Daddy's Little Girls

My wife and I went to check out "Daddy's Little Girls" not knowing what to expect, seeing that this Tyler Perry production did not have his outrageous Madea character in it. We came away pleasantly surprised with what we saw.

The problem that some moviegoers have with this film is quite simple: they're trying to be movie critics. They look for "movie elements" and generally are disappointed, not realizing that over 99% of people who buy tickets to a movie are not there to critique it in a cinematic context, but more in a entertainment context. You go to a horror movie to be scared to wit's end, not to break down and find the climax, anticlimax, and plot twists. You're there for gore, blood, and screams. With pretty much any Tyler Perry movie, a huge majority of those who watch them are there to either be inspired, to gain insight and maybe a lesson or two on life, or to see what Madea will say next. And if you have that mindset when you enter the theater to see this film, you will probably not come out disappointed.

The trailer showed this film more in a comedic light, but it is by far a drama with interspersed moments of humor. While some of the characters may at first come off as so outrageous as to be comical, they still had some semblance of believability to them. And for a 95-minute film, there's no way to completely dissect every character and why they are the way they are. And again, many non-movie critics understand this.

Idris Elba does a great job stepping away from his more well-known Stringer Bell persona. Though his accent (while not indicative of his British roots is still Stringer-sounding) wouldn't indicate that his character is from Atlanta (where the movie is set), his character is still engrossing. Gabrielle Union does a notable job as the female lead, and Lou Gossett, Jr.'s brief appearances give the movie more context and a slight bit more depth.

If you are a fan of Tyler Perry's plays, you will recognize his approach and the technique to this movie, and though it does not have the cantankerous Madea giving us lessons on life, it still will probably leave a mark on the moviegoer if (s)he goes into the theater to be inspired.

"Daddy's Little Girls" is a decent/good movie that could have been a great movie. I say that it is a decent movie because the overall plot was pretty solid and the acting was very good. However, it could have been a great film if the story could have been told with greater detail and the film had been better edited.

Let's put it this way, if T.P. were to have written this film as a school paper, the teacher would have given it a C+. The theme and concept for the paper would have been sound and offered lots of potential – a solid B. However, due to punctuation errors, grammar errors, misspelled words and run-on sentences (For those who took English at Howard U – instant D)….the teacher was being nice to give T.P. a C+.

T.P. has done only one great movie – "Diary Of A Mad Black Woman". The second film was cute. This 3rd film was OK. I will give him the benefit of the doubt for this film, he probably has many other things that he is working on. However, for the next film, he better take the time to write, direct and edit a high quality product.

I guess I am one of the biggest dopes in this country, but I love Daddy's Little Girls. I have seen it three times already. I loved Gabrielle Union and she played the part well. Idris Elba was good too! I liked the fact that Tyler Perry omitted the Madea character this time, nice change. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces in this movie, which added a nice touch. I cannot complain Mr. Perry did a pretty good job and I am looking forward seeing another movie or play. My money was well spent and I don't feel guilty. If you are in the mood for a little drama, comedy and romance, then this is the movie to see. I guarantee you will enjoy it.

The biggest problem with this is that it's so totally predictable almost from the very beginning. Is there any surprise that comes up at any point in the entire movie? About the only thing thrown in that threw me off for a few minutes was the rape conviction against Monty (Idris Elba) which ended up being explained away anyway. The basis of the story, of course, was Monty's frantic need to get custody of his 3 daughters back from his ex-wife, who's hooked up with a drug dealer and seems to be into some pretty bad stuff herself. That leads to his budding relationship with Julia (Gabrielle Union) - a high powered lawyer who had employed Monty as her driver for a while, and finds herself strangely drawn to him both personally and professionally, as she ends up representing him. There's a lot of extraneous material thrown in - the community's combination of outrage and impotence against local drug dealers, the wrong side of the tracks romance between Monty and Julia, the situation the kids find themselves in when they're taken away from Monty and handed over to their mother. Sometimes it seemed as if there was a bit too much extraneous material to be honest.

What I liked about the movie was the decision to make the girls' father the good guy, and the fact that the black community living in Monty's neighbourhood was shown to be diverse and mostly good, honest folk with a few losers thrown in. I also liked the performances from Elba and Union - they worked well together - and from the 3 McClain girls (I assume sisters themselves) who played Monty's children. They were as far removed from irritating child actors as you could imagine. They were quite good.

Unfortunately, what I didn't like about this was the predictability of the whole thing. There was virtually no dramatic tension throughout, because you knew without any doubt how pretty much everything was going to turn out. That really drags a movie down in my opinion. (4/10)

Tyler Perry's Medea-less tale of a father trying to raise his daughters but finding trouble from the girls mother who has taken up with a drug dealer.

Good little movie with a nice sense of place. Certainly moralistic and a tad simplistic (as all his stories are), but enjoyable none the less. Its a good film but has little that will make it stand out from the rest other than its good film. (I'm left to wonder if Perry's rather busy dance card will hurt his film out put since with a TV show and now several films a year I have to wonder if he will be able to craft films that stand out, or will they be like this good, but forgettable?) Worth watching- though odds are you'll forget you've ever seen it.