Basic Screen writing 101: "Show, don't tell." This separates the great films from the not-so-great films.
In Married?, all Perry did was "tell us" through forced exposition, like the scene where we're introduced to Terry (Tyler Perry) and Diane (Sharon Leal) as they cruise in their luxury SUV. The unstable couple picks that time to discuss her, Diane's, lack of commitment to the marriage? Couldn't we have caught them at the end of the discussion? He waits until they're almost there to talk about their problem? Not in a Tyler Perry film, where secrets and deep, sometimes malicious, feelings are absurdly revealed in the most contrived and inappropriate of times, and not for the sake of story but for over-the-top drama.
Most of what Perry "tells us" is through Patricia (Janet Jackson), the psychiatrist who is basically his ventriloquist dummy, spewing all of his views about love, faith and marriage.
Perry "tells us" how to love again, sometimes with an unbearable superficiality that has nothing to do with true love.
He "tells us" Sheila's (Jill Scott) feelings about herself during her marriage with this dramatic, teary monologue, which felt like a play-by-play recap of her whole story in the film and it felt as real as Santa Claus. So, basically, Perry showing us her feelings, like when she was unceremoniously tossed off the plane or her reaction to her husband's infidelity, didn't suffice. He had to continue the "telling." If Tyler Perry wants to be respected as a "film storyteller," he needs to get into the habit of "showing" more than he "tells."
The characters in this film were uninteresting, stereotypical at times, and worst of all, one-dimensional.
Patricia was flawless, and that's a bad thing believe it or not. A character should be flawed and not merely due to his/her inability to reveal her emotions. Her biggest flaw, an unintentional one by the filmmaker, was the advice she gave. It's basic, popular psychology and self-help advice at its most fundamental. There was never an "a-ha" moment with her marriage counseling. It was things any passive viewer of Oprah or Dr. Phil could've advised to anyone. With her lame advice, she was sounding more like Barney the dinosaur rather than this successful psychologist. And Gavin was just a female version of her.
Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus were the stereotypical of the bunch and offered nothing to this story. I couldn't connect with them. Angela had some admirable qualities. However, her admirable qualities easily sink below her myriad of tirades and inappropriate behavior. As for Marcus, he was just there.
Sheila and Mike were totally ridiculous. Sheila was too nice and Mike was too mean for either of them to be real. Mike had enough flaws for the other characters in this film that were lacking.
And like Patricia, Terry was perfect but Diane was the selfish, inconsiderate one. If anything, she was the only character barely more than just one-dimensional.
My scroll of flaws with this film continues but I don't have enough room on this IMDb.com comment page to fully articulate them all. However, I must point out the main problem with Tyler Perry's writing. Everything seems to be so contrived.
Contrivance No. 5 The set up for the big dinner scene was evident when the confrontational Angela just happens to see Mike creeping into Trina's room without saying something right there and then.
Contrivance No. 4 Angela is a contrivance all in herself. She's the loud, bold, confrontational one of the bunch that is there to reveal everyone's secrets when they refuse to. In a Tyler Perry film, a character like that is needed because the other characters would rather talk about being uppity black folks rather then communicate their problems to their loved ones. But what Angela was doing on past retreats? It seems to only all come out here for the sake of this story.
Contrivance No. 3 In a Tyler Perry film, there just happens to be an eligible, perfect black man who happens to be attracted to plus sized black women just waiting in Pemberton, Colorado as Sheila's rebound when she divorces Mike.
Contrivance No. 2 Sheila blissfully encourages Trina to come along with her and her husband to find a single black man in Pemberton. Why would she do that? None of them ever been there before, so why would she assume that there will be "single black men" out there just waiting to meet Trina? This wasn't some resort in Jamaica. However, in a Tyler Perry film, single, handsome black men are conveniently everywhere, especially in snow capped mountains as sheriffs in small towns. Of course, this makes it easy for everyone to discover Mike's affair with Trina.
And the number one of them all, the one thing that made me pan this film immediately upon noticing:
Contrivance No. 1 Patricia is the world renowned therapist that has been getting the same married couples together for seven years where she would help them work on their marriages. However, in a Tyler Perry film, Patricia's many years of marriage exercises and counseling on their many marital retreats have done nothing for them. It seems as if now, year seven, they are actually getting down to the problems of their marriages. Were they playing so much on past retreats that they never addressed their problems? And most of the problems we see in the film are fresh and new. So, after years of counseling from one of the nation's best marriage counselors, the marriages got worse? The question should have been, "why did they stay married?"
In Married?, all Perry did was "tell us" through forced exposition, like the scene where we're introduced to Terry (Tyler Perry) and Diane (Sharon Leal) as they cruise in their luxury SUV. The unstable couple picks that time to discuss her, Diane's, lack of commitment to the marriage? Couldn't we have caught them at the end of the discussion? He waits until they're almost there to talk about their problem? Not in a Tyler Perry film, where secrets and deep, sometimes malicious, feelings are absurdly revealed in the most contrived and inappropriate of times, and not for the sake of story but for over-the-top drama.
Most of what Perry "tells us" is through Patricia (Janet Jackson), the psychiatrist who is basically his ventriloquist dummy, spewing all of his views about love, faith and marriage.
Perry "tells us" how to love again, sometimes with an unbearable superficiality that has nothing to do with true love.
He "tells us" Sheila's (Jill Scott) feelings about herself during her marriage with this dramatic, teary monologue, which felt like a play-by-play recap of her whole story in the film and it felt as real as Santa Claus. So, basically, Perry showing us her feelings, like when she was unceremoniously tossed off the plane or her reaction to her husband's infidelity, didn't suffice. He had to continue the "telling." If Tyler Perry wants to be respected as a "film storyteller," he needs to get into the habit of "showing" more than he "tells."
The characters in this film were uninteresting, stereotypical at times, and worst of all, one-dimensional.
Patricia was flawless, and that's a bad thing believe it or not. A character should be flawed and not merely due to his/her inability to reveal her emotions. Her biggest flaw, an unintentional one by the filmmaker, was the advice she gave. It's basic, popular psychology and self-help advice at its most fundamental. There was never an "a-ha" moment with her marriage counseling. It was things any passive viewer of Oprah or Dr. Phil could've advised to anyone. With her lame advice, she was sounding more like Barney the dinosaur rather than this successful psychologist. And Gavin was just a female version of her.
Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus were the stereotypical of the bunch and offered nothing to this story. I couldn't connect with them. Angela had some admirable qualities. However, her admirable qualities easily sink below her myriad of tirades and inappropriate behavior. As for Marcus, he was just there.
Sheila and Mike were totally ridiculous. Sheila was too nice and Mike was too mean for either of them to be real. Mike had enough flaws for the other characters in this film that were lacking.
And like Patricia, Terry was perfect but Diane was the selfish, inconsiderate one. If anything, she was the only character barely more than just one-dimensional.
My scroll of flaws with this film continues but I don't have enough room on this IMDb.com comment page to fully articulate them all. However, I must point out the main problem with Tyler Perry's writing. Everything seems to be so contrived.
Contrivance No. 5 The set up for the big dinner scene was evident when the confrontational Angela just happens to see Mike creeping into Trina's room without saying something right there and then.
Contrivance No. 4 Angela is a contrivance all in herself. She's the loud, bold, confrontational one of the bunch that is there to reveal everyone's secrets when they refuse to. In a Tyler Perry film, a character like that is needed because the other characters would rather talk about being uppity black folks rather then communicate their problems to their loved ones. But what Angela was doing on past retreats? It seems to only all come out here for the sake of this story.
Contrivance No. 3 In a Tyler Perry film, there just happens to be an eligible, perfect black man who happens to be attracted to plus sized black women just waiting in Pemberton, Colorado as Sheila's rebound when she divorces Mike.
Contrivance No. 2 Sheila blissfully encourages Trina to come along with her and her husband to find a single black man in Pemberton. Why would she do that? None of them ever been there before, so why would she assume that there will be "single black men" out there just waiting to meet Trina? This wasn't some resort in Jamaica. However, in a Tyler Perry film, single, handsome black men are conveniently everywhere, especially in snow capped mountains as sheriffs in small towns. Of course, this makes it easy for everyone to discover Mike's affair with Trina.
And the number one of them all, the one thing that made me pan this film immediately upon noticing:
Contrivance No. 1 Patricia is the world renowned therapist that has been getting the same married couples together for seven years where she would help them work on their marriages. However, in a Tyler Perry film, Patricia's many years of marriage exercises and counseling on their many marital retreats have done nothing for them. It seems as if now, year seven, they are actually getting down to the problems of their marriages. Were they playing so much on past retreats that they never addressed their problems? And most of the problems we see in the film are fresh and new. So, after years of counseling from one of the nation's best marriage counselors, the marriages got worse? The question should have been, "why did they stay married?"