Tyler Perry's inexplicably meteoric career continues to be an enigma with WHY DID I GET MARRIED?, his 2007 comedy-drama that pretty much comes off as a blatant rip-off of the 1984 Alan Alda comedy THE FOUR SEASONS. Perry has gathered an attractive cast of African American actors together to play four couples who travel to a mountain retreat for an alleged couples seminar that turns into a weekend of ugly accusations, confused loyalties, not-so-surprising revelations, and what Tyler Perry deals in best: tired stereotyped characters. Perry has the nerve to make these people rich and upwardly mobile with high-powered careers despite the fact that most of the characters don't have a brain in their head. Perry's enormous ego once again casts him center stage as a pediatrician married to a partner in a law firm (Sharon Leal), who had her tubes tied in order to keep babies from getting in the way of her career. Janet Jackson and Malik Yorba are beyond dull as a couple dealing with the death of a child. Michael Jai White and Tasha Smith are loud and obnoxious as a couple dealing with STD's and an ex that won't go away. Richard T. Jones plays a sexist pig who makes his overweight wife drive to the retreat while he arrives by plane with his mistress. Perry's attempt to present contemporary African Americans just comes off as forced and the stereotyped behavior of some of the character in the film is just embarrassing. The only light in all this darkness is a surprisingly charismatic performance from R&B songstress Jill Scott, who lights up the screen as Jones' overweight and insecure wife who eventually finds happiness with a sexy sheriff (Laaman Rucker). There's some nice scenery and the actors try to make the most out of a pedantic screenplay, but the whole thing just smacks of "been there done that."
Review of Why Did I Get Married?
