Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor

Starring: Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lance Gross, Robbie Jones, Ella Joyce, Brandy Norwood, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa L. Williams

I’d like to preface this review by saying I’m actually a fan of Tyler Perry. I’ve enjoyed a majority of his plays, with my favorite being Madea’s Class Reunion. While his plays do benefit from the live audience reaction, and Perry’s ability to play off of that, his soap operatic nature becomes a strength rather than a weakness. Unfortunately, in the transition to cinema, a lot of Perry’s soap opera stories become comical, and turn what should be a serious story into pure, unintentional hilarity. Last year, it was Good Deeds that became an unintentionally hilarious piece of cinema. This year, Perry strikes again with Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor.

If I could point to Perry’s biggest fault as a cinema director, it would be his use of music. He can shoot things coherently, and gets the best performances he can out of his actors. His musical choices have been suspect at best, with the music in many spots during Temptation feeling out of place or even outright hilarious. It’s clear Perry is taking on darker material than we’re used to from him (and in that regard, he should be admired,) but his direction doesn’t feel right for the project. If a director has regressed with establishing shots, Perry has accomplished that with this picture. His selection in Madea’s Family Reunion was fantastic, showcasing Atlanta with romance. His showcase of Washington D.C. is awful, suited more for television than a feature film.

Many will criticize Perry’s writing, and most of those will be valid. There are positives here, and the faults of the film aren’t on Perry The Writer, but Perry The Director. True, there’s cornball dialogue mixed with asinine character choices, but Perry does have a fine lesson here about paying for the choices you make in sin. The characters may not be particularly strong, but they’re well-rounded enough to follow, although the women here may not be as strong as Perry’s previous work.

Perry’s cast is serviceable, with Jurnee Smollet-Bell doing a well enough job as Janet. She’s not as preachy as Perry’s previous women characters, which works to her favor. Lance Gross’ Brice is also just good enough, although he does get one of the more unintentionally funnier moments in the film. Ella Joyce is probably the best ‘mother’ character Perry’s come up with as Janet’s mother, and maybe gives the best performance in the film. If there’s a weak link in the cast, it’s surprisingly not Kim Kardashian (in a completely laughable role), but Vanessa L. Williams with her ridiculous French accent.

Tyler Perry’s found his audience, and certainly I think he’s to be admired for what he has come from. His rags to riches tale is why I still support him and his movies, even if they end up as awful as Good Deeds. Temptation is just marginally better, and while Perry may never be hailed as a fine filmmaker, he can do much better than these two pictures. He doesn’t have to dress up in drag every time out to produce an entertaining film, but it’d be nice if he sharpened his directing skills and delivered something memorable.

Acting: C

Overall: C-