Good Deeds

Not unlike THE ROOM, GOOD DEEDS is padded with a great deal of useless footage of San Francisco, but the resemblance doesn't end there: Tyler Perry's script is a half-baked combination of cliched dialogue, one-dimensional characters, and melodramatic behavior. His direction is no great shakes, and in the leading role, he proves utterly uncharismatic--which still puts him ahead of Thandie Newton, who's horribly hammy and badly miscast. Gabrielle Union provides the lone bright spot in this mess.

"Perry's considerate plotting is deliberate, perhaps even overlong, but with an attuned sense of people's evolving feelings and relationships." - Rob Humanick

This is actually the first Tyler Perry movie I've watched. It was better then I thought it would be. I did find it annoying that everyone seemed to blame everyone else for their problems. For example some girl knowingly parks in someone else's space, then blames everyone else when it gets toed. The characters were one dimensional, and the dialogue was cliche, much like you'd see in a lifetime movie or something. The acting wasn't very good, and there was too much filler.

Thandie Newton's subplot provides some heat; outside of that this film is competently made but lacks energy and more than basic structure. A few elements - including the hasty establishing shots, stock TV movie soundtrack, and parts of the script - betray that this was made on the cheap. Supporting characters are paper thin.

I used to not to cry during movies, but this one really get me going. It shows an ordinary life, its choices and dramas. The "comedy" and "romance" tags are less significant, but this is a good thing here. Nothing spectacular is shown, yet it still gets one thinking. What is the purpose of life, which people deserve our attention, our respect, our help? It's really touching and heartwarming. Me likes.

perry had been undeniably prolific and bafflingly successful to during the latter half of the 00's. so i finally decided to take the plunge with this movie, and found that he's actually a pretty good writer/director. i know now that good deeds is a far cry from any medea movie, but perry seems to have something to offer the world, even if this movie just barely treads water.

"Fascinatingly terrible." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/04/episode-53-tyler-perrys-tyler-perry.html