giving the story some growing room to flourish and proceed, and build up for more future laughs. This kept me laughing through much of the movie, and for the most part at least brought some small balance to this extreme film.
The Lessons: Nobody's Fool is certainly about the laughs and drama, but the movie surprisingly has a crown jewel embedded in the raunchy mines of sex appeal and crude humor. The moral building, life lesson is a strong one, and the scene is very well-designed to bring the emotional heat with it. It utilizes all the techniques to bring it to full swing, it's just too bad that moment was then lost in more comedic craziness. Still kudos for trying.
Boyz II Men Song: Okay, small deterrent, but when a movie can use a song well and sort of revive the nostalgia you get bonus points with me. Nobody's Fool hits one of the best songs from the R&B group and while a little cheesy, utilizes it as a device to help the story and maximize the emotion. This might have been my favorite scene of the bunch, mostly because I like the song.
DISLIKES:
Filter Removed: Filters are tricky, but upon removal they can lead to the balance shifting way too much towards the aggressive, crude, and uncreative writing that many shows seem to go with. Nobody's Fool falls into this category, and while Haddish's delivery is top notch, I get tired of the over use of certain words. Probably won't bother many, but to this reviewer the stale writing is a little too much.
The Story: Linear, predictable, and quite boring, Nobody's Fool's story is like a Tyler Perry Drama trying to be funny without Madea. Rather than strong, character guided drama that leaves both main character and audience a little stronger and better. In this film though, the drama is mostly just excitement and gossip starting, trashy, sex driven antics that don't add much to the story. The silver lining of this, it adds fodder for Haddish and Whoopi Goldberg to bring some fantastic comedy work.
Danica: When you have a main character you expect mistakes and flaws at the beginning, but by the end can give them more respect. Not the case with this movie. Danica is not a character I jumped on board with, awful core characteristics, strong flaws, grandiose dialog, and a lack of intelligence that is surprisingly present. While there is some tapering, development and growth of Danica was rather shallow and quite honestly disappointing to see. Danica was not my cup of tea and I strongly wanted classic Tyler Perry to come back in and work his drama story magic.
Editing/Rush: Movies these days seems to have difficulty finding the art of knowing when enough is enough, and this movie continues to prove the theory. While still short enough, nobody's fool's editing is rather spotty at times, with extra scenes sort of piece into the film in an odd, awkward attempt to bridge to the next sequence. Some of these scenes were semi worth the inclusion, but many I felt were needless exclusion meant to be included on the deleted scenes section of the movie, including the final scene. Sorry if they are some of your favorite moments (which weren't ruined by the trailer), but editing needed to let these moments go.
The VERDICT:
Nobody's Fool is the predictable, fun, laugh riot that you are expecting when it comes to the trailer and the actress. And while it is funny at part, the movie's main thing is a lack of balance between drama and comedy. This film is designed to just be the aggressive, in your face smack fest that Haddish's energy is and if that's what you want, you've got to check this film out. Yet, if you are looking for a little more story, character development, and drama that is a little higher than a high school relationship gone wrong, this film is not meant for the theater visit.
Overall my scores are:
Comedy/Drama: 6.5-7.0 Movie Overall: 4.5-5.0
Unrealistic story - Tyler Perry at his worst
brian-mcintire17 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This movie was supposed to be about a successful, but confused black woman's journey as she discovers that her relentless pursuit for what she always though a "perfect" man should be has made it impossible for her to find happiness.
In steps a rare but imperfect man named Frank (portrayed by Omari Hardwick) with wonderful qualities, Frank has made mistakes and he has learned from them. He's a caring and loving person who works hard to help others who have struggled in similar ways. .
Danica, played by Tika Sumpter, is torn between her growing attraction to Frank and the seemingly "perfect" man she has been chatting with for a year, that she has never met. We are meant to believe she is a successful ad executive. Unfortunately, all of her work scenes portray her as someone who is somewhat disconnected.
We can appreciate this and even forgive it to some extent. However, we have to wait until the very end of the movie to even see a glimpse of the hard working intelligent woman we were led to believe she was. Meanwhile, what we are left with is a woman who seemingly can't compartmentalize the pain she is going through in her personal life. We want to forgive this. We can identify with how difficult it can be to be successful at work when our personal life is a mess, but successful people do it all the time. Instead, we are left with a completely dysfunctional woman who seemingly only works when she is forced to go to a meeting.
I wanted to enjoy the story. I wanted to see her grow and become the woman she was always meant to be. Unfortunately, the journey is muddied with ridiculous way over the top acting and writing of multiple characters who are meant to bring comedy relief as our heroine compleye's her journey.
Tiffany Haddish plays Tanya, Danica's sister. She was funny at times but her over-acting often made me cringe. Whoopi Goldberg, who played their mother, was almost always high. Chris Rock was ridiculous, and Charlie, played by Mechad Brooks, was completely unbelievable as Danica's so- called "perfect man." She had been talking to him for a year! They meet once and any shred of credibility for his character or Danica's is lost. She's supposedly head over heels in love with him but there is no chemistry. Charlie is thoughtless, inattentive and ridiculous, and the sudden revelation that his penis got stabbed by a pencil is pointless. It's not funny. It's not useful in any way. After a short interaction we are left wondering how this so-called intelligent woman could have ever believed this man was even close to who she thought he was. We all make mistakes. Sometimes it takes a life to learn what's important, but not seeing who this man was would've made her completely clueless. A woman of nearly 40 years would have to have at least a small clue. It just made no sense at all.
As she continues to flip back-and-forth and disrespect Frank we are left feeling sorry for Frank. No matter how much she hurts him he keeps coming back for more. We can't help who we love but we are led to believe that Frank is a man who knows who he is and is proud of it.. A man with self esteem. It's impossible to believe a man like this would so easily forgive her deplorable behavior.
In my opinion their final reconciliation should've happened years later after a well deserved break up. This would have given credit to the strong man we are led to believe Frank is. It would have also given time for Danica to reconcile all of her thoughts and feelings and to truly discover who she is.
Ultimately the timeline is unrealistic. Danica's acting is weak but the writing and direction was ultimately what killed this movie. It's clear Tyler Perry has either lost his ability to connect with people or no longer cares. He's made over half a billion on low budget high profit films. Unfortunately, we keep rewarding him by spending our hard earned money to see his increasingly insulting and less and less funny movies.
Tyler Perry is an intelligent and very talented person who has the resources to make a truly inspiring movie that we would be as proud to watch as the actors and actresses are to play their roles. What happened to smart comedy? Why do we keep having to see black women portrayed so unrealistically?
Ask yourself, why does he keep churning out nonsensical garbage. It's lazy. Tyler Perry seems to be far more concerned with quantity than to take the time to write a realistically livable and funny movie that we know he's capable of.
In steps a rare but imperfect man named Frank (portrayed by Omari Hardwick) with wonderful qualities, Frank has made mistakes and he has learned from them. He's a caring and loving person who works hard to help others who have struggled in similar ways. .
Danica, played by Tika Sumpter, is torn between her growing attraction to Frank and the seemingly "perfect" man she has been chatting with for a year, that she has never met. We are meant to believe she is a successful ad executive. Unfortunately, all of her work scenes portray her as someone who is somewhat disconnected.
We can appreciate this and even forgive it to some extent. However, we have to wait until the very end of the movie to even see a glimpse of the hard working intelligent woman we were led to believe she was. Meanwhile, what we are left with is a woman who seemingly can't compartmentalize the pain she is going through in her personal life. We want to forgive this. We can identify with how difficult it can be to be successful at work when our personal life is a mess, but successful people do it all the time. Instead, we are left with a completely dysfunctional woman who seemingly only works when she is forced to go to a meeting.
I wanted to enjoy the story. I wanted to see her grow and become the woman she was always meant to be. Unfortunately, the journey is muddied with ridiculous way over the top acting and writing of multiple characters who are meant to bring comedy relief as our heroine compleye's her journey.
Tiffany Haddish plays Tanya, Danica's sister. She was funny at times but her over-acting often made me cringe. Whoopi Goldberg, who played their mother, was almost always high. Chris Rock was ridiculous, and Charlie, played by Mechad Brooks, was completely unbelievable as Danica's so- called "perfect man." She had been talking to him for a year! They meet once and any shred of credibility for his character or Danica's is lost. She's supposedly head over heels in love with him but there is no chemistry. Charlie is thoughtless, inattentive and ridiculous, and the sudden revelation that his penis got stabbed by a pencil is pointless. It's not funny. It's not useful in any way. After a short interaction we are left wondering how this so-called intelligent woman could have ever believed this man was even close to who she thought he was. We all make mistakes. Sometimes it takes a life to learn what's important, but not seeing who this man was would've made her completely clueless. A woman of nearly 40 years would have to have at least a small clue. It just made no sense at all.
As she continues to flip back-and-forth and disrespect Frank we are left feeling sorry for Frank. No matter how much she hurts him he keeps coming back for more. We can't help who we love but we are led to believe that Frank is a man who knows who he is and is proud of it.. A man with self esteem. It's impossible to believe a man like this would so easily forgive her deplorable behavior.
In my opinion their final reconciliation should've happened years later after a well deserved break up. This would have given credit to the strong man we are led to believe Frank is. It would have also given time for Danica to reconcile all of her thoughts and feelings and to truly discover who she is.
Ultimately the timeline is unrealistic. Danica's acting is weak but the writing and direction was ultimately what killed this movie. It's clear Tyler Perry has either lost his ability to connect with people or no longer cares. He's made over half a billion on low budget high profit films. Unfortunately, we keep rewarding him by spending our hard earned money to see his increasingly insulting and less and less funny movies.
Tyler Perry is an intelligent and very talented person who has the resources to make a truly inspiring movie that we would be as proud to watch as the actors and actresses are to play their roles. What happened to smart comedy? Why do we keep having to see black women portrayed so unrealistically?
Ask yourself, why does he keep churning out nonsensical garbage. It's lazy. Tyler Perry seems to be far more concerned with quantity than to take the time to write a realistically livable and funny movie that we know he's capable of.
Wasted Millions to make this trash
miketanu-504218 November 2018
Worst movie made in years.
scottjmcnamee6 November 2018
I don't understand all the bad reviews
mercedi-surface2 March 2019
I had more laughs from this than any comedy I've seen in a long time. I like Tiffany Haddish and I think she carries the film. Her facial expressions alone make me laugh out loud. Go into this not expecting much and you will be entertained.
Worst movie ever
jadrianwalkman7 November 2018
Fun Movie!!!
db5733 March 2019
I don't know what's all the negative comments. Tiffany Haddish is hilarious. She's so crude but it's still funny. She has great timing and it's like she ad-libs a lot of her lines. The story is lame but it's just plain fun.
Not funny
daughterof_ann9 November 2018
Nice romantic comedy
sophietje022 April 2021
Tiffany Haddish is not funny
jarodpitmon-708485 November 2018
Not bad at all
kayyalahmed-3063025 February 2019
Train wreck from the start
Neoman19624 November 2018
Waste of the talented TH and WG.....playing horrible stereotypical characters. What is this film about? 2 sisters from different worlds trying to find middle ground? A romantic comedy? Catfishing? It's a mess.....should have gone str8 to video.....
Disappointed
lakinlitchy3 November 2018
I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a couple months after seeing the preview at another movie. Now I just feel like we wasted our money. All of the funny parts were shown in the trailer, and the rest was just a mess. It didn't make any sense to me. It seemed as if Tyler Perry just had a bunch of different things he wanted to put in a movie so he just threw them all together in this. I'm so upset. Tiffany Haddish seems like she is genuinely funny but in this movie she was just over the top for no legitimate reason. Whoopi Goldberg was stoned in all of her 4 appearances in the movie. And the main character honestly wasn't even interesting, just rude and judgmental. The entire movie was just a waste of my time and my money.
Really Tyler???
hiphopphotos10 November 2018
As a Tyler Perry fan, I am not only surprised, but I'm in shock! This producer, writer and plain ol good actor really needs to take a good look at his production team. I'm not sure if they're a bunch a youngins that do not have his and their best interest in heart, but this movie gave me a splitting headache. The acting was horrific and the jokes were so played--totally buffoonery. I want my money back! The commercial looked corney, but I still gave it a try-after all it was a Tyler Perry Joint!
Sadly, I don't think he worked at this film at all-the profanity did not help either-who acts/talks like that allllllll day! Whoopi was good as she is a pro-but I'm sorry she's a part of this hot mess-and as for Chris Rock-Really-still acting like "Pooky" ;(
Those who said it was good, really have no clue of entertaining cinema! And another thing-I'm really tired of "black-movies" having the same ol jokes/narrative/themes and actors! Can we please cast new faces Uuuuggggh ;(
Giant Fail
nikimaress2 November 2018
Let me preface this by saying I am a HUGE Tyler Perry fan. I adore his movies. This one was just a mess. It had its funny moments but not enough to keep my attention. The acting was terrible. It was way too long, too.
Another Tyler Perry's flops
Wrighttake4424 November 2019
This movie was a complete garbage and a waste of time seeing. I am tired of Tiffany Haddish playing the same type of characters the getto black female. It is pathetic and only says that all she has to offer as an actor is a 1 dimensional role which that is not talent. Now you can play the getto black female role as long as you are funny and that she is not. She actally ruined the movie more for me and was very irritating whenever she was in a scene. Tyler Perry needs to start having other people write, direct, and screen his movies instead of himself because as of lately he is making alot of small screen TV and big screen movies that are garbage.
An amazing movie
laminhmd29023 December 2020
Disappointing waste of money
martinapyoung11 November 2018
I generally try to support Tyler Perry movies and was looking forward to some good laughs but was very disappointed in this movie. When I walked out I wish I had gone to see the Grinch instead. There were very few moments that generated laughter. Most of those were the clips that have been used on TV for promotion. Outside of those moments it was just a blank stare at the screen. The movie felt like Tyler Perry was going over the top in trying to prove that he could write a vulgar movie. Have been spreading the word for others to save their money and not waste their time going to see this one.
Died laughing!!!😂😂😂
jojomaurice91110 December 2018
Omg TIFFANY HADDISH is rediculously funny! Anyone who could literally sit there and rate this movie bad and say they didn't laugh, have no sense of humor at all or saw the wrong movie! This move is incredibly funny and I would highly recommends it to anyone! If you enjoyed girls trip, then you would love this movie as well!
Pretty good, better than the 4.8 rating
UniqueParticle15 July 2020
I think this is fairly funny, I needed something entertaining after the disturbing movies I saw before this. Anyway a little whacky but it's watchable I love the humor despite the flaws! Sad how it's got a thing about being catfish I'm gullible I've had some weird experiences online. Whoopi Goldberg is delightful as the mom of 2 characters and shes high off weed often which is legendary! Guilty pleasure type not much else to it.
Painful to watch.
Herebutnot15 February 2019
Let's just narrow it down.
trapuniversebusiness2 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
There's already a show that's real based on this. There's no need for a movie with a fake story. I'd rather watch the real thing. This movie shouldn't exist, in this day and age if you're dating revolves around the internet, you will be catfished or scammed. It's hust how it works, why on earth would I want to revisit the feeling of talking to someone you really don't know? This is a ridiculous example of a weak movie.
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