CAST: Taraji P. Henson, Lyriq Brent and Crystle Stewart
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Tyler Perry
RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2018
In the eyes of some viewers Acrimony was the best thing ever written by Tyler Perry but in the eyes of this viewer it is was just another typical Diary of a Mad Black Woman script that was poorly written. The film tells the story of a faithful wife Melinda (Taraji P. Henson) who is fed up with the devious ways of her husband Robert (Lyriq Brent). It takes a turn for the worst when a woman from their past Diana (Crystle Stewart) resurfaces bringing up old memories and bringing Melinda to a dark place. Since its release the movie has made a moderate $37,875,477 with a budget of only $20 million which means its made its money back for its investors and then some but as we all know in Hollywood if it doesn’t crack the $100 million mark then it’s considered a bonafide bomb.
This hard to sit through story begins with Melinda in a courtroom being ordered by a judge to go to an anger management counselor. With a very envious look on her face she replies, “Yes your honor” after he constantly repeats himself by stating, “Do you understand me Mrs. Gayles?” The scene shifts to Melinda sitting on the couch in the office of a therapist and she begins to tell the events leading up to her being there. She’s there because she is upset with her now ex-husband Robert.
The two met when they were in college in typical Hollywood fashion by bumping into one another while running in the rain dropping their things. From then on, they began to help one another with their work by having study sessions in the library. During this “getting to know one another” phase of the film a truly unfortunate event happens in Melinda’s life and Robert is there to console her.
The two fall in love and marry to the chagrin of Melinda’s family members. Melinda then uses money from her mother’s life insurance policy to finance Robert’s self-recharging battery which has been his life long dream. Then in typical Tyler Perry fashion the conflict of the film begins to happen. After years of repetitive failure a woman from Robert’s past, Diana (Crystle Stewart), enters the picture and let’s just say, cheating, cursing and divorcing happens next. The remainder of the film sees Melinda’s lust for revenge reach a very dangerous point.
Perry wants the audience to feel remorse or some type of kinship with Melinda but that’s virtually impossible when all you keep asking yourself throughout this drivel is, “How much longer is this movie?” (The film has a run time of 2 hours.) It’s billed as a suspense thriller but everything is predictable. If you’ve seen any Perry movie where he takes off the Madea costume and attempts to become serious the formula for the movies are very similar.
Acrimony is abysmal at best. This movie recieves 2 stars out of 10 stars.