Peeples Blu-ray Review

 

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Lions Gate

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Run Time: 95 minutes

 

 

        Very rarely is anything with Tyler Perry’s name attached going to be unpredictable. He has franchised his name into a safe and generic type of entertainment, and his films and television shows can all be exactly the same as long as he continues to draw in audiences that want more of the same. Thankfully he has taken only a producer position in Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, though the locations look remarkably familiar and the narrative is far from original or surprising. The most surprising thing about this film is how unsympathetic and distasteful the romantic female lead is for a film written and directed by a woman.

 

        Essentially ripping off Meet the Parents in as many aspects as possible without threat of plagiarism, writer Tina Gordon Chism (Drumline, ATL) also made this her directorial debut. Craig Robinson is the film’s sliver lining as Wade, a modest man who takes it upon himself to show up and meet his girlfriend’s wealthy family in hopes of asking for her hand in marriage. When it turns out that his girlfriend, Grace (Kerry Washington), has never even told her family that she was dating Wade, he lets it go far too easily. When he discovers that she has been keeping many other things from him, including a plethora of local lovers a solid twenty years older than her and a criminal record, it becomes obnoxious that Wade still wants to marry her. The film makes him a saint and that just makes him too good for the entire family, including the judgmental Judge Peeples (David Alan Greer), Grace’s father. 

 

        When this film wasn’t annoying me, I was entertained because of Robinson. There isn’t much material to go on here and it feels like a product more than a piece of art, but it makes for a decently bland evening’s entertainment. The Blu-ray release also includes a digital copy, along with a few featurettes, a commentary track, and a gag reel.

       

Entertainment Value: 6/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 4/10

Historical Significance: 1/10

Disc Features: 7/10