The Family That Preys

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

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

I saw this movie last night, and found it entertaining, with great acting, and intriguing twists. Perry's movies get better and better. Most of his early work, I did not take very seriously, and did not pay to see in theaters. I thought "Why Did I Get Married" was his best. The Family That Preys, in my opinion ties with it. I think southerners, with insider's knowledge of complicated relationships between Blacks and Whites, (especially between wealthy Whites and the people who work for them), viewers familiar with Faulkner's work, family stories passed down from generation to generation will walk away with a special, "ah ha" that reminds me of so and so and "miss" so and so...moment.

So often family secrets cross color lines, friendship and loyalty have a unique southern flavor. Proximity to the powerful often holds special dangers and temptations. I think most memorable are the strong women who in their unique southern style, play for keeps while holding their heads up, cursing while wearing hats and gloves, in ladylike form. If you've ever lived in the South, you know what I'm talking about. Southern Belles, matriarchs, supportive wives--who have a manipulative, strategic side--are so often the real backbone of the family.

Am I the only one who noticed (thankfully) the absence of the "N" word, or similarly distasteful references? The audience knew why Alfre Woodard's character said, "He won't marry you", without any reference to race.

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.

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.