Tyler Perry, let me in
I get why Tyler Perry stopped screening his films for critics.
Up to now, he hasn’t needed us.
Perry’s movies — “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “Madea’s Family Reunion,” “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “Meet the Browns,” “Why Did I Get Married?” — are aimed largely at the same African-American audience that made his traveling stage shows and straight-to-video work so popular and so lucrative.
I don’t blame him for deciding that most movie critics — who, let’s face it, tend to be white, middle-aged and male — were unlikely to embrace his work with the same enthusiasm as his target audience.
Given that, why go to all the trouble and expense of setting up screenings for the press when (a) the critical response likely will be lukewarm at best and (b) Perry’s core audience doesn’t pay attention to what the critics say anyway?
This is why I’ll have no opening-day review of Perry’s new movie, “The Family That Preys,” in The Star on Friday. I can’t critique what I haven’t seen. (In the past, we’ve run reviews by critics in cities where the film was shown early … but for many of his recent films Perry hasn’t let anyone in. The Star posts reviews at KansasCity.com as soon as they’re available.)
Still, “The Family That Preys” looks — from a distance, anyway — like a big step forward for Perry.
Attention must be paid to any film starring Alfre Woodard and Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, two excellent actresses.
And the film’s subject matter — it’s about a wealthy white family and a middle-class black family scandalized when they’re brought together by an extramarital interracial love affair (Sanaa Lathan and Cole Hauser play the couple) — sounds intriguing. The setup is like something Spike Lee might have come up with in his early years, with plenty of opportunities to take the pulse of contemporary race relations.
Moreover, it’s described as a drama, and while no Tyler Perry production is going to be laugh-free, this suggests that “Family” may feature more nuanced storytelling than we’ve yet seen in the Perry canon.
In other words, “The Family That Preys” is the sort of movie that might appeal to people who would be swayed by a movie review.
But without reviews to bring their attention to the film, “Family” could very well fly under their radar.
Which is why I’d like to formally encourage Tyler Perry to resume screening his films for the critics.
Perhaps not every film. It’s questionable whether the reviewers ever will wax poetic over Perry’s drag incarnation as the matronly Madea. But certainly those films that like “Family” show Perry’s growing ability and broader range of topics.
In any case, it’s not as if even a bad review can hurt him. Perry’s fans will continue to turn out en masse no matter what the critics say. We’re talking here about a niche audience, not unlike the action fans who go see “Bangkok Dangerous” in the absence of any reviews.
But something tells me Perry won’t be content just to sell his movies to a mostly black audience. They’re his first and most loyal fans, but I’ve got to think that a man as creative and ambitious as this wants it all.
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