Pourquoi je me suis marié aussi?

The first installment in this series was decent enough to spark my interest in checking out the sequel. Unfortunately, Why Did I Get Married Too was a sub-par attempt to reprise Perry's previous venture in couples therapy. There were a few redeemable aspects of the movie, namely, some of the characters have been further developed. The new aspects of their relationship dynamics made it interesting to see how their lives have changed. Also appreciated are the moments of bare sincerity in the dialogue. There are a few scenes where a husband and wife could be seen having a believable, vulnerable discussion about the impact of individual choices on their relationship without the bravado of over-the-top displays.

Sadly, any redeemable parts of this film were heavily flanked in overwrought dramatic scenes in an effort to create meaningful turning points, and mostly uncomfortable attempts at humor. It's as if Perry thought that hearty laughter from the characters in the more comedic scenes would somehow make the scene funnier; the mission was not accomplished. Also, Perry decided to have the movie be more dependent on Janet Jackson's character as the center pin of the plot, which is an unfortunate shift because she simply doesn't have the skills to deliver. While she is more highly emotive throughout this film, she isn't believable. It just left you feeling uncomfortable watching it happen. To make matters worst, the scene transitions felt abrupt, like you were being yanked by the collar from one end of a room to another.

On a more pitiful note, there were several lines and scenes that were way too close to those from the movies Boomerang, Soul Food, and Unfaithful. It's one thing to have a trite storyline; it's a whole other issue when scenes are taken from other movies and executed so similarly to the original that the forerunner immediately comes to the viewer's mind. This kind of poorly-done mimicry leaves you feeling duped by and embarrassed for the person attempting it. The worst part was the ending, which felt rushed and forced. Perry is certainly invested in happy endings, but this was insulting to the characters and the viewers.

Overall, the only reason I continued to watch the movie was not because it was in any way worth it, but because I have a sometimes silly desire to finish what I've started. I hope that Perry soon decides to employ screenwriters to broaden the scope of what seems to be a one-man show and production because movie scriptwriting requires a level of skill that he has not yet polished.

I was a bit too young to remember the last Tyler Perry movie I saw, and was never exposed to any of his actual plays. Thus, I held neutral expectations for "Why Did I Get Married Too," though I heard that its predecessor was quite good. I ALMOST left the theater taken aback at Perry's exceptional directing and understanding of human emotions. Unfortunately, that was all but squashed by one of the worst endings I've seen in a long time.

The plot is quite straightforward. Terry (Tyler Perry) and Diane (Sharon Leal) embark on their yearly couples retreat (sounds familiar?) with their friends, all of whom are also married. Marcus (Michael Jai White) and Angela (Tasha Smith) are constantly at odds with each other for any reason they (as in mostly Angela) can fathom, Troy (Lamman Rucker) and Sheila (Jill Scott) are battling the all-too-real consequences of unemployment, while Patricia (Janet Jackson) and Gavin (Mailk Yoba) serve as the model relationship for the group. The retreat is brought back to a harsh reality when Sheila's former husband, Mike (Richard Jones), unknowingly books time with the group's beach house for the weekend. His interruption, unbeknownst to the couples, tests their relationships as their own flaws slowly unravel and manifest themselves.

Perry's playwriting influences are made apparent right from the beginning, as each character behaves and builds in a play-like manner. This works strongly in his favor, as each character is developed well enough to bring significant amounts of powerful tension and drama later into the film. Perry also fiddles with the emotions of his audience like a puppet master, tossing them from angst to anger to happiness with incredible ease and lightning-fast timing. Every actor was stretched to their emotional limits in this film; I found Jackson's performance shockingly spectacular here and her conflict with Yoba to be one of the most intense partnerships I've seen in a while. In short, I felt like I was yanked from my seat and strapped onto the front of an emotional roller-coaster right from the beginning.

Unfortunately, that trains flew off the tracks into a horrible crash landing in the film's final ten minutes. While the ending was somewhat unexpected, it was certainly not the ending I *wanted* to expect. It was as if Perry waited an hour and 50 minutes to cram all of the clichéd, fantasy, happy-ending-feel-goodness Hollywood delivers in spades. The last two minutes were especially insulting. It was so appalling for me, in fact, that it made me spend the two hour train ride home realizing many of the other plot holes and unanswered questions Perry made irrelevant for me beforehand. I'm just going to assume that Perry didn't write the ending; it makes more sense.

All in all, the film is exceptionally well-made, incredibly moving and does not rely on its previous installment for the audience to wholly appreciate. Even despite its questionably poor ending, I highly recommend it.

I am by no means a fan of Mr. Perry's work, I feel as though they movies are a simple formulaic ploy to pull cash out of the pockets of Black people. You say Jesus, roll your neck, cry a lot & then have a light skinned man save the day and there you go. This film provided all of that as usual, but was far better than the very low ratings would warrant or suggest. I believe in keeping it all real and the movie was good. Not great mind you, but good. I would like to see Perry open the door to some other struggling filmmakers and allow for greater creativity and choices, but I think he may be afraid of being shown up. Just my opinions here, but he really has got to do better or even better said we as Black people have to stop running behind anything with a Black face on the poster and make these filmmakers give us really really good movies to watch.

The original "Married" was not Oscar material, but it was at least a solid 5 or 6 on a 10-point scale. It had some freshness and some unpredictability to it that at least made for some fun entertainment.

The sequel is none of these things.

Quite possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Clichéd to the hilt. Weak, repetitive, IQ-lowering humor bordering on sloppy slapstick. From the slow beginning to the disappointing end, this movie is starved. The plot is begging for more development, the actors are aching for better utilization of their characters, and the script is pleading to be burnt to ashes.

Like Perry's "I Can Do Bad," this movie seems rushed as if very little thought was put into making it. I have no idea how the mess I saw on that screen made it pass the editing booth. There's just no way...unless someone was trying to beat some kind of deadline and concluded that since this movie is guaranteed to win the box office, "who cares about quality? We make it and 'they' will come. Release it." And release this stink bomb of a film they did. What a waste.

I hate to be all negative, so I will try to offer one positive. Like in the first movie, Janet stretches her acting and almost comes off as a decent actor. Kudos to Perry for helping get that out of her I guess.

And with that, I'll turn in as I'm sleepy after watching that sleep-inducing tripe of a film. Maybe in the morning I'll feel less angry about giving away two hours of my time that I will never get back. And don't say you weren't warned...even if you're a Tyler Perry fan, you will find my critique to be true.

Toodles

This movie actually turned out better than I had expected it to be. But then again, of course I didn't really have much of any expectations for a movie such as this to begin with.

"Why Did I Get Married Too?" starts out with the appearance of just another romantic comedy. But then the movie suddenly started to become so much more, as it came to be revealed all the problems and life situations that each and everyone in the different marriages were dealing with and struggling with.

The cast was rather good, and people were well cast for their individual roles. The actors and actresses performed quite well.

There are some pretty good laughs throughout the movie, just as there are moments of thick drama and emotion. So there is a bit of everything to be had in "Why Did I Get Married Too?".

I can warmly recommend that you take the time to watch this movie if you enjoy romantic comedies that have more than the usual superficial layer to them that permeates the romantic comedy genre.