Peeples (2013)

Peeples is a brilliant, original movie about a man struggling to gain acceptance from his girlfriend's family, while the family struggles with their own internal secrets and an overbearing patriarch.  Who am I kidding?  Peeples is basically Meet the Parents, and yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Oh, it's Tyler Perry Presents Black Meet the Parents."  While that's not far from the truth, there's really nothing distinctive about Peeples that makes it unique to any ethnicity.  You could literally swap out the entire cast, and you'd still have exactly the same movie.

I usually find myself in the minority when I tell people that I didn't even like the first Meet the Parents (I liked the subsequent sequels even less).  Movies that follow this format really frustrate me where you have an overbearing father figure that everyone seems to walk on eggshells around.  Nobody speaks up to him, even when he's clearly wrong.  Then, you've got the boyfriend who's meeting the family for the first time, and despite not really knowing anything about the guy, the father (and sometimes the entire family) just beat him up.  The boyfriend won't stand up for himself, because he doesn't want to cause any drama, and takes way more abuse than I think a normal person would put up with if this actually happened.  Sometimes, even the girlfriend doesn't defend him enough, which makes it even more frustrating.  We also learn that much of the family is hiding secrets, and the father not being entirely truthful with everyone either.  Finally, the boyfriend finally speaks up, all the secrets come out, everyone gets mad, the couple breaks up before everyone comes together and reconciles.

In Peeples, Wade (Craig Robinson) shows up at his girlfriend Grace's (Kerry Washington) family beach house to surprise her and hopefully propose to her.  Only he learns that she's never even told her family about him.  Grace's father, Virgil Peeples (David Alan Grier), as if mandated by movie law, clearly doesn't like Wade.  They also point out he's a judge so we know he's an extra-hardass.  Wade desperately wants to impress and win Virgil's approval and get his blessing to marry his daughter.  Wade's able to able to win over the rest of the family, which is a slight departure from the formula, and his girlfriend even defends him to Virgil on a few occasions.

Another key difference to me is that I feel like Craig Robinson has a little more of an easy going charm about him.  He's a bigger guy, so he also has that teddy bear quality.  He still puts up with more crap than he should, but there's nothing mean spirited about him.  You'll watch Peeples and wish he'd speak his mind a little more, even if some feelings get hurt.

he biggest disappointment about Peeples though is that it's just not that funny.  There are a few lines here and there that got a chuckle out of me, but overall, it's another tame, inoffensive family comedy.  I guess I was expecting a little more, because if you've seen Craig Robinson on The Office, or his various roles in other comedy film, he's a really funny guy when given good material.  Also, I've come to be a big fan of David Alan Grier from his many appearances on Adam Carolla's Podcast.  He's an absolute riot on Carolla's show, and he doesn't get a chance to show that here.  I don't either of these guys gave bad performances, I only wish the movie would have taken advantage of their considerable comedic talents.

There are also tons of musical numbers, which many times felt really out of place, and simply weren't funny.  With a different cast, you could easily see Jack Black playing the lead role, only this is a vehicle to show Craig Robinson's musical chops.  He has the ability, but I don't think kiddie songs like 'Speak It, Don't Leak It' are gonna win you any Oscars for best original song in a movie.

This could have been a sitcom with how many of the scenes didn't have any setup from one to another.  At one point, Wade's brother (Malcolm Barrett) shows up out of the blue for no real reason, and it feels like an attempt to inject some new blood into something that doesn't have a lot of life in it at that point.  Tina Gordon Chism's script (she also directed) doesn't have any flow about it, as well as being extremely predictable.  I could even take the predictability if the film had any bite to it.  Peeples is tired joke after tired joke.

Peeples is nothing you haven't seen before.  It's yet another inoffensive, predictable family comedy that offers few laughs and wastes a talented cast.  It's a less annoying rehash of Meet the Parents.  I didn't hate the movie, it just didn't do anything for me.  This is the very definition of a rental and is not something there's any reason to see in the theater at all.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Django Unchained (2012) - Movie Review

Bounty hunters, we don't need their scum.

A former dentist turned bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), is in pursuit of a trio of slave trading brothers.  He frees a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx), as Schultz believes Django can help identify the brothers. The unchaining and the adventure begins.  Django and Schultz hit it off and Schultz takes a special interest in Django once he tells him the story of how he was separated from his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Schultz makes a deal with Django to become his partner in bounty hunting for the winter and then he'll set Django free and help him find Broomhilda.

I'm often reminded of another tale of a bounty hunter named Jango, who was a simple man just trying to make his way in the universe.  I don't recall what happened to Jango, but I heard he lost his head over something a long, long time ago.  I heard Samuel L. Jackson was somehow involved.

Back to the unchaining.  They eventually track down Broomhilda, and learn she's been purchased by a plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).  They travel to his plantation, Candieland, to free her.  I hear Candieland was located next to Chutes and Laddersville.  Here's where the movie got a little odd for me, as their plan to free Broomhilda seemed needlessly complex.  When their plan is uncovered Candie still agrees to sell Broomhilda and seemed more upset about their deception.  I thought this was the one real weakness of Quentin Tarantino's story.

Another issue was the massive use of the 'n word'.  I expected to hear it from time to time considering the period and subject of the film.  I figured that's how slavers spoke, but it's said like every other second and by just about every character.  I can see this being really offensive to some, especially when it's used for comedic effect.  It was kind of shocking to hear it said, but then it's said so much that you almost become desensitized to it, which isn't a good thing.

The good news is that Django Unchained has that brutal, over-the-type violence you've come to expect from Tarantino.  One of the things I really appreciated about this was the lack of CG blood. It just has a better feel and I have a more visceral reaction when they use blood packs, and believe me, they use a lot of them.  It's the one area where I wish filmmakers would abandon use of computer animation.  Tarantino also understands how to use the anticipation of violence to build tension.  The longer the movie goes on, the more you keep expecting something to happen suddenly.  There's a great scene near the end of the film with Leonardo DiCaprio where the whole time I was expecting something to explode.

You also get much of Tarantino's off-kilter humor throughout the film.  Despite the overuse of the 'n-word', Tarantino is still a great dialog writer, which has always driven his films.  There's great chemistry between all of the actors.  Christoph Waltz is fantastic!  In relatively short period of time, Waltz has become one of my favorite actors and I love watching how much fun he he's having with role.  Dr. Schultz a flair for the dramatic, and you see he even has a code he follows.  I was kind of worried that Jamie Foxx was going to be the weak link, but he played off Waltz well and I really enjoyed the character.  I feared he was just going to try to play a bad-ass without any nuance about it, but turns out I haven't been giving him enough credit as an actor.  Leonardo DiCaprio infused some life into the second half of the film with his awesome portrayal of Calvin Candie.  He's a mustache-twirling villain if I've ever seen one.  There's never a moment where you don't see that he's a sick, evil man.  It's always more entertaining to watch a film when you can tell all the actors are really into their roles and having a blast with them.

It's interesting to me how a lot of Tarantino's films are tributes older film styles.  He clearly wanted make an old fashioned spaghetti western, and at times that's exactly what it is, just with Tarantino's flair.  I always look forward to seeing what genre or era he's taking on next.  Another recent trend of his is that the length of his films are coming dangerously close to getting out of control.  I didn't mind the length of Django Unchained, since I was entertained the whole time, but there were certainly scenes here and there that could have been removed or tightened up.  At 165 minutes, it felt like he either needed to cut it down, or split it into two films like he did with Kill Bill.

Whether you're a fan of old westerns or Quentin Tarantino, you should enjoy Django Unchained. It's definitely a little too long, and some might find it offensive, but if you can get past that, it's a fun ride with great performances and the type of humor and violence you've come to expect from Tarantino.  I strongly recommend checking it out.

4 (out of 5) Death Stars