Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (2007)

 Tedious, Overblown Nonsense : Janet at her Worst
Watching this third-rate rip-off of "Waiting to Exhale", I was amazed that such a poor script and shoddy screenplay actually made it to the big screen. At best this is a Lifetime movie gone wrong. At its worst its a huge embarrassment for Jill Scott and Janet Jackson, both of whom belong in better films than this one. Also, it proved once and for all that Janet's only career-defining move on screen has been in "Poetic Justice" - but that was fifteen years ago.

Four unhappily married couples shack up in a hilly cabin for a weekend, and all of their usual marital issues come to the fore. On paper this looks remotely interesting, but the idea here is far more entertaining than the execution. What is worse is the sloppy acting and very amateurish direction. Janet Jackson, in her most poorly advised role of all time, sleepwalks through her wholly unbelievable role of a 40+ woman who suffers guilt pangs because she inadvertently 'killed' her young son. The scenes where she is supposedly an award winning author of repute are especially irritating because watching Janet wear safari suits and addressing college audiences about her Ph.D and achievements were far too ridiculous to watch. Seriously, nothing here worked.

We have the token 'fat woman', here played by Jill Scott, who reduces her character to a salivating blob of uselessness, which is probably a good thing because there was nothing here for her to work with. She takes abuse after abuse from her husband, who I think definitely had his head screwed on right. Who wants to be with these neurotic women who scream and yell and throw tantrums every other second? One woman here has her 'tubes tied' to avoid getting pregnant again, and so is reluctant to have sex, and instead becomes this beeyotch with attitude. None of this is interesting.

I find it weird that the African-American film genre, which gave us so many wonderful films in the 1990s, gives us such useless fare in the 2000s. Between this and the disgusting 'Norbit', I would choose 'Norbit' anyday because at least it doesn't pretend to be something intellectual and philosophical. All the pseudo-intellectual one-liners and supposed happy spiritual ending were WAY too artificial here.

A weak, two star film. Avoid. May 16, 2008

 PURE EXAGERATED HONESTY
I appreciate this movie. There are truths in this movie that people don't get to see in most movies.

Somebody needed to tell another story about marriage. Somebody needed to show that in some marriages the wife could be the problem. Somebody needed to say that abuse could come in a form of words. Oh we see the physical stuff all the time but who recognizes verbal and emotional abuse. Somebody need to show perfect people got a secret that sometime they don't know about. Somebody needed to show black men being honest about their issues with each other. Oh we always see black woman but black men talk to each other. Somebody needed to show black folks in the snow. Somebody needed to show that blacks are successful. Somebody needed to show that there is black love.

Glad Tyler Perry was that somebody. He made a movie that showed just that. Is it an average black folks in movie? NO!!! It was time for a new story. But the hope that this could happen in life needed to be said.

Happy for the scan of Sheriff Troy's body. (LOL, yeah I know) But it shows that women look also. Happy to see real weight loss. You don't go from a 28-30 to an 8-10 in under a year. Well healthy weight loss. That 20-24 looked more accurate for the time span the movie covered. Happy to see a woman with her own beauty salon that was not stereotypical. Happy to see black law enforcement.

Good movie!!!
May 14, 2008

 Good Delivery & Packaging
Product was well packaged and delivery was on time. Though the time for standard delivery is quiet long they delivered on their promise. May 9, 2008

 Rhetorical Question Stimulates Thought
The rhetorical question asked by Tyler Perry in his title actually helped me by provoking my thought processes.

As I watched the drama of the movie unfold, climax, and come to resolution:
*I was entertained
*I was tempted to judge and condemn some of the characters for their behavior, BUT, most importantly,
*I was challenged to judge myself and to answer the question for myself.

Because I believe in the Holy Bible as the final authority for my life, my answers to the question come from the Holy Bible. And this movie, in the end, helped to encourage me to continue to seek my truth and to continue to pattern my life according to the Truth of Jehovah's Holy Word.

I am a real person living in a real world, so I wasn't offended by "bad behavior" highlighted in this drama. Yet, I was challenged to continue to rise above real human nature by continuing to acknowledge the source of my god-likeness, El Shaddai. For He is the only true and living God and Jesus Christ is his son who gave his life so that the whole world can now have access to once again being called the sons of God. (John 3:16)

Also, the performance put forth by Janet Jackson definitely came from a deep place within her. Over the years that I have followed her career, I never felt that she could deliver the kind of performance that she did here. I was disturbed that TP cast her in that role. However, she far exceeded my expectations. After reading an excerpt of an interview on her website, I now understand that she has grown up a lot and come to a new place of wisdom in her life. She is now drawing from a much deeper well and pulling her dramatic performance out of a new place of truth within herself.

I hope my review will help provoke you to see it or to re-watch it with an open mind.
[...] May 6, 2008

 Great movie!!
I like this movie better than Tyler Perry's others. It shows growth in movie making, story telling, etc. I liked the other movies but this one had a different quality. May 6, 2008

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