Good Deeds
Written by administrator
Movie Info
| Director: | Tyler Perry |
| Cast: | Tyler Perry, Gabrielle Union, Thandie Newton |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run Time: | 100 mins |
While we at F*** love villains, there's nothing inherently wrong about a film that honours morality. In fact, there are a laudable number of films that champion goodness: Gandhi, Star Wars, Fight Club. Ok maybe not that last one. The thing is, audiences have to feel engaged before they want to fight racism, homophobia, or the evil Sith Empire. Good Deeds makes morality feel as tedious as doing the laundry.
The film follows Wesley Deeds (Tyler Perry), a well-to-do San Fran businessman with a beautiful fiancee (Gabrielle Union) and an overbearing mum (Phylicia Rashad). Upon encountering Lindsey (Thandie Newton), a spirited young Iraq War widow with a little daughter (Jordenn Thompson), he ends up re-evaluating his decisions in life…ad nauseum, to the dismay to of the viewers.
Good Deeds is a good-hearted film that's all about moral messages, and that's not necessarily a positive thing. The plot is predictable, the execution melodramatic, and the only spark of engagement we get is from Newton's stellar performance, which is unfortunately insufficient to buoy the film. Wesley Deeds is a bundle of hidden complexes that is too bland for audiences to want to unpack, and the film compounds this indifference with its infinite moments of sober self-evaluation.
While it may prove to be mildly enlightening to white-collared individuals with identity crises, Good Deeds will likely prove to be too bland and repetitive for the rest of us.
Summary: Like having a granduncle tell you a moral fable for the 25th time in an hour.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Raphael Lim
