Strange how this flick gets an average rating of 4.9 while lame garbage like, say, Lady in the Water gets a 6...
One thing that sets this movie apart from lots of other recent "black" comedies is that it doesn't rely on cheap lowbrow humor. Instead of painting black folks as various comedic stereotypes, it tries to create characters that everyone can sympathize with. It falls flat sometimes, mainly due to your basic family movie clichés (The Shocking Baby Revelation; We Have Money Problems; The Cheating Spouse), and a kinda slow pace, but the strong performances and dialogue manage to do some good for the plot.
Of course it wouldn't be a comedy-drama without the heavy stuff, and this one has it in spades. I'll tell you what: One scene shows two sisters screaming and clawing at each other in the middle of a rain storm during an argument. That's basically fair warning that this flick can get pretty tough on the drama front. It's balanced out well enough, but it's liable to make you shake your head at some points.
All in all, you could do worse than this one.
One thing that sets this movie apart from lots of other recent "black" comedies is that it doesn't rely on cheap lowbrow humor. Instead of painting black folks as various comedic stereotypes, it tries to create characters that everyone can sympathize with. It falls flat sometimes, mainly due to your basic family movie clichés (The Shocking Baby Revelation; We Have Money Problems; The Cheating Spouse), and a kinda slow pace, but the strong performances and dialogue manage to do some good for the plot.
Of course it wouldn't be a comedy-drama without the heavy stuff, and this one has it in spades. I'll tell you what: One scene shows two sisters screaming and clawing at each other in the middle of a rain storm during an argument. That's basically fair warning that this flick can get pretty tough on the drama front. It's balanced out well enough, but it's liable to make you shake your head at some points.
All in all, you could do worse than this one.