Tyler Perry's Temptation

I should have known better than to go see a Tyler Perry movie. Well, one that doesn’t have Madea in it I should say. But I saw the trailer for this awhile back and it looked kind of interesting, minus the fact that Kim Kardashian is in it (thankfully her role is very small). But it’s far from interesting. It’s pretty bad. But to me Temptation falls under the category of “It’s so bad it’s good.” Myself and the other people in the theater had a good time laughing at how bad it was and making little comments out loud every so often. So at least I got some entertainment out of it.

Anyway, the movie is about a woman named Judith (Jurnee Smollett-Bell). She’s in her mid-twenties and working at a millionaire matchmaking service, although her dream is to be a marriage counselor with her own business. She’s married to Brice (Lance Gross, whose been in several Tyler Perry productions), whom she has known almost her whole life. He works at a pharmacy. Their life seems to be going pretty good, although the two of them have been together for so long they’ve gotten too comfortable. And Brice is oblivious and sometimes takes her for granted. Then one day, in walks Harley (Robbie Jones) a charming billionaire who’s basically the African American Mark Zuckerberg. He’s interested in investing in the matchmaking company that Judith works for. At first she wants to keep things strictly professional, but being neglected by her husband and wanting some attention, she finds herself drawn to him. Will she or won’t she cheat on her husband? Come on, we all know what’s going to happen.

And that’s one of the main problems of the movie. It’s so predictable.  With the exception of one thing at the end, which just comes out of nowhere and makes you go “Really?”

I have nothing against Tyler Perry. He seems like a pretty nice guy (but with a huge ego). But for the love of god, he needs to hire a screenwriter. His writing is so bad. I found myself cringing in my seat as the characters spat out terrible dialog. The editing was choppy, the movie was overly preachy. But I knew going into this that that was pretty standard in a Tyler Perry movie.

Not to say that I haven’t liked any of his movies in the past. I thought Meet the Browns and Why Did I Get Married were okay. And I think Madea is pretty hysterical overall. Maybe he should just stick to comedies.

Getting back to Temptation, there was one thing that kept it from being terrible in my opinion. I thought that Lance Gross was good in his role as Brice. I felt kind of bad from him. Yes, he’s oblivious and even goes as far as forgetting Judith’s birthday two years in a row. But deep down he’s a good guy and clearly loves his wife.

Bottom line, unless you’re a huge Tyler Perry fan, I can’t really recommend this. If you’re curious, save your money and rent it from the Redbox or wait til it comes to TV.

My Rating: 5.5/10