| One more is added to the mix. Shelia's single friend
Trina (Denise Boutte), a gorgeous (and unscrupulous) little fox who
tags along. It doesn't take long to tell who Mike prefers when an
embarrassing situation causes Shelia to actually drive to the
Centennial State instead of flying.
Once everyone arrives at the Pemberton cabin and sits down for
their first meal, secrets and confessions are forcibly laid on the
table revealing personal problems, hang-ups that all these friends
have kept from their spouses but apparently, not from anyone else.
All if not most, quite devastating.
From here it's a traumatic and somewhat comedic journey for these
couples as they deal with their personal difficulties and work to
resolve them. Something that all of us go through at one time or
another in our own lives and will see ourselves in stark comparison
or contrast to them, depending on our own personal lives and
experiences.
Either it's the power of makeup or Janet Jackson seems to be
aging beautifully, opening the movie speaking to students about her
newly published book. The only other movie I've seen her in was The
Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. She's much more impressive in Married
as a guilt ridden wife who won't let go of something that's been
tearing her up inside for some years.
Her female co-stars are simply incredible, notably Tasha Smith's
Angela whose hard hitting, straightforward manner will practically
have you falling out of your seat laughing. They find it rather easy
to support one another, especially self conscious Sheila.
Perry's male stars (including himself) are on equal footing with
the ladies. There's no upstaging from either side. But unlike the
ladies one laugh relief from Tasha, all four guys provide some sort
of hilarity when their hanging out by themselves. Perry, who wrote
and directed makes both tasks look so easy by giving all his
characters that all important 3 dimensional edge. You just naturally
relate to them emotionally.
We as African-Americans flock to see a Tyler Perry movie because
we instantly have racial ground to stand on. Nevertheless, his films
are more about people. Not just Black people. Like Family Reunion
and Mad Black Woman, Perry reveals the foibles we all must face
about ourselves and with God's help put ourselves back on track.
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