This film is about as far from my favorite "Black cast" film as you can get. The biggest reason is that -- and this was mostly before we saw the dark side of him -- Chris Brown can't talk well, can't eat normally, and definitely cannot act worth...well, you know what. However, his performance of "This Christmas" is stunning, but today it's sort of in the shadow of someone like Chris Brown singing "Try A Little Tenderness"! And then there's the problem of Idris Elba. His character was so unlikable in most of this film that I pretty much avoided any film he was in for the last 10 years, although recently I've begun to respect his acting more.
The rest of the cast is likable and does fine, and I remain convinced that Loretta Devine is a terribly underrated actress. She excels in so many films.
As to the story...well, for a while I was thinking how many families are this messed up...and then I thought of my own family when I was growing up, and I put that whole criticism of the film to rest. However, there's an awfully lot of family dysfunction packed into one film. But, it has some interesting story lines and is reasonably entertaining.
Again, not one of my favorites, but well worth watching...except for the Chris Brown segments.
The rest of the cast is likable and does fine, and I remain convinced that Loretta Devine is a terribly underrated actress. She excels in so many films.
As to the story...well, for a while I was thinking how many families are this messed up...and then I thought of my own family when I was growing up, and I put that whole criticism of the film to rest. However, there's an awfully lot of family dysfunction packed into one film. But, it has some interesting story lines and is reasonably entertaining.
Again, not one of my favorites, but well worth watching...except for the Chris Brown segments.