Much as I enjoy Tyler Perry's Madea films (except the last one), I've seen some of his other productions and keep hoping he'll get better at making films. Every time he releases something, the reviews are always poor and most critics end up saying something close to “worse”.
I enjoy Perry's comedies and the efforts he puts into building his film empire. But I'm not so sure about his writing skills. He's good but to thrive in a competitive film industry like Hollywood and be taken seriously worldwide, you must be fantastic.
His latest release brings back memories of his film Acrimony (2018) featuring Taraji P. Henson and the tropes he portrayed in that film. His audience had things to say about them even though the movie was good. We see a repeat of his same ol' writing style and troupes in this new film. And the critics are coming down hard on him.
Mea Culpa (2024) is a psychological/legal thriller released a few days ago that got my attention, well, mostly because the main star of the film is Kelly Rowland. She's great as a musician and even better as an actress. She plays the role of a powerful, sophisticated lawyer whose marriage is on the rocks while she works to defend a popular artist accused of murdering his girlfriend.
The plot is brilliant, I'll give Tyler Perry that since he wrote, directed and produced this film. It gets better when the twists and turns show up towards the end of the film. I feel the script, especially the dialogue, is not well written. The storytelling however is another matter that does the movie no favour.
I almost cringe at every scene where the actors stare at each other, say a line or two and an awkward silence follows. The actors perform almost robotically in about 70% of the two-hour running time while they get excited at the action-packed scenes. I think the script did not give them much room to be themselves and act realistically.
Did I mention this film is also an erotic thriller? Yes, probably to give it some spice and make it appealing to the adult audience. Yet it fails to capture good attention. Much effort went into portraying some sensuality which is attractive but it cannot salvage this film from the unpleasant critiques and negative reviews that will follow.
This film would have been superb and garnered positive ratings if not for some confusing parts or questions that cropped up at the end. The twists and turns are captivating. They leave the audience stunned as the drama unravels and secrets are revealed. But some glaring, embarrassing plot holes stare at us as we approach the end of the film. I gaped at some point, scratched my head and asked my TV severally, “Why…?” There are no sensible reasons to explain the ‘secrets’ revealed and that's not good. That's shoddy writing in my opinion.
The performance of the cast is great. Kelly Rowland as Mea and Trevante Rhodes as Zyair, the accused murderer are fantastic in their roles but again, they can't salvage the errors in this film. Kerry O'Malley is superb and a little funny as the mother-in-law to Mea. I feel she exaggerated her role almost to a comical point.
Like his other films, Tyler Perry repeats his usual trope of punishing his female characters and making them blame themselves for their husband's unpleasant behaviour which doesn't sit well with me. He tries to do things differently in this film but this side of him surfaces again which may not be appealing to his female audience.
Overall, Mea Culpa is a fine thriller that would have turned out fantastic if only Tyler Perry had paid someone else to write the script while he stuck to directing and producing. The cast is great but sadly the storytelling isn't. I enjoyed the twists and turns though. They are ingenious. Note, it's rated R for strong sexual content, language, some violence and drug use. I'll give it 2.5 stars out of 5.
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Other images are screenshots from the movie
Posted using CineTV