Peeples

Peeples (2013) is a movie that I recently watched on Netflix. The storyline follows a couple that seem perfectly happy. The boyfriend plans to propose to his lady, but she needs to attend a family event...a family her boyfriend has never met. The boyfriend decides to surprise his girlfriend and randomly appear at her family's house. He's about to discover why she's been in no rush to introduce him to her family.

This picture is written and directed by Tina Gordon (Little) and stars Kerry Washington (Scandal), Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine), David Alan Greer (In Living Color), S. Epatha Merkerson (Jacob's Ladder), Tyler James Williams (Everybody Hates Chris) and Melvin Van Peebles (The Shining).

The storyline for this picture isn't overly creative but is well executed with worthwhile characters, circumstances and dialogue. David Alan Greer was over the top but hilarious. Washington and Robinson were fine in their roles. There are some great scenes in this that will give you a good chuckle - the interaction with ex-boyfriends, the "sauna"scene and Meg's song/poetry were hilarious. But there was something missing to make this a masterpiece.

Overall, while the content is hit or miss, there's enough worthwhile scenes to make this worth a watch. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

My first perception was that Peeples would be a dumb movie and a waste of my valuable time.

I'm a fan of the "Meet the Parents" franchise and regularly quote memorable lines from the screenplay ("you can't say bomb on an airplane!... circle of trust… etc.") from the screenplay. So, I thought I'd give Peeples a shot to see how bad it might be.

I WAS WRONG!

This is a funny movie well worth your time!

From the first scene I was smitten with Craig Robinson's charisma and satisfactorily carried the leading role throughout.

The rest of the characters are PERFECTLY CAST, especially the Robert De Niro father character spot-on played by David Alan Grier. He demanded respect and I never doubted he was a Federal judge.

The only flaw of the movie was perhaps some choppy editing and a scene on a boat that only confused and added no value to the movie… should have been left on the cutting room floor.

Warning: It should be rated R instead of PG-13 for mature topics (sexual spankings, lesbian situations, etc.)

Bottom Line: 4/5 stars. Not as memorable as "Meet the Parents" but perhaps consistently funnier from scene to scene; overall more laughs.

Pete (49 year old Caucasian male in North Carolina)

It was not great but when it comes to being entertaining... it had moments and was a light hearted movie. Although it had stupid parts I was not mad at it. If you don't have super high expectations you will enjoy it. Craig is pretty funny and so are the other actors when the script gave them a line they delivered.

I don't think I laughed the whole time. Why was David Alan Grier WASTED in this travesty of a film? I like the storyline and even the actors but this movie just did not work for me at all. I only watched it to the end in hopes that it would get better but it never did. It was pretty predictable and drawn out and then the ending was rushed. I would have loved to give some spoilers but I couldn't think of anything worth telling. Just a sad hot mess of a story. Kerry Washington is not my favorite and in this movie she did not shine at all. There was no chemistry between her and her "boyfriend". She didn't even pretend to like him well. I would not recommend this to anyone.

'PEEPLES': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Two former TV comedy stars clash in this family relations film produced by Tyler Perry. Craig Robinson (of 'THE OFFICE' fame) and David Alan Grier (of 'IN LIVING COLOR' fame) play a children's song writer and the father of the woman he wants to marry (who takes a disliking to him). Kerry Washington (of 'DJANGO UNCHAINED' fame) plays the woman they're at odds over. The movie is a lot like 'MEET THE PARENTS' (except for the obvious difference of a black cast rather than a white one). It's funny, even though it's not that original in any way. Definitely not a bad film (like reviews and some cinephiles like to make it out to be).

Robinson plays Wade Walker, a man who makes a living writing and performing songs for children (as a sort of therapy). He's been dating his girlfriend Grace Peeples (Washington) for over a year now and she still hasn't introduced him to her family. The weekend Wade plans to propose to Grace she informs him she's going to her family's annual reunion in the Hamptons (for 'Moby Dick Day'). Receiving advice from his friend Malcolm (Chris Walker) Wade decides to show up at the Peeples reunion unannounced in order to ask Grace's father Virgil (Grier) for his daughter's hand in marriage. Things of course don't go as planned as Virgil immediately dislikes and distrusts Wade (and no man has ever been good enough for his daughter).

The film was written and directed by first time feature film director Tina Gordon Chism (who had previously written the 2006 comedy/crime-drama film 'ATL' and the 2002 marching band comedy flick 'DRUMLINE'). When I first saw the film advertised as 'TYLER PERRY PRESENTS PEEPLES' I had no desire to see it. I'm not a fan or Perry's; I think he sucks at drama and is even worse with comedy (I hate his 'Madea' character). I was intrigued by the pairing of Robinson and Grier though and thought it was great that Robinson was starring in his own movie. I think Robinson was great on 'THE OFFICE' and is awesome as part of the Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow team. He's a talented comedic actor and he's great in this as well. Grier is perfectly paired opposite him (as his antagonist) although it's odd to see him playing the grey-haired older fatherly character. I grew up watching him share the screen with the likes of Jim Carrey, Jamie Fox and the Wayans brothers on 'IN LIVING COLOR' and he doesn't seem like he should be that old already. He's not, he's only 58 (57 at the time of filming) and just 16 years older than Robinson. Still he's perfect in the part. The movie is funny, not hilarious or extremely memorable, but it works and it's much better than the negative word of mouth it's gotten.

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