For Colored Girls (2010/Blu-ray w/DVD) + House Of Payne – Volume Six (DVD) + My Girlfriend’s Back (DVD/all Lionsgate) + Clover (1997/Vivendi DVD)
Picture: B-
& C/C/C/C+ Sound: B- & C+/C+/C/C Extras: C/D/C-/D Film/Episodes: C
Tyler
Perry is trying to find new directions to go and when it was announced he would
make For Colored Girls into a
feature film, it resulted in mixed reactions in advanced. Is it material he should be likely able to
handle on some level, though you might think he would hire a female director to
helm it and not try to turn it into another project tailored to whatever a
Perry Production is supposed to be.
Because
of the profile of Perry and the book, you get a great cast including Thandie
Newton, Janet Jackson, Anika Noni Rose, Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Kerry
Washington, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg and some really good supporting
actors, this should have been a home run.
It is apparent everyone is giving their best performances here, but the
material as scripted and directed does not by any means deliver what made Precious work.
Instead,
we get a predictable, somewhat formulaic, sloppy, clichéd, messy and
unfortunate wreck with every bad thing that could happen you can imagine. There is rape, attempted murder, a back-alley
abortion despite abortion still being legal, children in jeopardy and women at
each other’s throats as most of the men around them fail them in what will be
seen as more man-bashing. It is more
valid here than in Color Purple.
Ultimately,
I was very, very disappointed in what should have been a step or giant step
forward for Perry, but he plays it melodramatically safe and the result is a
work that will haunt Perry for years to come.
Then
comes the hit Perry-produced series House
Of Payne which we looked at in its DVD debut at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6322/House+Of+Payne+%E2%80%93+Volu
Picture
and sound are the same, the scripts are worse, the comedy is unfunny, the
marriage angle at this point in overkill and the battle between safe and
predictable on this show might cater to a set audience, but that is narrow in
scope. You get 24 episodes over 3 DVDs
and this time, no extras. This show has
clearly peaked.
Then
there is the would-be romantic comedy My
Girlfriend’s Back which has its Perryesque aspirations, but far too late to
be interesting or original. The other
big problem is how corny and unfunny it is, as if the makers did not know what
they were doing. Though the actors are
likable and this has a consistent laid-back attitude, this is too soft and
unmemorable, delivering too many clichés for its own good. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is
very soft and the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is shockingly lite, made odder by the
fact that the mix is reaching all the speakers, but in a weak sonic way I have
rarely encountered on any 5.1 mix in any format and I have heard much in all of
them. Stills are the only extras.
Finally
is the telefilm Clover (1997), made
before the Perry wave. It may have the
same results, but without his pretensions.
Elizabeth McGovern plays a woman who falls for and marries Ernie Hudson. It is of different races and skin colors, but
they do not let that get in the way.
However, he has a daughter (Zelda Harris in the title role) and she is
not comfortable, made worse when her remarried father lands up in the hospital.
His
sister (Loretta Devine) is not happy with any of it and is the most uncomfortable
with the second wife. This is all
nothing great, well acted as it can be, but predictable and everything we have
just about seen before. However, it
comes across as more natural than anything above.
The 1.33
X 1 image is shockingly the clearest of the four DVDs here, but the Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo shows its age as being a little weak and maybe down a
generation. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
