With the enthusiasm we had to see the new movie on Netflix by Tyler Perry titled, ‘A Fall from Grace’, it would be in order to say that in as much as he is one of the most revered directors, he may just have lost his touch of audacity in this one. It’s fair for anyone reading this piece to say that the writer is a “Masterpiece Createur, a Genius not of this world”.

Aha! That same mindset on the first view – that anything from Tyler Perry is, should be or must be the best – was what we had until we had to see the movie twice, but my dear, we’re sorry to say that it was not nice!

We shall keep this brief and straight to the point, thus, let us start by asking, why does Tyler always make black African-American WOMEN look so desperate, bitter, trying to seek revenge blah-blah-blah in his stories?

We are not saying that Tyler isn’t great with most of his scripts but isn’t it becoming boring, appalling, and whatnot with same pointers years after years after years? And o! Let’s remind ourselves that in ‘A FALL FROM GRACE’, Crystal Fox was seen playing a role close to what we’ve just mentioned above. And for those who will be quick to fire back, permit us to ask, aren’t there marvelous, soul-uplifting, heroic roles that African-American women could be made to play from start to finish? It’s a given that the movie is on one level about elderly abuse, and on the other, about the apparent naiveté of older women who are desperate to be loved, even when it all seems too good to be true, but the inability of the director to serve a pungent balance story makes it look like, ‘it is a movie for idiots’ (Excusez Mon Française).

After repeatedly seeing the movie, celebrating it may come across as celebrating mediocrity simply because; the Plot, the Story line, the Acting, the Cinematography, the Lighting, among other things – all porous. There was no creativity in the movie, no matter the angle you sat on your sofa to watch. Pivotal moments in the movie were missing. No research was done. Potholes in the movie were conspicuous from start to finish.

If you have seen the movie once or twice or thrice, you may want to walk the corridor mathematically with us on this:

[1] How come the entire PROSECUTION didn’t talk about the MAN pushing the WOMAN over the edge? Couldn’t we have gotten a BALANCED STORY?

[2] How come the public defender, Jasmine Bryant (Bresha Webb) could not tell that the phone records were going to be brought up in the court, thus, covering that side so that she doesn’t look ‘stupid’ before everyone including the viewers?

[3] Do they want to tell us that Crystal Fox (Grace) flogs the living hell out of her ‘younger’ husband, Mehcad Brooks (Shannon) with a BATON, supposedly kills him with blood gushing out of his skulls, drags him to the staircase, leaves him to roll yakataaa and then at the end of the movie, just a BANDAGE was wrapped on Shannon’s head?

[4] The scene where all the elderly kept women simply showed that there was no iota of research done. The women in there were portrayed to have been there for years but their demeanor never sent the message.

[5] So in this age and time, we were made to understand that Shannon stole every dime without a blink and it had to take just the bank’s camera to catch him?

[6] The court scenes were simply preposterous. On our third time watching, we decided to have our Lawyer friend see the movie and all she could say was, “did they research on what really goes on inside the court room?”

[7] The opening scene had the Cop (Matthew Law) witness a woman commit suicide and getting to the end of the movie, he seems not to remember THE HOUSE from where the woman fell from?

[8] What in heaven’s name were the EXTRAS in the movie doing by looking into camera? Most of them were playing their roles like the typical African waka-pass.

We could go on and on but the truth is unpretentious – How did this movie end up on Netflix…because the movie was badly produced!

Over the years, we can attest to the fact that Tyler Perry’s productions are always interesting and instinctive but with ‘A FALL FROM GRACE’, the result gave us a panicky satisfaction.

Maybe just maybe, if this same work was produced by another producer (not of Tyler’s caliber), it would have been rubbished, called shitty and so much more, but since it's coming from Tyler’s stable, it is excellent?

Without a shred of doubt, Tyler Perry with his movies has always marched impeccably towards imperial coronations, but this time his focus flirted…albeit, he is just human who may just need a good day of fresh new focus in the office – so as to regain his touch of audacity.