The Perfect Mate

Horrible remake or copycat of the already horrible movie "I'm in Love With A Church Girl". Terrible actors, car scene was funny stupid and unbelievable. Dude's grandma... really?

I couldn't finish it. I Love seeing my people on the big screen and truly want to support, but awful is awful, no matter who is acting. I have 0 skills of acting experience, but absolutely would have been more believable than the people in this flick. A waste of time.

Film has a weak dramatic premise and no real plotline at all. More or less a simple situation involving a fake engagement for no legit reason. The movie seems to take its plot cues from other rom-coms of its kind like "I'm in Love With a Church Girl," "Love Don't Cost a Thing," and "Meet the Parents." The father/pastor character being written and played against usual hardass stereotype of such a role was a good touch. The thin depiction of the jealous sister, her emasculated husband and their unruly child was not. Acting is below average to JUST barely solid. Chico Benymon as main character is game if nowhere near the most skilled/talented comedic actor in the business. There's an overall waste of talent from known veteran performers in lesser roles. Movie is shot and visually edited fine. Attractive cast looks good as far as clothing, hair, and makeup. The sound editing can be a bit shaky at times. Most of the score and some of the music used is rather generic sounding. The film has good messages but the issue with this production lies in the lack of understanding that the message is best received through strong storytelling, which isn't what's going on here. A lot of lame, uninspired jokes to boot makes this one hard to see myself ever coming back to, no matter where the heart of the filmmakers might have been.

Hardly made it through the first 30 minutes or so. I'm giving the film two stars because I did like Jackée Harry as the mother. I haven't seen her, however, since the 1980s, so couldn't figure out who she was at first, even though I saw her last week on an old "Amen" episode.

Overall, this movie was a waste of time, which is why I gave it so little time to prove itself watchable. Protagonist Hope is as unlikable as can be. Her sister Cherish even more so. Fake fiance Jesse is too timid. The absolute worst character, however, was Hope's minister father.

Obviously, the makers of the movie didn't want him to seem like all the other minister fathers in movies like this one. He is an absolute wacko, and not an amusing one. Plus, they kept doing close-ups of his menacing face. That was it for me. Time to find something else to watch. Bye, Jackée, it was nice to see you again.