Twitter users took the internet by storm with obligatory memes when Tyler Perry’s movie, “A Fall From Grace,” made its debut on Netflix last week.
Some reviews of the self-made director and producer’s new film were positive, but most were negative. Other news platforms, such as BuzzFeed, went as far as describing it as one of the “worst movies yet.”
One of the biggest jabs taken at Perry in regard to the quality of the movie was the cheaply made wigs actors were required to wear in several different scenes.
In a recent interview with Hello Beautiful, Perry responded to some of the backlash after stating that he doesn’t have time to wait for the right kind of wig on set.
“Even though we are who we are, what does the character look like? So this character had this different hair whether it was real or fake because this is who the character is,” Perry said.
Viewers pointed out several inconsistencies and continuity errors in the film – which was shot in just one week – as well.
Many said that as someone who has now been in the movie industry for over two decades, mistakes in Perry’s “A Fall From Grace” should have been avoided.
“I haven’t watched the film. However, based on what I’ve seen on social media, I would say the mistakes are a testament to filming a movie in 5 days. I think what makes this so questionable is Tyler Perry’s status and resources are so acclaimed and yet his product doesn’t seem to match. As a filmmaker, he seems more concerned about pushing out the media rather than the quality and storytelling of it,” said Amanda Jean-Mary, a film production graduate student at Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts.
It is a known fact that Perry does not have a writers’ room and instead chooses to write all of his material on his own. For years, critics have judged Perry for his lack of professionalism in putting together countless movies and his not so subtle, stereotypical overarching themes.
Critics seem to believe that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for him to perhaps create a writing team of new perspectives in order to enliven his art and help him move past many of the cliches and blind spots that riddle his work.
Paul Askew, a second-year nursing major at Florida A&M University who watched the film at least three times, feels indifferent about a lot of the complaints that Perry and the film have received.
“The movie was good to me. It had a good plot twist and a lot of excitement. There’s definitely a stigma toward Tyler Perry now especially coming from the Black community and that’s mainly because of social media. It just kind of became a bandwagon to hate Tyler Perry. There was a point in time when everybody loved Tyler Perry movies, but now a lot of people feel like his representation of this Black woman caricature is damaging to the community. While that’s valid, I think too many folks use that as a reason to over-nitpick at everything he does,” said Askew.
“A Fall From Grace” is available on Netflix streaming service through a paid subscription.