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The Family That Preys is Tyler Perry's shameless attempt to make a cinematic soap-opera, and if you go by what soap operas are known for - heaping helpings of drama, thin characters, bland settings, and stiff dialog - the film is better than the average unsubstantial hour you could spend watching All My Children on CBS. And yet, there are several more substantial ways you could spend two hours rather than watching a Tyler Perry film. As always, the choice is yours.

The film feels like a full season's worth of soap opera material compressed into a one-hundred and thirteen minute film, featuring a various array of characters and their various arrays of problems. The characters come from one of two families, either the wealthy, whitebread socialites lead by the mom, Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates) or the working-class black family ran by Alice Evans (Alfre Woodard). Cartwright and Evans have remained the best of friends, despite enormous financial differences, and develop a "Thelma and Louise"-like friendship when they hit the road in a bold turquoise convertible to explore the humble countryside.

Their children, all grown up and of all different ages, are the other characters we focus on. Alice's daughter is the bitchy, unfaithful Andrea (Sanaa Lathan), who is married to the ambitious, hardworking Chris Bennett (Rockmond Dunbar), who works a lowly construction worker job with his pal (Tyler Perry) working for William Cartwright (Cole Hauser). Chris has ambitions of starting his own construction company with his friend, until he realizes that first he must get his marital issues straightened out when he finds his wife has over $200,000 in a private banking account.

As you can infer, this leads to unconditional drama between the families, who must work it out on their own while their mothers are living it up in the south. This family drama will likely be exciting to audience who demand a film that briefly touches on a wide-range of emotions, rarely emphasizing on one certain moral or encompassing virtue. For those who want more characterization, investment, and positivity, this is a pretty meager offering. However, Perry doesn't pull punches when it comes to juggling multiple different characters. He shows his capability here when he creates several different people, all inhabiting the same world, and all dealing with unique problems. Even if the film is overwrought, it nonetheless is a competent production that steers clear of idiocy and wooden features like many other Perry movies do.

I'm also proud to see that the film sticks to its dramatic genre, regardless on how much dramatic material it infuses into its story. Coming off of the first Perry movie I watched (Diary of a Mad Black Woman roughly a year ago), I was offput by the way the film juggled an abundance of genres, ranging from melodrama to bizarre slapstick comedy to Christian-gospel to bleeding gum moral propaganda. With The Family That Preys, I respect the fact that Perry remains more attentive to the drama at hand. The last thing I wanted to see was the loudmouth, insufferable Madea show up and inflict her radical, obnoxious energy to a premise that is more about slow-moving tension. As I've seen, this is something she clearly doesn't do well with.

The Family That Preys is a serviceable picture, with unanimously fine acting (especially from its leads, Bates and Woodard), a more focused agenda, and a pleasant little picture. I grossly misrepresented this film which, judging by the cover, looked like a tired "walk in the shoes of another family' film dealing with race-relations and upper vs middle class, sociological drudgery. Perry has effectively made me second-guess just how aware and intelligent he is in terms of dealing with a specific subject. Just when you think he's doing one thing, he switches over to a slightly better thing.

Starring: Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, Rockmond Dunbar, Taraji P. Henson, Cole Hauser, Tyler Perry, Robin Givens, and KaDee Strickland. Directed by: Tyler Perry.

Another film filled with secrets and surprises. Good set-up of plot and characters, if a bit predictable. Writer, director, producer, actor Tyler Perry (best known for his "Big Momma" franchise) goes for a bittersweet comedy-drama that delivers well. We were quite satisfied with the story and filming. A lot of restraint (no one swears in the film, for example) and non-preachy religious themes. We sat through the credits. Great song sung by Gladys Knight. Woodard's arc is grand. Definitely recommended. Perry is evolving well in his milieu as his empire grows. A fun update of Southern Gothic genre and good performances all round, save for Taraji P. Henson, who is all tics and gestures. Surprised at the IMDb fan-base low rating ( <3/10 ). Perry is a natural to bring our "Hayes Hotel" musical to the big screen or Atlanta and Broadway! - Frederic Kahler

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys is a great drama that delivers both a great storyline and a great moral compass. I watched it on TV half an hour ago, and when I came to check it out here on IMDb, I was absolutely shocked that it only has 3.3 stars!

Tyler Perry does a great job of setting up scenarios filled with broken people in broken relationships, just struggling to get through life. Without giving too much away, he presents people in poverty, wealthiness, friendship, and infidelity, so there's always something you can relate to, either by personal experience, or through someone you know.

If you haven't seen this movie yet---GO SEE IT!!! Don't let the extremely low rating fool you. I'm white, young, liberal, and still enjoyed it, so you don't have an excuse either. :)

Tyler Perry's back to his old tricks with The Family That Preys - A film that is just as manipulative and as ham-fisted of a melodrama as some of his earlier work. The only saving grace are a pair of performances at the center.

Those performances come from Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard. They play the matriarchs of two very different families who have been friends for the past 30 years. Their characters come from very different worlds. Bates plays Charlotte Cartwright, a wealthy tycoon who is in danger of losing control of her company as her greedy son William (Cole Hauser) plots to slowly get rid of her influence and power in the business. Woodard plays Alice Pratt, a God-fearing middle class woman who runs a local diner, and likes to help the homeless on the side. The two actresses have great chemistry together during their subplot, which concerns them leaving their troubles behind for a little while, and going on a cross country road trip. Their performances are almost enough to make us forget just how poorly they've been written in Perry's screenplay. Take for example the fact that Charlotte seems to suffer from a split personality. Usually when she's around Alice, she's a fun and spirited woman. But whenever she's alone, she comes across as a cold and unfeeling millionaire right out of an 80s prime time soap opera like Dallas. Unfortunately, this won't be the last time I use the word soap opera in this review.

That's because The Family That Preys isn't really about the two women I just mentioned, it's about their intertwined family, and the numerous betrayals, affairs, and other ludicrous overstuffed plots that would be right at home in any afternoon soap. Let's just see how many plots there are. The first concerns Alice's daughter, Andrea (Sanaa Lathan) having an affair with Charlotte's previously mentioned son, William. Andrea's husband, Chris (Rockmond Dunbar), works as a construction worker for William's company, and has no idea about their bedroom meetings behind his back, even though it's painfully obvious to everyone else. Poor Chris comes across as the slowest guy in the world, as he frequently stares the obvious in the face, and chooses to look the other way until the screenplay decides to finally give him a clue. Chris and his best friend on the construction crew, Ben (Tyler Perry), want to start their own construction company, but Ben doesn't know if they should take the chance, despite the urgings of his wife, Pam (Taraji P. Henson), who just happens to be Alice's other daughter. Meanwhile, William's wife, Jillian (KaDee Strickland) is a bit more on the ball than Chris is, and suspects her husband's affair. Not only that, there's another woman worked into the story named Abby (Robin Givens) who has just been hired to the company by Charlotte, much to the anger of William, since he wanted the position and is upset that his mom didn't give it to him.

All this, and I still haven't mentioned the mysterious homeless person (Sebastian Siegel) whom Alice helps out, and eventually ends up playing a part in the plot. There's also friction between Charlotte and William's wife, because Charlotte never approved of her, although the movie doesn't go very deep into this. And yes, there's also that previously mentioned road trip between Charlotte and Alice as they go on a trip of self discovery, while stopping at various cowboy bars and male strip joints along the way. (Because this is a Tyler Perry movie, Charlotte also stops to get baptized at one point.) Watching this movie, you can almost picture Tyler Perry writing this screenplay after a marathon viewing of his daytime TV soaps. The writing, direction, and storytelling is all on the same level here. He does his best to juggle the film's various plots, but they never come together. It's jarring the way the movie constantly jumps between its numerous characters and plots. It seems that Perry had a hard time squeezing them all in, as some get more attention than others. The whole affair situation between William and Andrea gets the most attention, but even that never seems to truly build anywhere. The characters just keep on going through the same motions over and over, while Andrea's husband Chris begins to resemble an unintentional running gag with how clueless he is about everything.

The only aspect of the film that does work are the scenes between Bates and Woodard, and that's more due to their screen presence than the material the film gives them. If the movie had trimmed away all lamebrained corporate backstabbing and affairs and just centered on them, I may have been able to forgive the sometimes dopey dialogue between them, and the last minute revelation about Bates' character that cries out of desperation. The Family That Preys obviously wants to tackle some heavy issues, but everything's been written in Perry's trademark over the top style. This makes it hard to identify with just about anyone who walks into the frame of the camera. The only character who does come across as a genuine human is the one Perry has written for himself, and unfortunately, he plays a minor role in everything. Given his somewhat genuine performance here, it's hard to believe that this is the same guy who dresses in drag and a fat suit for his most famous portrayal. Perry fans will be glad to know that his Madea character will be back in his next film, Madea Goes to Jail. Everyone else has been warned.

I had the opportunity to see The Family that Preys this weekend, this is my second Tyler Perry movie, to be honest from what I've seen, I think I may check out his other movies, because I do like what I've seen so far. The Family that Preys is seriously one of the better films I've seen so far in September, it's an honest drama that keeps your attention, it was also very touching. In some ways this was the female version of The Bucket List, even as it was hard to watch, it was still an incredibly moving movie. The chemistry between Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard was just dead on and you really believed in their friendship. I also loved the side story between the two sisters and their husbands, one sister who is rich and spoiled with a good husband who is in major denial about what his wife really is, the other sister who wishes for her husband to keep his head up and live his dream. Tyler Perry pulls in a good family story that will have you smiling at the end.

Alice and Charlotte are best friends, Charlotte is a rich business woman who's son wants to take over her company, she's rooting for a different C.O.O. that she hand picks, Abby, who is a strong woman who is working her way to the top. Alice is a struggling woman who Charlotte asks if they can go on a road trip together, she agrees, they go across country enjoying the last bits of life. But what they don't realize is that at home Alice's daughter, Andrea, is sleeping her way to the top behind her loving husband's back, her other daughter is begging for her husband to live his dreams, and Charlotte's son is just a sleaze who will step on anyone to get to the top.

The Family that Preys is seriously a very good movie, it will not disappoint you. I'm really disappointed in a lot of these ratings. I believe there are some users lately who don't even see the movie, they just rate it a low number just because they don't like who's the star or whoever is making the film, please, you have to trust me on this film, it's a little treasure and a very strong film that will remind you to not take life for granted, stay strong, and remain proud of who you are. The script had extremely well written lines and I loved the representation of the hardship of being a woman trying to compete in a man's working world, not to sound horrible, but I imagine that's even harder for an African American woman and this movie just inspires you that it is possible to stay strong and work hard, keep the faith, and good things will come to you. This is a fantastic movie, I highly recommend it.

8/10

This is a great movie about business with morals and wit. Superb performance by all actors and actresses. Worth watching more than once

I still to this very day do not understand why people continue to give Tyler Perry a free ride. His "body of work" sucks!! Let's see...I'll play a big fat, loud, obnoxious, uneducated, overbearing, stereotypical Black woman. And because Tyler does it, it's okay. But God forbid if a white director/screenwriter did it, he'd be IMMEDIATELY skewered. What else...oh yeah...House of Payne?!?!? Really?!?!? Could there be a sh*ttier show??? I am so sick of my brethren (yes...I'm Black) b**ching about why "we" all don't back Tyler.

I don't care if you're Asian, Black, White, Indian (dot and feather), or whatever. If your stuff stinks, it stinks!!! Period.

OK, I've read all the other reviews, to date, and I have to agree with those who had a positive experience. I'm a 62 year old gay white male, and I gave this movie an 8/10. I am not an unreserved fan of Tyler Perry, and think some of the Madea sub-plots are pretty ugly. That said, I have watched nearly everything he's done, enjoyed most, and feel that this one is the best I've seen. The plot(s) were not difficult to follow, or swallow, and the entire cast was perfect, not a bad actor among them. As expected, Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates were truly excellent in their roles. These gals have been doing this, and doing it well, for a long time, and are perfect together. If they aren't long time friends off-camera, they surely fooled me.

Tyler needs to learn less is more. 'Prey' weighs in at nearly two hours and could have used a major tweaking in the editing room. I felt as if I was being held hostage to Mr. Perry's typical rah-rah script where all the evil doers get theirs and the good people triumph. There is never any suspense and you can normally see the so-called 'oh my' moments a mile away.

As a director and screen writer Tyler Perry needs to cut out the unnecessary crap he loads his movies with, tighten up the performances and PLEASE stay away from certain acts of violence that I found to be pandering to a certain segment of the audience.

In closing, save your money and turn on Lifetime- they do these movies a lot better and you get commercial breaks so you escape to the bathroom and fridge.

there are 2 things i need say here:

1-as a features(direction, acting, etc) this is a well done movie. i would even consider it for an award or two( not Oscar since this particular award is anything else BUT real life movies anymore). all the actors give outstanding performances except maybe Tyler Perry which one can see he is not a professional in this particular field. but even on this aspect he is at least putting the effort in. Taraji P. Henson, Cole Hauser, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan and Kathy Bates are all well casted. my main star here would be Taraji P. Henson , both as an actress as much as the character itself. this woman can be VERY expressive beside being still beautiful while not as young anymore. Robin Givens is engaging while Rockmond Dunbar is truly at his best! i give it an 8 rating at this chapter.

2- subject matter is NOT preying on a "certain audience" as some reviewers keep implying. it does cross the border of being BLACK or WHITE and that is its STENGHT. to sum this up, race does not matter anywhere as much as CLASS does. the present day stereotypes are all here, especially the corporate ones, and in a realistic form, that MANY of us could identify with on a general level( maybe not the wealthy ones that pay reviewers to "diss" this movie just because it obviously does hurt their PERCEPTIONS of living the life at the "top"). i give it a 10 rating for the plot and subject development even if i do not agree with ALL the points made here( but most of them).

the movie is not politically correct YET it does not play on viewer's emotion and expectations. it seems i am indeed a fan of Tyler Perry's production now that i think of it because i can not recall any of his movies that i do NOT like. also i am not part of the visible minority that most of the actors here are. doubt that this has any relevance as in WHY i like this particular feature(i really do not think it does).

i recommend this to any adult viewers and adolescents( no matter race) that is CONCERN with present day social values as they are being imposed from the TOP,( mass media, etc) and NOT from the old fashioned COMMON SENSE, that made this word spinning around, long before Hollywood came alive.

just give it a shot, the 3 star rating makes NO SENSE, really.

The hard worker and religious Alice Pratt (Alfre Woodard) raised her two daughters managing a simple bar of her own. Her snobbish and arrogant daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan) is graduated in Economic Science and works in a construction corporation while her sister Pam (Taraji Henson) stayed with Alice working in the bar. Andrea is married with the construction worker Chris (Rockmond Dunbar), who works in the same corporation of his wife and dreams on initiating his own business. However she is betraying him with their boss William Cartwright (Cole Hauser). William is the son of Alice's best friend, the wealthy Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates). While Alice travels with Charlotte in a road trip without destiny, the ambition and infidelity of William trigger a series of events that will affect relationships in both families.

"The Family That Preys" is a reasonable soap-opera and my first impression is that it is underrated in IMDb. However, the plot point in the meeting of the board of Charlotte's company is so absurd and incoherent that spoils the story and might be the reason for such bad rating. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

For some reason, I think that people, their sickening racial prejudices or whatever have influenced a lot of the votes on Tyler Perry's work.

I've worked in independent film and am a writer and honestly, just discovered his work and have watched four or five of his films this week and I really think some jealousy for a young talented black man is going on because none of these films have reached the level of the garbage that usually elicits these number through these pages.

Not all his stuff is meant to be taken seriously, but this work for example is and has a great ensemble cast and it worked beautifully.

I don't understand the vote, but this was well done, technically perfect, and tender and ruthless and quite perfect in this film maker's views.

Bravo Tyler...keep 'em coming.

One thing that made me avoid these is they always emblazoned everything Tyler, but he deserves some credit...and the likes of Bates and Woodward, these guys are academy award winning and level actresses. They don't just work with anybody.

He wrote it. He produced it. He directed it. He played a bit part. What do you want to give the man no credit as if he had nothing to do with the film?

His stage plays have done over $75 million in sales across America and didn't need some gimmick like Cats, and this is a self made man basically. He wasn't born with some silver spoon in his mouth and eventually, as he does more drama, he's going to get an Academy Award in his life time at this rate.

My rating is 6.5. Okay, this is not an Oscar film--but for what it is, for Tyler Perry's "genre" if you will--it's decent and at the very least watchable. It's tailored for Perry's audience in that the substance or breadth or depth of the plot or characters is (apparently) not his focus, but rather generating conversation amongst movie-goers seems to be his aim...which he does maybe better than anyone else. For all his flaws, Perry knows his audience.

That said, let me offer honest criticism. The movie is entertaining and keeps you watching, but it is not refined. It's Hershey's not Godiva if you catch my drift. The main dig I will give is that there is almost no character depth. The characters are one-dimensional and thus the movie's IQ is diminished. There is little thinking involved; it--like most of Perry's works--is emotion-based. I found the plot rather clever, so no dig there. But it's the characterization surrounding the plot that could have used more attention.

So in sum, this movie is watchable and enjoyable. It's not deep, it's not enriching, it's not life-changing. It's just quintessential Tyler Perry...and all that that entails.

you know, i sometimes wonder if Tyler Perry doesn't have his elementary school aged nieces and nephews turning out these scripts for him. the script is boring and flat, with no real rises or falls. nothing interesting or exciting ever happens, unless of course you count all those laughable parts that made no sense at all. there are two other things that compliment the awful story: the misguided accents (the "white boy's" southern accent is almost never present, and the mother's likes to take frequent breaks) and the really dramatic overacting that makes you wonder if you didn't accidentally sit on the remote and switch over to some lame daytime soap opera.

if you enjoy absurdity and want to watch an incredibly stupid movie for laugh out loud purposes only, i suggest this. otherwise, don't waste your time.

This movie has a perfect balance between humor and drama to keep you glued to your screen, delivered by a committed cast under appropriately paced direction. I find it hard to explain or understand why it has such a hash rating. I can only conclude that reviewers say the cover, perhaps the direct/ writer and decided that they have enough information to make a calling. Any unfortunate prejudgment that may end up denying quality drama lovers a pointer to what is nothing short of a great drama they may want to watch over and over again and share with friends and family. But please do not simply read the reviews or even take my word for it, see it for yourself and make up your mind.

Very slow story just to end where only one person is for the better lol.