Nobody's Fool (D or 1/4 stars)
Ugh. Tyler Perry. WHY can't he make good movies? I really try with him. But he lets me down just about every time. Tiffany Haddish. WHY is she so annoying? I mean, she can be quite funny. But a little of her goes a longgg way; which, I believe, I wrote about her in my Girls Trip review. She has comedic talent ... she's just wayyy over-the-top and, perhaps not as funny as she thinks. But Haddish is a supporting player in Perry's 'Nobody's Fool', which mostly follows lovely, buttoned-up career woman Danica (Tika Sumpter, good in Southside with You, a few yrs. ago), who desperately wants a boyfriend who meets her longgg list of requirements (a 6-figure salary, no substance abuse tendencies, no prison time, no baggage/exes/children, etc.).
She thinks she's found him in Charlie (Mehcad Brooks), a seemingly wonderful man she met online ... but has never met yet. It is here when Danica's wild younger sister, Tanya (Haddish), is released from prison {a RIDICULOUS scene}, Danica agrees to let Tanya stay with her - and not their mama (Whoopi Goldberg) - until she gets her life back on track {new clothes, new job, etc}. Meanwhile, while Danica pines for Charlie - a man she's never met - she ACTUALLY meets & falls for friendly barista, Frank (Omari Hardwick). He seems perfect: nice, funny, muscles-on-muscles hunky, etc. Problem is: he's got 'baggage' {Ruh-roh}. Everything comes to a head when Tanya believes that Charlie is catfishing Danica, and so, she makes it her mission to help Danica get some deserved answers ... and a little revenge on the side. But what about Frank, I ask you?!? You'll just have to watch the film. Or not -- because it's a simultaneously raunchy AND lame stinker.
Yeah, there is very little that I liked about 'Nobody's Fool'. It opens with a bang with Tika Sumpter's Danica waking up & dancing around her apartment to a Janet Jackson song -- it was fun, felt lived-in & I had a smile on my face. Boy, did things go downhill fast. Not only did Haddish irk me {more on her later}, not only was the dialogue in this film horrible, not only were there no stakes for the characters, not only was the direction & camerawork flaccid, & not only were the performances unimpressive ... but it slows to a crawl in the 2nd half and, I just couldn't wait for it to be over.
Doubling down on the negativity, Tyler Perry's penchant for bursts of unfunny slapstick comedy didn't work. And Tiffany Haddish - who performed most of the slapstick - FORCED her brand of comedy so much that it came off as totally disingenuous to any natural comedy that might've come from the written script. She sure offers an audience her zeal & energy. But most of the time, I find her no-holds-barred brand of humor to be utterly exasperating & thoroughly exhausting -- all while exaggerating stereotypes of convicts, threatening people left & right, forcing sex upon the 1st man she sees after leaving jail, etc. I should be counting my lucky stars that, like Girls Trip, she's not in the film too much. When she enters a scene, it's as if a nails-on-a-chalk-board raspy-voiced, volatile, lude, crude, profane hurricane blew in. That sentence looks ridiculous, but it's fitting; trust me.
AND STILL. It's the story & characters that stink, most of all. There are mixed messages about addiction & recovery. My intelligence was insulted. Love Whoopi Goldberg, but she's a nothing, here. Glee's Amber Riley is little more than the sassy BFF. Danica's inability to find the kind of love she wants, while simultaneously being awful to the men in her life, is astonishingly terrible -- she treats men like sex objects. When Danica sings a "Bended Knee" to one particular man character at the very end {to woo him back}, not only is it corny, cheesy & poorly executed, but it is followed-up by a tacked-on wedding scene where Haddish gets one more chance to mug for the camera & act outlandish. You know, this film is a cash grab just trying to piggy back on the recent success of Haddish. Gross. Go watch a better comedy, people.
She thinks she's found him in Charlie (Mehcad Brooks), a seemingly wonderful man she met online ... but has never met yet. It is here when Danica's wild younger sister, Tanya (Haddish), is released from prison {a RIDICULOUS scene}, Danica agrees to let Tanya stay with her - and not their mama (Whoopi Goldberg) - until she gets her life back on track {new clothes, new job, etc}. Meanwhile, while Danica pines for Charlie - a man she's never met - she ACTUALLY meets & falls for friendly barista, Frank (Omari Hardwick). He seems perfect: nice, funny, muscles-on-muscles hunky, etc. Problem is: he's got 'baggage' {Ruh-roh}. Everything comes to a head when Tanya believes that Charlie is catfishing Danica, and so, she makes it her mission to help Danica get some deserved answers ... and a little revenge on the side. But what about Frank, I ask you?!? You'll just have to watch the film. Or not -- because it's a simultaneously raunchy AND lame stinker.
Yeah, there is very little that I liked about 'Nobody's Fool'. It opens with a bang with Tika Sumpter's Danica waking up & dancing around her apartment to a Janet Jackson song -- it was fun, felt lived-in & I had a smile on my face. Boy, did things go downhill fast. Not only did Haddish irk me {more on her later}, not only was the dialogue in this film horrible, not only were there no stakes for the characters, not only was the direction & camerawork flaccid, & not only were the performances unimpressive ... but it slows to a crawl in the 2nd half and, I just couldn't wait for it to be over.
Doubling down on the negativity, Tyler Perry's penchant for bursts of unfunny slapstick comedy didn't work. And Tiffany Haddish - who performed most of the slapstick - FORCED her brand of comedy so much that it came off as totally disingenuous to any natural comedy that might've come from the written script. She sure offers an audience her zeal & energy. But most of the time, I find her no-holds-barred brand of humor to be utterly exasperating & thoroughly exhausting -- all while exaggerating stereotypes of convicts, threatening people left & right, forcing sex upon the 1st man she sees after leaving jail, etc. I should be counting my lucky stars that, like Girls Trip, she's not in the film too much. When she enters a scene, it's as if a nails-on-a-chalk-board raspy-voiced, volatile, lude, crude, profane hurricane blew in. That sentence looks ridiculous, but it's fitting; trust me.
AND STILL. It's the story & characters that stink, most of all. There are mixed messages about addiction & recovery. My intelligence was insulted. Love Whoopi Goldberg, but she's a nothing, here. Glee's Amber Riley is little more than the sassy BFF. Danica's inability to find the kind of love she wants, while simultaneously being awful to the men in her life, is astonishingly terrible -- she treats men like sex objects. When Danica sings a "Bended Knee" to one particular man character at the very end {to woo him back}, not only is it corny, cheesy & poorly executed, but it is followed-up by a tacked-on wedding scene where Haddish gets one more chance to mug for the camera & act outlandish. You know, this film is a cash grab just trying to piggy back on the recent success of Haddish. Gross. Go watch a better comedy, people.