Why Did I Get Married? Movie Review

as reviewed by bonita lee penn, The Soul Pitt


What else would a bunch of beautiful and intelligent black females do on a warm Friday evening? Go to the movies? My sisters and sisterfriends met at the Waterfront praying the 8:30pm showing of Why Did I Get Married? wasn't sold out. Well it was, we brought tickets for the 10:15pm show and headed to a nearby bar and grill to drink and stuff down some cheap appetitizers. We were informed by one of Loewes Customer Service Representatives to be back by 9:30pm, warning us that long lines had formed for previous showings.

After drinking a few decent but pricey drinks and fighting over why should we pay for stale nacho chips we all headed back over to take our place in line. Thank goodness we were warned as the line did get long after only a few moments of standing. The line consisted of sister friends all having the same idea of spending a great Friday evening with friends and with Tyler Perry and his friends in Why Did I Get Married?

Tyler Perry fans have been by his side since the inception of the stage plays and their introduction to the fast wit and faster tongue of his Madea character. He has expanded his stage plays to movies and even a television show, The House of Payne. One show which I'm not totally thrilled with regarding the personalities of the characters or the acting, but the show does have Tyler's signature lessons learned story lines, which to me saves the show.

My first judgement of the movie was strictly built around the short snips of beautiful scenry and the promise of drama. This led me to wonder what type of movie would this be? How would it work being a cross between Madea and The House of Payne? Naw! It wouldn't work and thank goodness Why Did I Get Married ? is in a category all it's own.

The 10:15 show was filled to capacity. The movie started off a little shaky with Janet Jackson's character, Patricia. Some of my movie companions felt she was not right for this role, I disagreed, her character was the one grounded female character, I personally find most grounded people are not lively, they are more calm than most and she played this part well. The movie introduced us to four professional upwardily mobile black couples and their personalities. Even though they seem to be well off economically, the audience soon became aware they have the same relationship problems everyone we know has. Ranging from infidelity, being taken for granted, verbal abuse, career vs. marriage, financial, and children issues. All their secrets rolled out the closet during their yearly couples retreat, taking place in the mountains.

Believe me when I say I truly didn't see this much drama coming to a head, but it did and the audience loved it. The actors gave depth to their on screen characters and real emotional pain showed through on several occassions, giving it a real connection to the audience. It doesn't matter the audience gender, age or ethnicity, this movie will touch everyone. The couples who have made it in their careers, but underneath the money, furs, houses and the positions, they were regular people just like us. They have our same fears and short comings. To see the realness and the wide range of emotional turmoil on screen, acted out by black actors and not the sterotypical black drama was a relaxing and refreshing experience. Thank you Tyler Perry for bringing real black folks to the fore front of America.

I cannot conclude this review without giving props to our favorite couple Angela and Marcus (played by Tasha Smith and Michael Jai White). This couple had a common issue I have noticed in my own relationships and those of friends. A clashing of two strong personalities, neither one wanting to submit to the other, feeling it would be an admission of weakness, neither willing to trust the other enough to share their true feelings and admit their fears. The other most enjoyable character was Troy, the Sheriff played by Lamman Rucker. Ahh yes, everyone was woooing when he came on the scene. The Sheriff was our Knight in Shining Armour, the man who unselfishly was able to see deeply into a woman's soul and accepts her for the beauty that shines from within and the man who enjoyed communicating his needs, his dreams, his fears and had no second thoughts in loving a woman the way God wants them to be loved.

At the end of the movie the final verdict of my sisters and I were, Why Did I Get Married? was an excellent movie, emotionally well written, strong characters, real life situations, drama, soul searching and a great sound track.