Why Did I Get Married Too?

To appreciate why my review is below average you will need to see 'Why did I get married' Basically you have four couples in the original and each have their issues and by the end each issue is resolved one way or the other. So the problem for the sequel is how do you follow up on issues that have already been resolved. The answer is to create new issues or rehash old ones. This is how the sequel goes. So we have four couples each dealing with issues again. Now there's nothing wrong with that if the issues are plausible and played out properly and have credible endings. This is where 'Why did I get married too' goes sadly wrong. Some issues were credible but the endings were not or were not given an ending whilst the most prominent issue, well I'm struggling to understand what it actually was. I had no empathy with the female lead and felt that she should have been charged with crime and I think in real life most of those characters would have nothing to do with her after what she directly caused. Sadly this is a sequel that should never have been and I can only speculate that it failed because a certain actress only signed up for the sequel so she could have the most prominent role and in so giving it to her the movie failed. You will know to whom I refer when you watch this movie. So watch this movie if only to understand why a lot of sequels fail miserably as this one did!

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.

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.

Why Did I Get Married Too (2010)

I didn't see the first one, so can only approach this for what it was--an ensemble film that works with the problems of contemporary marriage. Yes, in particular this focuses on black America, but Perry seems to pull out the ways this part of the culture resembles American culture at large. And so there lies the flaw, in a way, of making much of this movie: it inevitably revisits familiar material. Does it do it well, or with freshness, or any edge of originality? Maybe only in the sense that it represents very very well to do African Americans, a segment not typical Hollywood fodder.

This isn't a rotten film, as some viewers like to say, but it isn't as well acted, sharply written, exquisitely filmed, or narratively interesting as it could have been by far. And it compares badly with Perry's wonderful "For Colored Girls." You might say this is ambitious--there are nine full blown main characters, each more or less equally dealing with their spouses--but in a way it is overwhelming, and for me at least I had trouble keeping all the story lines straight at first. But these narratives don't ever quite get fleshed out as fully as they need to be, both for their own sake, as small stories, but for the movie as a whole, since none of the content really goes deep. I don't mean it isn't emotional, but it's moving in a surface way.

If you do give this a shot, be aware that the second half of the movie is much better. It's less chitchatty, more serious, has better acting (including some really moving, intense stuff) and has the various plots intertwine and get a little edgy. But also be aware that none of this is especially well done. It rides in a style that might really be called prime time television, interesting but not amazing or transforming.

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.