Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Steve Pulaski I think it took me till Tyler Perry's Good Deeds to discover what Tyler Perry does best with and that is showing relationships evolve from mutual acquaintances into something that doesn't always channel deep, romantic feelings. Perry pulls a nice trick here, leading you down the path with the impending notion that Good Deeds will turn into a redundant, foreseeable romantic drama between two people of different social classes, but the way it develops into a genial and sincere parable on life and helping someone from a different position in life is kind of nice.This time the story concerns wealthy businessman Wesley Deeds (Perry), who has not only inherited his father's software company but just about every convention, mannerism, and habit his father picked up in life. He has become so commonplace in his behavior and predictable in his drive and actions that his fiancée Natalie (Gabrielle Union) states she could "set her watch by Wesley." One day, Wesley abruptly meets Lindsey Wakefield (Thandie Newton), a stressed single mother who works as a janitor for the company, when she parks in Wesley's parking space in a rush to pick up her check from the company. Wesley, at the time, is accompanied by his ticking-time-bomb of a brother Walter (Brian J. White), who attempts to force Lindsey out of the space by calling a tow truck. Out of pure compassion and sympathy, Wesley lets this instance slide.Wesley begins to become closer to Lindsey but not in the usual sense. More or less, he tries to understand her societal position and achieve something of cultural relativism or "walking in someone's shoes," so the cliché goes. He lends a hand to Lindsey and her six year old daughter, trying to keep both of them calm in a time of uncertainty. It's not just that the film does well but the way it handles complex issues and shows the bitter, unfortunate reality of a bad situation.Take, for example, the scene when Lindsey's daughter is about to be taken away by child services when they discover that Lindsey is barely living paycheck-to-paycheck and doesn't have a stable place to live. Her daughter is in tears when she is about to be taken by the officers and despite her mother's reassurance that, for the time being, this is in her best interest, she feels abandoned and helpless. While all of this is happening, Wesley stands passively by, but clearly seems scarred and rocked by the issue. It is this scene that shows he is finally coming out of his well-to-do, corporate bubble and seeing that had his father been, for the lack of a better term, another poor black man, his childhood could've been as heartbreaking and as unforgiving as Lindsey's daughter.Perry has grown on me overtime to say the least. I found his film Diary of a Mad Black Woman to be obnoxious and overblown and his Madea's Witness Protection to be abysmal. When Perry wears his own, distinguished wardrobe, or conducts business with characters that aren't leaning or adopting advice from a gargantuan ogre with an attitude problem, he is, for the most part, a filmmaker that achieves passable quality. Good Deeds is his strongest work next to Daddy's Little Girls. The commonality between both projects his their uninterrupted human focus and their "slice of life" depictions of realistic issues.I find myself appreciating the way the mawkish material was handled in Good Deeds more-so than writing it off as stale, manipulative-fare which is sort of what this is. However, Perry finds the right tonality and manages to make it work for the entire one-hundred and ten minutes of the film. Perhaps it's a bit overlong, perhaps it's a bit underwritten, and perhaps Perry is giving a rendition of drama with the same kinds of plot-points he put to use before. I really couldn't notice.Starring: Tyler Perry, Gabrielle Union, Thandie Newton, and Brian J. White. Directed by: Tyler Perry.

Mike Cooper The character and life of Wesley Deeds was relateable in some ways and inspiring. Although Tyler Perry is highly recognized for his over the top comedic expression via Madea, his cross over into this melo-dramatic role suited the character in which he played. Having him fall for the janitor is not so far fetched. One part that i found to be unrealistic was his lack of knowledge and reference to 2Pac ("The rapper guy"). The portrayal of a struggling single mom who was a widow was far from the stereotypical baby mother -whereby the father ran off. Phylicia Rashad (mother to Wesley)played the mother role a little too well. I can see her being that way in real life. Gotta love Mrs. Huxtable ;)

mooie72 I have been a Tyler Perry fan for years, but movies like this reaffirm my belief that he needs to stick with the Madea formula.The general concept of the movie is a great one, and I think in another circumstance, it might have worked, but my biggest issues were with the people chosen to portray the characters. First, I have a hard time with Tyler as Deeds. Maybe it's just his huge personality (after all he IS the "Grand Dame" of dramedy) or maybe it was the writing, but it didn't feel believable.Thandie Newton was not at ALL a good choice as a down on her luck, working Mom. And I hated how she could be so ignorant and flying off the handle at everyone one moment and then completely sweet and gracious the next. I think her character should have been tempered with some Prozac! Gabrielle Union was great in her role, but in honesty, I couldn't help but wonder if she was even necessary to the story. She was like a loose thread they had to keep coming back to. In hindsight, maybe Thandie would have been better as the wife.Overall, it wasn't a BAD movie, it just was hopelessly unsatisfying and not one I'd care to watch over again.

TamPalm I am not a Tyler Perry defender, but I have to call foul on the 3.1 rating. Those who reviewed the movie average about a 6 or 7, so I'm led to believe many who have voted on this movie did not in fact see the movie. Considering the assault Perry receives from critics--myself included at times--it would not be hard to believe some would undermine the rating system here and seek to sabotage anything with the name "Perry" in front of it. Moving on...I will go out on a limb and say this is Perry's highest quality effort to date. It's the first movie I remember seeing of his that did not run with the trite good-guy/bad-guy story line. This movie had more depth than any of his previous. There were no bad guys. Every character was troubled and coping and...human. Many I think missed the real theme of this movie. It has absolutely nothing to do with a man coming to save a woman. It is about having the courage to follow your own path. It is a universal theme, one that hits home for virtually everyone. Sure there may be better movies out there who execute this theme, but this movie does it competently in my opinion, and by Tyler Perry's standards, it is more than competent. It is dare I say, actually "good?" I liked the acting. Once I got past Thandie's always-strange accent and the little girl's initially poor acting performance, and Brian White's sometimes over-acting, the movie caught its groove and all of the actors delivered. Newton played a particularly touching role. I have to admit her ability to cry on a dime regarding the loss of her child, made me tear up a bit. To say that I was shocked to find myself actually tearing up from a Tyler Perry movie is the understatement of the day. Perry and Gabrielle Union also delivered. Both portrayed their complex characters well and competently showcased the true ambivalence that often accompanies a relationship, especially one that occurs when the couple is past their twenties and have to grapple with all the life expectations that entails. This brings me to the next highlight--the script.It seems like Perry actually took his time--or at least more time than he usually does, say on the horrible movies like "Madea Goes to Jail" or the like--on this script. There was more character development, more growth, more nuance, and unpredictability. There were plot holes, sure, but in general, you didn't feel short-changed as a viewer, like the writer was just trying to rush something through to meet a deadline so that he could ultimately get your money--ahem--"Why did I get Married 2" looking at you! Finally, I liked the pace of the movie. Some may think it was slow, I think it was mature...a mature movie about mature matters. I liked this for a change, especially in comparison to the low-IQ slapstick I had previously associated with Tyler Perry. And let me leave this little tidbit: If you, like me, happen to currently be in a similar place in life as these characters--about to make big life decisions but fear you are not making the right ones--you will doubly appreciate the meditative pace. You will appreciate the more introspective tone than is found in Perry's other movies.The movie is not perfect, but I will give it a relatively high rating simply to combat the unfairly low rating it has as of this writing. We should applaud growth when we see it. "See it" being the operative phrase. See the movie before low-rating it. Have some integrity folks.