Good Deeds - A review of Tyler Perry's latest film

The movie Good Deeds is the latest of writer and director Tyler Perry ‘projects’ and could be deemed as the best so far. Since his days back in 1992 of staging plays, there has been much improvement in the quality of his work and Good Deeds, which is now going into its fourth week of showing at the Carib Cinema in Kingston attest to a steady upward mobility in the fine tuning and progress in his movie content and film career.

Over the years, Perry has focused on themes such as the dysfunctional family and family life in general; Meet the Browns, House of Payne (plays) and the Madea Series (films) are high on the family issue, while, Diary of a Mad Black Woman and the Why Should I Get Married sequels focused on marriage and its accompanying problems. Somewhere in that mix he directed Daddy’s Little Girls which was about a father’s fight for his daughters. Except for Daddy’s Little Girls, Perry’s films have not received favourable reviews from critics but they have made healthy sums of money at the box office.

At the Carib Cinema last Tuesday evening, Good Deeds was totally sold out, not an empty seat visible, and the audience, typical at the Carib Theatre, was fully engaged and participated in the movie by voicing aloud their opinions and emotions. The film is about a well to do black man (Tyler Perry) from a well to do family who was at a deciding point in his life. He managed a successful family business inherited from his father and was engaged to a beautiful and self sufficient woman (Gabrielle Union). His life was in a rut but to the spectator it was a ‘good’ rut. He had everything life could offer so why then was he at work until 3:00am most mornings? He meets a woman (Thandie Newton) who works as a night Janitor at his company and who he felt drawn to and ends up helping. The movie is a critique on society’s values; encourages spontaneity; being true to one’s self and one’s desires; helps; siblings rivalry; the effects of the appearance of a “third” party in what could be termed ‘a previously solid relationship’ and questions if love is enough.

Good Deeds is particularly good because it is devoid of the pretentiousness that is present in the Why Did I Get Married sequels and the horrific drag of Madea, present in his other films. Good Deeds is evidence that Perry’s talent as both a writer and a director has matured and that his reputation and financial success are affording him to be able to attract a more auspicious professional set of actors such as Thandie Newton from Beloved who brought real depth and feeling to her role as someone who experiences hard times. The diverse music track is also worth mentioning and brings a lot of texture and feeling to the plot, conveying the necessary emotional dimension at the right time which regulates spectator’s reaction and moods from laughter to tears to anger.