It Wasn’t Terrible: My Unpopular Opinion on Why Did I Get Married Again.

I truly do not want to build a platform of critiquing Tyler Perry’s film, however, here we are again. In anticipation of Why Did I Get Married Again, I wrote a blog expressing my unpopular opinion on the first two installments of this story, therefore, I do not think I should leave this film out. I invited my girls over, we had wine, snacks, and laughs as we watched this movie. We even referred back to Why Did I Get Married and Why Did I Get Married Too. We are through that. After, I watched all three films in order, here is the opinion no one asked for.

Let me start by saying this movie was not terrible. I was expecting it to be. Again, I do not want to bash or pick apart Tyler Perry’s work. As a screenwriter myself who is still pitching and soliciting my work, I do not want to come off as bitter or a hater. Because I am not. Also, as a screenwriter, I simply do not want to flat out dissect another writer’s work. I think that is a bit tacky. I speak a lot about Black films, but I usually do it in a way that celebrates or analyzes the films. However, when it comes to Tyler Perry, his work often contains a lot of gaps in the writing, lack of realism, and repeated tropes. Around 2010’s, I started to disengage from his films and television shows. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Why Did I Get Married series has a rather soft spot with me. Why Did I Get Married is a favorite of mine. Which is why we are here now.

Again, this movie was not terrible. When I saw the preview, I said, “here we go.” When I saw Mike had hair, I said, “here we go.” When I saw he added a new character, I said, “here we go.” I was expecting this film to be all over the place, but it wasn’t. I will say he did a good job of bringing everything together. There was a realistic justification of Mike having hair. The new character had a purpose in the already developed storyline. And the focal point of marriage was consistent. HOWEVER!

Shelia’s mother were not needed. That scene added no value to the story line; it was just extra and unnecessary. Roselyn could have been introduced much better. The airport introduction, again, did not add to the story line and really did not offer any significance in telling this story. This is the thing about screenwriting; it is visual storytelling. Dialogue is not the only means of progressing the story. This is not a novel. Two completely different art forms. There were so many opportunities to reduce the dialogue and share pertinent information of the plot in other ways.

In my opinion, Roselyn’s introduction should have told the audience all there was to know about her ex-husband. Perhaps we could have seen him panhandling in dingy clothes. Or begging and cursing her to pay for his way to go to the wedding. It did not have to be over the top either. Just really subtle: Dirty nails, faded clothing, red eyes. Perhaps she could have made a comment that he smelled as she walked away from him. However, that would have eliminated the need for about fifteen minutes of dialogue that we had to sit through later in the film. And it would not have disrupted the plot. Because remember, the audience would have known the truth, while her son was still in the dark. Which leads me to my next point. The revelation of the truth. Again, non-verbal cues would have worked better (in my opinion of course). It would have been better if the son discovered the truth of his dad on his own. For him to have so much resentment and hate toward his mother and then take her word and her boyfriend’s word on the truth. Not real concise writing in my opinion. Personally, I would have thought the conflict would have been better if Mike walked in on his girlfriend with Marcus Jr. His ego needs some serious destruction and going through her phone was too soft for me.

I would have preferred Wesley to discover the truth of his dad on his own. Perhaps he sent him money to come to the wedding and he ghost him. Instead of Mike being the one to open a disturbing photo, maybe his dad could have gone viral for having a crackhead moment. Also, I would have preferred Wesley to have been the one who went to his mom and for the audience to experience their reconciliation without the other characters. Then the other characters could have come along and had the discussion of the truths they kept hidden. That scene. Although it supported the plot and theme, it went on way too long. I would love to see how many pages that scene was in the script. It could have been significantly shortened, and the message still would have been received by the audience.

As I mentioned previously, the movie was not terrible. He wrote about a group of affluent Black people. Whose wealth was classy and tasteful. The scenes were beautiful, their bond was solid, their wardrobes were giving haute couture, the wedding was gorgeous. Okay, wait. Everyone was giving designer runway except for Shelia. She was giving Ashley Stewart and first lady wig. And no shade to Ashley Stewart and first lady wig. But when everyone else is giving purple label Ralph Lauren and raw imported bundles, Ashley Stewart with a splash of Outre Sensational wigs just seems…….ANYWAY!

I enjoyed this movie. I was expecting terrible and received decent. I appreciate the all-Black cast who love and values each other. Who can experience the joys of life and most importantly, no woman was dragged from her house or blatantly disrespected. Good job!