Tyler Perry's Duplicity

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Marley Wells (Kat Graham) is a high flying attorney, with a loving husband, Tony (Tyler Perry, also starring?!!) and her best friend, Fela (Meagan Tandy.) However, when Fela's partner, Kevin (RonReaco Lee) is slain in a police stop, by new recruit Officer Caleb (Jimi Stanton), under the supervision of family friend Shannon (Shannon LaNier), Wells's life is thrown into a whirlwind of disarray, with a devastating truth where everything may not be as it seems.

For the fourth time in the space of a year (including his two and a half hour unseen farrago Divorce in the Black), writer/director Tyler Perry has another passion project on the go that he can't wait for us all to see. Featuring a no name cast, including, it seems, the man himself, here he has a stab at a suspense thriller with a social justice slant thrown in ('cos that's still an in thing), but if at first he didn't succeed, trying, trying and trying again really hasn't worked for him.

The theme of black men being shot dead in police stops still holds a great deal of passion for many, and so it's still a fairly inspired premise on which to base a new film, but here it's delivered in such a ham fisted, heavy handed manner that it has no effect. There is the slightest hint of genuine suspense and mystery to the story, but it's quickly drowned out by descending into a preposterous, drawn out ending that pollutes the rest of the project.

Missieur Perry would do well to consider the likes of Uwe Boll, and even the 'legendary' Ed Wood, and consider his present trajectory in their direction before he gets carried away again. **

I'm calling on all script writers and movie directors to take a little bit more time and flesh out a better "ending" for your films TV projects. A lot of of the shows and movies that I watch nowadays, including this particular movie, starts out interestingly enough and pique your interest with a plot that is filled with potential only to sputter out at the end. I mean, come on, let's just do a little bit better. Let's just put a little bit more effort into the endings of films and shows. These film developers are getting millions of dollars to create these projects and it's like - when it's time to write an ending or shoot the conclusion they just rush to the finish line. It's not impossible. I remember watching episodes of Game of Thrones or episodes of Better Call Saul and/or the Ozark and by the end of the episode, right before the credits roll, you just sit there with your mouth wide open. More shows and movies could strive to make people have that feeling, it's not hard. And everything does not always need to be tied into a pretty little bow - you can be a bit daring and shocking in your art, it's OK. These movies and shows lure us In with a good plot potential and then we get let down over and over and over again. It's getting tiring and folks are pretty soon, just going to stop caring (at all) about the projects you develop.

Okay, the film isn't Oscar worthy, but it's also not 3 hrs long. Yes, the acting wasn't the best, and some parts were very well over acted, but the plot twists more than made up for its deficiencies. It's "free" on Prime and worth the watch, so enjoy the movie. It's just over 90 minutes long.

I think it also did well addressing current social issues with a positive message, like we can all do better. Thank you Tyler Perry for addressing issues that most filmmakers don't.

While I appreciate the comments to help me gauge a movie, some 5's are on the cusp of becoming a good to a very good movie.

Super slow moving unbelievable, literally impossible, plot, so NOT great crime, couldn't happen in a million years, like a high schooler's 1st attempt at a crime novel, with a ton of gaping holes, great actors and actresses but the script drags on and it looks like the actors themselves are having trouble figuring out which part of the plot they are in, the reactions don't always match the storyline. The last 2 minutes did have one great scene where the summary of how we should as a society face police shootings was a great line. So, wait for the movie to be free and watch the last 2 minutes; you will get the point I'm sure Tyler Perry had in mind. Following the storyline also makes the viewer have to struggle to put it together, because it's a puzzle of plots that don't quite fit, like struggling to put together a puzzle and realizing it's a collage of mismatched images with several plots, not interconnected, a puzzle with several images within one. LIke a story written by several different people who didn't know for sure what the other writers were going to write.

Interesting Amazon original movie.

It is a modest police thriller, in some ways also with a fairly predictable ending, which however has the greatest merit of addressing, in a fairly clear and understandable way, also some socially burning and politically always very current issues, namely the training techniques of police officers, the superficial and approximate way of closing certain legal cases through plea bargaining, the domestic violence and, above all, the racism.

Aesthetically, the work is very good, filmed in 4K, it is practically free from criticism.

In my humble opinion, it is worth seeing, provided that one has a certain indulgence towards certain glaring interpretative errors (even on the part of the protagonists, unfortunately). It is certainly not a boring movie, even if, as already mentioned, it lacks originality.