Adinkra Films is celebrating the launch of Tyler Perry's hits on DVD in the UK. The DVDs will be released on the 23rd August 2010 with a special offer!!Buy one DVD and get a free cinema ticket to see
Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?*”
Order your copies today of Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?, Diary of a Mad Black Woman Madea’s Family Reunion please visit:
www.lovefilm.com/whydidigetmarriedtoo
Also Adinkra films is giving you the opportunity to win DVDs on facebookADINKRA FILMS on the 24th August 2010
But...
WHAT ARE PEOPLE REALLY SAYING ABOUT TYLER PERRY'S DVDs?
13 comments:
ON TYLER PERRY’S ‘WHY DID I GET MARRIED’
OR
WHY DID I GET MARRIED, WHY DID I STAY MARRIED, AND WHY DID I WATCH THIS FILM?
Part 1
Tyler Perry’s film Why Did I Get Married was his second conversion of one of his financially ultra-successful stage plays to the big screen; outstanding ticket and DVD sales of his plays have meant that these big screen remakes are an inevitability.
Tyler Perry is a one man brand, usually writing, acting, producing and directing his own movies, which are usually ensemble comedy-dramas (‘dramedies’) based around family and relationships in the black community, almost a kind of black Woody Allen for those needing a frame of reference. Why Did I Get Married is one such work, a piece centred around four couples as they attend a retreat to evaluate their marriages.
Of course, each cleanly-shaven, beautiful couple has their own problems: relationship therapist Patricia (Janet Jackson) and her husband can’t move on from the death of their child in a car accident; Terry (Tyler Perry) and Diane (Sharon Leal) are at odds over her long working hours and commitment to her job rather than Terry’s desire to have another child; Mike mocks his obese wife Sheila and has the nerve to bring a pretty (and available) young friend with them to the retreat; and Angela drinks too much and belittles her husband Marcus, who now works for her.
Amidst the cosiness of their mountain retreat the couples grate against each other and their relationships reach breaking point. Infidelity is everywhere, as usual (either concealed, as one character reveals he has v.d., or out in the open as the character of Mike shamelessly sleeps with his pretty friend on the first night) and as the dominant personalities clash around the dinner table, the accusations and revelations fly. But eventually each couple will regain a sense of happy equilibrium, those that have been wronged will be rewarded while those that deserve it are left bittersweet, and the upright moral stance that infuses Perry’s films will prevail.
It is difficult to miss the agenda here: Perry’s character introduces so much moral judgement and righteous advice he might as well be wearing a priests’s dog-collar; Sheila, the ‘she’s-ugly-but-has-a-nice-soul’ character vocalises her faith in God whenever something too bad or too good happens with the predictable regularity of some kind of Christian cuckoo-clock. Strangely enough, Perry absolves his own character of any sexual misconduct; while the others boast of their extra-marital affairs and hide their STDs the rumours that rock his sexless bond of course turn out to be false. This is film as a moral guide-- matrimonial cleanliness is next to godliness, which leads to a happy ending.
While the script sounds about as natural as a list of fast food ingredients the warmth of the presentation cannot be denied; soft lighting, easy to follow camera angles and unchallenging editing contribute to the film’s easy pace and ‘you think for me’ assumption of its audience. Themes are spelt out with the clarity of Sesame Street so that there can be no misunderstandings; some characters such as the sympathy/pity-garnering Sheila have emotional reactions as subtle as an email smiley. This is cinema worthy of the sabbath; no work needs to be done here.
By Daniel Wallis
ON TYLER PERRY’S ‘WHY DID I GET MARRIED’
OR
WHY DID I GET MARRIED, WHY DID I STAY MARRIED, AND WHY DID I WATCH THIS FILM?
Part 2
There are promising moments-- a tense confrontation between Janet Jackson and her husband in their kitchen as he forces her to accept her guilt and move on from their child’s death presents the most dramatic moment of the film, and similar peaks of attention arise during a scene where the characters clash against each other at the dinner table and in a short but well acted moment when Marcus confronts his ex. There are also acceptable moments of comedy, even if they do rely too much on chumly familiarity rather than keen insight or wit.
But the brevity and scarcity of such moments belies the film’s biggest problem, simply that of too many cooks. With the story flitting from couple to couple to encompass all their nagging problems we lose any perception of depth to any of their situations, preventing the characters from developing to the extent needed in a relationship movie; such feelings end up being merely channelled into the obvious areas (pity for Sheila, outrage for Mike) with all the mystique and predictability of queuing up for a theme park ride. A film revolving around any two, or even one, of the couples would have been absorbing to view and would still tick all the necessary ticket-selling boxes. For someone whose movie-making ability is doubtless assured for the foreseeable future, it is baffling as to why Perry needs to pack every issue he can think of into a movie such as this.
But the great success of Perry’s films has never relied on such aspects. There is a target demographic here, an audience of God-fearing black American women tired out from work or the family who need film as cheap therapy, a massage rather than a game of chess, an adult theme boiled down and spoonfed as a kind of flavourless mush. But this shouldn’t be seen as insulting; such fare also exists in mainstream (aka ‘white‘) entertainment to a large degree. They’re called soap operas.
Why Did I Get Married Too opens in the UK soon.
By Daniel Wallis
1. Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Helen, solidly played by Kimberly Elise, is slavishly devoted to her man Charles, a top draw misogynistic fake, who dumps her like yesterdays chip paper Turning for support to Perry’s, alta-ego, gun totting matriarch Madea Through narration she diarises the re-building of her life. Overall there are a lot of laughs to be had. The films predictable dramatic twists and turns still work even though you can guess what’s coming a mile off. It’s not difficult to imagine a packed black UK audience whooping with laughter when Madea goes to work on Charles furniture with a chainsaw, or the mock female gasps when new love interest Orlando first appears on screen. Perry knows his audience well, and that’s why succeeded, where more sophisticated film makers have failed. Perry’s films are like modern day tales of overcoming adversity and gaining hope. Helen’s tale might be seen as corny, but trust me there are women all over the world who understand exact where she’s coming from and what she want to get to
By Kunle Olulode
Madea’s Family Reunion
One wonders sometimes if Tyler Perry knows any black men not engaged in an abusive relationship? The brutal black male, dare I say it, seems to be a staple stereotype of TPs storylines. I’m not surprised Perry feels the need to take refuge in under guise of and overweight……….. Sorry, big boned, woman. The drama is laid on thick with a trowel, to reveal a cesspit of dysfunctional family ties, while the rest of the screen play exists around jokey tit for tat exchanges between Madea and old Joe both played by Perry. As with all TP films the lead characters male and female are beautifully framed and styled to a degree that makes them appear almost seem unreal.
This film wears its nostalgic heart on its sleeve its sub –text is really about longing for the return to family (traditional) values. Values, the film naively suggests are needed more than ever now and can only be maintained through the strengthening of family ties. I take a different view enjoy the jokes, but leave platitudes to one side.
As someone once said……‘the family is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution!
By Kunle Olulode
Why did I get Married
There is a scene in Spike Lee’s bi racial drama ‘Jungle Fever’ where a group of black women loosen up by red wine sit around vent their spleens on a whole range of subject matter- mainly orbiting the social habits of the black male- never touched upon in Hollywood dialogue before.’ Why Did I Get Married’ works like an expansion of that set up, this time separating into both female and male camps. The action takes place amongst four married couples on a short winter vacation. There’s real tension in the air when the contents of discussions within the two groups comes out into the open and collides with spectacular results. This is Tyler best film to date. The performances from Jill Scott, Tasha Smith and Janet Jackson are notable for their impact while Perry’s direction while occasionally veering off into sentimentality, the film overall speaks to the black film goer who wants to see black characters up on the screen and not just black people depicted as a constant social problem.
By Kunle Olulode
Tyler Perry: A Diary of a Mad Black woman and Why did I get Married?
Having never seen either of these films before, I went in with the assumption that they might contain many of the stereotypes seen in the more hyper, over exaggerated aspects of Black cinema. I was surprised at the lack of these sorts of characters present in both films; I was expecting a faster pace with lots of gags, the kind of material seen in ‘The Nutty Professor.’ In a ‘Diary of a Mad Black woman’ there are only a few characters that fall into this category, mainly the grandmother and her brother. For me they are over the top; although they provide the odd funny line, I feel like their purpose in the plot is too set piece.
In both films Perry appears to be exposing the fragilities of the so called higher class; many of the characters have experienced wealth and success but as a result suffer relationship issues, Helen in Diary of... has also lost her identity. Both films are quite heavy on the emotional stuff, ‘Why did I get Married’ is pretty much a full-on rom-com/chick-flick. Diary of... also explores the manner in which the successful black establishment have tried to distance themselves from the so-called stereotypes of growing up in the ghetto but in doing so have lost a part of their soul, the characteristic. In Diary of... when Helen lives in her expensive mansion her life his empty, she has no-one to comfort her and is dependent on a cruel man. When she returns back to her old neighbourhood the people may not be as rich as her but they are much happier, they get together at big family parties and take part in gospel singing. The church is present in both films and holds the purpose of forgiveness and salvation, many of the “elite” have also distanced themselves from the church.
Although these films may contain certain elements of stereotypes seen in Black cinema, for me they are also trying to banish some. The majority of the characters in both films are from the black elite; lawyers, doctors, award winning writers, academic achievers. I think Perry is trying to create a better representation of black people in society; the films don’t deal with serious crime or depression, they’re not set in the ghettos of Brooklyn. For me ‘Why did I get Married’ was no different from a usual rom-com that all women love; predictable, with individual tales of strong women finding the strength to survive the trauma inflicted on them by horrible men. M People’s ‘search for the hero inside yourself’ was playing in the back of my mind. To be fair Tyler does include a lot of positive male characters as well to try and balance this out but these films definitely have a pro-female/girl power kind of vibe.
All in all I have to say that the films aren’t really my cup of tea but I was definitely surprised by them. They weren’t the kind of over-exaggerated ludicrous comedies I was expecting; there was no sign of the camel hair pimp with a pink cady. I think that Perry is trying to show that black cinema can be just as light hearted and soppy as non black cinema. To be fair to him there certainly is and certainly always will be a market for this type of cinema.
By Tom Conran
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
This was a great love story even though the film had a serious story line, however it distracted my attention slightly from the obvious low budget of the film. The one thing which I appreciated about the film was the storyline of the main character and the unfortunate demise of her marriage. I think
everyone black woman could empathise in every way with her struggle, however, I did become a little uncomfortable when we see the main character become somewhat revengeful, after all shouldn't we women be bigger and
better?!? However she does gain back her grace which I was pleased to see.
Although the film had a serious storyline, the casting was like a dream, how many good looking men can you get into one film? It was too good to be true that it took away from the realness of the film. Madea's character brought fun and laughter to the film which took the edge off the seriousness with her take on life and brash advice. I liked the film and loved Madea!
By Anna-Marie Manning
Why Did I Get Married
I loved this film, it was more than I expected! As I had never seen a Tyler
Perry film before my expectations was that it was going to be a low budget
film, however the way it was shot was completely dispelled my expectations. I loved that each couple had their own stories going on and I loved the story lines individually as I laughed, gasped and it kept my attention all the way through. It was great to see a strong all black cast
By Anna-Marie Manning
Madea's Family Reunion
I thought this film kind of reminded me of Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor, however Madea's character is so strong that I didn't think that Tyler Perry had "copied" Mr Murphy. The story line was good and had surprises that I just didn't guess, (as you do in some films). The film definitely, I felt, had unique story lines and issues between Madea's nieces and their mother. The characters held their own, however not as strong as Madea's character, but this is not a criticism as it they may have jarred.
My favourite scenes were the wedding scene with Mya Angelou reciting a piece
of poetry and the speech by one of the female elders at the family reunion was so powerful and impactful. Also Madea's one liners and advice are
classic!
However, this film is not to be taken too seriously, yes it has serious issues which should be noted, but it is a comedy but a light hearted comedy at that....it's a Saturday afternoon film
By Anna-Marie Manning
Diary of Mad Black Woman
Sorry could not identify with this story line what-so-ever. There is no spark between the characters.
Although Tyler Perry performance as a grandma in drag is sometimes amusing, but it often gets in the way of what the film is trying to say.
The men in this film looked liked they had stepped out of a male catalogue;
they're soo well groomed and untouchable.
However Kimberly Elise (You-done-me-wrong) performance was powerful and full of sassy attitude, but Shemar Moore as the new boyfriend who helps her back on track?? Come on now, if only...
This was a stage play right?? Hmmm... It probably should not have stayed on
the stage.
By Dawnet Mclean
Why Did I Get Married?
Luurved it! Each couple had specific issues in which the film handled sympathetically and I enjoyed watching the closeness & intimacy come across of each couple on screen.
It's rare that we see films handling black relationships with all its flaws & blemishes handled so opening on screen. (More please!!)
Janet Jackson performance surprised me, she was pretty good in the film,
unfussy role but believable.
Lurved Jill Scott's character as the down trodden wife, the bathroom scene in the end had me in tears!!! Oh yes there is someone out there for all of us who appreciates THIS!!
A beautiful film to add to my collection.
By Dawnet Mclean
Madea's Family Reunion
What a delightful film!!! I really enjoyed it. I admit I was expecting something totally different...
From the DVD cover you would think it was a "Nutty Professor" type of comedy but noooo, this film dealt with some serious issues, I mean some very deep subject matter that took me by surprise, you just never know what you're going to get with Mr Tyler Perry, his films keeps you guessing.
A very thoughtfully and sensitively film acted brilliantly by Rochelle Aytes, Blair Underwood & Lynn Whitfield. And the matriarch of the film world Cicely Tyson makes an appearance towards the end with a speech that's so relevant today. Warm & touching film with messages that people will appreciate.
By Dawnet Mclean
Post a Comment