Good Deeds

The movie is the stereotypical romantic story. The fact that I'm even writing about this movie is because I actually thought that this would be the first Tyler Perry movie that I might remotely like. The preview looked so promising but to get into the theater and get that standard romantic fare was a little disappointing. The story was too predictable and might have been a little more genuine if it ventured in a different direction. The acting was average as well - Thandie Newton acted well though I felt the accent was a little weird and someone should tell Tyler Perry that being a director doesn't necessarily make you a good actor. Some of his acting was cringe-worthy. I liked seeing Phylicia Rashad again though - she is still as beautiful as I remember. Gabrielle Union did well too.

Overall, I give this movie a 5 out of 10 which reflects what I thought about it - average.

My first Tyler Perry movie, and far better than some of the reviewers have made out and well worth at least a 6/10.

I have always liked Thandie Newton and Brian White and they do well in their roles and make them believable, Tyler Perry is solid in the leading role, likewise Gabrielle Union was good in her role as Tyler Perry's characters girlfriend.

The story was predictable from very early on, but still interesting and worth watching. A small amount of violence, but not over done.

Nothing amazing or new for me, but definitely worth watching at least once if you like romantic movies.

Good Deeds (2012) is a movie that I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a rich business owner who has an unappreciative fiancée and reckless, angry brother. His life seems perfect but when he meets a down on her luck single mother janitor in his building, he decides to help her out and falls in love in the process. His perfect life is about to take a drastic turn...

This movie stars, is written and directed by Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman) and also stars Gabrielle Union (Bad Boys 2), Thandiwe Newton (Crash), Eddie Cibrian (The Cave), Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show), Rebecca Romijn (X-Men), Jamie Kennedy (Scream 2) and Brian White (Stomp the Yard).

This picture does a great job of depicting a single mother's struggles and Newton delivers a tremendous performance. The characters are unique and the situations are perfectly depicted. The soundtrack is absolutely tremendous. I will say many elements felt unrealistic but still made you smile as they unfolded. The mother and daughter dynamic is well portrayed and the child acting by Jordenn Thompson was impressive. The conclusion was cliche but made me smile.

Overall, the ratings for this are a bit harsh. I would score this a 7/10 and recommend seeing it once.

This film is true to Tyler Perry's style in that he always wants to convey positive messages. There were so many messages in this film that I don't even know where to start. The film demonstrates that no matter how much money you have, you can still be unhappy in your own skin. It also made me realize that I should stop gripping about the things that I don't have and consider myself blessed to have what I do because there is always someone out there that has it worse. I am glad to see Tyler Perry (Wesley Deeds) step out of the comedic genre. I think that he was very believable as the romantic lead. I really hope that he continues to expand the types of films that he makes so that he does not become stereotyped as a one-hit-pony. Gabriele Union (Natalie) is always perfection in any role that she plays. I don't think that she gets the credit that she deserves, but I will say that she did a fantastic job hosting the BET honors awards (she is very funny). Thandie Newton (Lindsey Wakefield) pulled at your heart strings in this film. Every time I see a homeless person on the streets I always ask myself, "I wonder how he/she got here". Well, Lindsey answered that question for me in this film and makes me realize that sometimes it is to no fault of the individual. It's just life and things happen. Thandie is like a chameleon transforming from a strong-willed woman in For Colored Girls, to a beaten down struggling women in this film. Brian White (Walter Deeds) reminded me that there are still haters in this world and definitely convinced me that he was the king of the haters. Tyler obviously like working with Phylicia Rashad (Wilimena) because he has cast her in a couple of films with good reason. I don't care how many films I have seen her in; every now and then I get a glimpse of Mrs. Huxtable. Is it just me? The one thing that I have to say about the audience in this theater is that we all reacted the same way at the same time and we did it out loud. I love that! I also have to say that I love this film although it was very predictable. It was just refreshing to see a positive film for a change that conveyed basic life messages. I give this film a green light.

I have now seen some Tyler Perry movies that weren't good (like Madea's Big Happy Family) and some that were (his adaptation of For Colored Girls... was the best so far). This one was better than expected since he doesn't play that stereotypical mammy-type character that I just mentioned nor does he put any obvious comedy scenes that makes one groan like in that first movie I just wrote about. In fact, the only character I thought was truly one-dimensional was that of his no-good-brother played by Brian White who has no business being part of their father's company but because he's family...Anyway, Perry plays perhaps the most caring of businessmen one would expect to be depicted in modern cinema as he discovers a female janitor played by Thandie Newton who's on welfare because of some personal troubles. Oh, and Perry's engaged to Gabrielle Union and has a mother played by Phylicia Rashad who's a little uptight though she also knows where she's been. In summation, Good Deeds was a nice surprise for me concerning Mr. Perry's output and on that note, I recommend it.