The Family That Preys

Written and directed by: Tyler Perry

Ahhh another movie written, directed, produced by, starring, set designed, etc by Tyler Perry. I can’t stand his plays and rarely see his movies, but this one was one I willingly checked out.

The movie opens with Charlotte (Kathy Bates) hosting a wedding for her best friend Alice’s (Alfre Woodard) daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan). Andrea is a little snooty. Nothing is good enough for her and she complains despite everything being free. It annoys her sister Pam (Taraji P. Henson) but Alice calms the girls down. During the reception Andrea and her new husband Chris (Rockmond Dunbar) are re-aquainted with Charlotte’s son William (Cole Hauser) who runs his mothers prominent construction business. He tells the newlyweds that they should approach him about a job.

Fast forward to about 4 years later, we find Alice and Pam working away in Alice’s diner. In walks a fashionably dressed Andrea to pick up her son. The sisters argue about money and Andrea’s lack of help in the family business. Meanwhile Chris and Pam’s husband Ben (Tyler Perry) are discussing plans to start their own construction company.

One afternoon William comes over to his mother’s house to discuss a new business merger, but finds her interviewing Abby (Robin Givens) for the position he was hoping to take over. He’s quite pissed. But with Abby in place Charlotte takes this time to get a new Caddy and begs her friend to take a cross country trip with her.

William continues to work in the business as if he were in Abby’s role. It is becoming apparent to Abby (and the receptionist at the office) that there is more than meets the eye between William and Andrea. Ben and Chris decide that they want to ask their boss for a loan to start up their own business, but while doing so, Chris learns that his wife has been keeping a giant secret from him.

I am not sure if there are any lessons to be learned from Tyler Perry’s The Family that Preys. It wasn’t as entertaining as I wanted it to be. It’s not like I had extremely high hopes for the movie, but I did like Why Did I Get Married, so I was looking for something on par with that movie. It was different to see Sanaa play a bitch. She’s usually nice and bubbly. Taraji was pretty solid, as she is in most of her films. Tyler Perry wore this godawful wig. I don’t know if that was necessary for his role. I know construction workers can be a little unkempt at times but it was damn near distracting. I guess he didn’t want you to see him as himself…whatever.

Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard seemed to do whatever they could with the material that was given to them. The story didn’t drag, but it didn’t mesh well together. When Alice and Charlotte make their cross-country tour it’s like they left Atlanta, and then stayed in Arizona for 3 weeks. That’s not cross country, and what the hell is there to do in Arizona for 3 weeks. It could have been a movie about a bi-racial Thelma and Louise, or a story about a woman cheating on her husband with her boss. But the two together…not so much.

It wasn’t awful, and if you’re a Tyler Perry fan then you might enjoy it, but for me it was just meh.