Crystal Fox and Mehcad Brooks star in “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” (Photo Credit: Netflix/Charles Bergmann).
Tyler Perry Knocks it Out of Park with ‘A Fall From Grace’
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Filmmaker and media mogul Tyler Perry is an unstoppable business juggernaut.
The brother can top the box office without giving the media much access to his films beforehand.
In order to review his films, critics often have to pay for a ticket when the movie drops just like his fan base.
But with his latest release, the straight to Netflix thriller “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace,” he did something he usually does not do.
He allowed the press to prescreen the film and embarked on a countrywide press tour.
Luckily for the press, the filmmaker knocks “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” out of the ballpark with great dialogue, twists, turns and heartfelt performances by Crystal Fox (“Tyler Perry’s The Haves and The Have Nots”) and Bresha Webb (“Night School”).
And like any edge of your seat thriller, “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” will leave audiences wanting more, specifically from several characters in the suspenseful film.
In “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace,” the character Grace Waters has done everything right in her life, but things still often go left instead of right.
Grace makes it a habit of feeding the homeless.
She teaches Sunday School at her church.
Grace is a faithful wife and a good mother to her adult son.
But that does not stop people from taking advantage of her.
Unfortunately, like all people, good or bad, Grace has a breaking point.
But will Grace’s breaking point be a point of no return for her in “Tyler Perry’s A Fall from Grace?”
Grace’s husband leaves her to marry his mistress that is around the age of their son.
He even gets married in their old home.
For some reason, Grace and her best friend Sarah (Phylicia Rashad, “Creed”) attend the wedding although they had to know it would make them feel some type of way.
Sarah even disses the new couple’s choice of drapes until she realizes those are the same drapes that Grace bought for the house while she was still married.
Grace left the marriage with nothing.
No house.
No money.
No man.
But she had her sanity, her son and her best friend to help her deal with the dilemma of divorce.
She rebounds nicely.
Grace buys her own home, which she paid off four years ago.
She has a great job at the bank.
But she is missing a love life, and Sarah is adamant about her getting out on the dating scene again.
Sarah convinces Grace to attend an art exhibit where she meets a young and debonair photographer, Shannon (Mehcad Brooks, “Glory Road”).
Despite the age difference, the beautiful Grace smites Shannon and the feeling is mutual.
The two begin a whirlwind romance that sweeps Grace off of her feet.
Shannon always knows the right thing to say.
Furthermore, Shannon always knows the right things to do to make Grace feel the way a woman should feel.
However, when things go awry in their relationship, it could ruin Grace’s life and all of those around her for a long time.
Grace finds herself in trouble with the law and does not have the money to afford a real lawyer.
She is stuck with a 26-year-old public defender named Jasmine (Webb) who has the unflattering reputation of settling cases instead of fighting for her clients.
That reputation is why her boss Rory (Perry) gives her the Waters case in the first place.
Grace wants to plead guilty, and Rory just wants the young public defender to go in and get a good deal signed, sealed and delivered.
However, when Jasmine begins digging deeper into the facts, she wants to fight and she wants Grace to put up a fight as well.
While some things in “Tyler Perry’s A Fall from Grace” seem predictable, most of the movie is totally unexpected, leaving the audience hanging in the end (in a good way).
After two hours, moviegoers will want much more.
What happens to this character?
What happens to that character?
The way in which “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” ends makes it possible for several spin-off movies and not just the regular movie sequel.
Unfortunately, “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” has some noticeable gaffes.
Furthermore, the wig that Perry wears as Rory does not look good in the least.
The wig is worse than the wig he wore in “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys.”
But wigs and gaffes notwithstanding, Perry does a great job in writing “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace.”
Furthermore, with legends like Rashad and relative newcomers like Fox and Webb, the acting is heartfelt and conniving.
Fox is known for her role as Hanna on the OWN late night soap opera “Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots.”
While Grace has some Hanna in her with her devotion to the church, she is a little more liberal in the bedroom, which results in Fox’s first ever on-film love scene.
It is just unfortunate that Grace is not more conservative with some of her decision-making.
Her decision-making makes “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” a cautionary tale that all should see, male and female.
And forget what the haters and critics say.
If Perry keeps creating movies like “Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” it will prove that letting critics view his movies ahead of time is not necessarily a mistake.
A good movie is a good movie, and even Perry haters cannot hate that.
“Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace” is now streaming on Netflix.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
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