Reexamining Tyler Perry

Posted by Peter Smith
When a small, perhaps technically ragged movie strikes gold, the way films as different as Chasing Amy and My Big Fat Greek Wedding did, it may be because there are a lot of people who think that it connects with their lives in a way that glossy Hollywood product never does. Sometimes, this can be confusing, and even disconcerting, to critics and studio people who aren't a part of that target audience, and who don't know what to make of the news that we're not yet all part of one, big totally homogeneous culture. But it's been clear for a long time now that black women don't see their fantasies or their real-life concerns reflected in most Hollywood movies, and that they feel that as a loss. Waiting to Exhale shocked critics by how thoroughly it cashed in with that audience; Dreamgirls got a toehold with them. But for the last couple of years, it's Tyler Perry who's really picked that ball up and run with it. And his audience, with many black women, has responded gratefully and loudly to having a one-man entertainment industry they can call their own. Perry's movies — he's written, directed, and co-produced two features this year, Daddy's Little Girls and the new Why Did I Get Married?, and co-stars in the latter — combine broad comedy with church-based moral lessons and sociological observations, in a way that his fans find uplifting. His studio, Lions Gate, has basically stopped screening them for critics, partly because they know that mainstream critics don't get it, but also because his real audience is so aware of who he is and what to expect from him that his movies are pre-sold without reviews.

The best thing about Perry, and the best reason for his success, is that he's one of the few filmmakers in this country now who's focused on showcasing women. In an industry with no shortage of talented black actresses and a significant shortage of interest roles for them, he's filling a gap. As Wesley Morris puts it in Slate, "Perry may not yet have mastered fluid dramatic structure or where to put the camera, but he knows how to get out of the way of good and determined women. In fact, although his movies draw men and women alike, what Perry is making are really women's pictures, the popular genre that reached its height in the 1940s, starred actors like Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, and melodramatically saw women through all kinds of modern crises, from deceitful daughters to the career-vs.-stay-at-home dilemma. Perry uses the genre to deliver easily digestible hope." And given the chance to strut their stuff a little, beautiful, talented and underutilized actresses such as Gabrielle Union, Kimberly Elise, and Tracy Ellis Ross really come through for Perry; his latest features a breakout performance by the singer-actress Jill Scott that would be getting her Oscar-contender talk if it were in a critically accredited movie. Perry seems to be happy working his niche, though he does have ambitions: he recently told one reporter that he has a script he calls "the Oprah project" that he wants to make but will only make if Oprah Winfrey agrees to work with him on it. Without knowing anything about it, we can confidently say that she's probably done worse. — Phil Nugent
+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT
Posted Oct 22 2007, 04:00 PM
Filed under: , , , , , , ,

Comments

No Comments

in