Nobody's Fool Review

R: Sexual content and language throughout, and for drug materialParamount Players, Tyler Perry Studios, BET Films1 Hr and 50 MinutesWriter/Dir: Tyler PerryCast: Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, Mehcad Brooks, Amber Riley, Whoopi GoldbergWell, it's that time of the year again. Tyler Perry released another movie.
For someone who was brought up following Tyler Perry’s career since his stageplays, it has been rather disappointing to see how little he has progressed as a filmmaker throughout the years. “Nobody’s Fool” is his attempt to be new and improved. This is Perry’s first R-rated comedy that he has both directed and written, and it’s also his first film that doesn’t fall under Lionsgate. So yeah, this might be progress... right?
Trying to get back on her feet, wild child Tanya (Tiffany Haddish) looks to her buttoned-up, by the book sister Danica (Tika Sumpter) to help her get back on track. As these polar opposites collide -- with hilarious and sometimes disastrous results -- Tanya discovers that Danica's picture-perfect life -- including her mysterious boyfriend -- may not be what it seems.
I’ve mentioned this in two earlier reviews and I’ll reiterate it now for the third:TIFFANY HADDISH! I swear this woman could be the in the shittiest film and yet she will still come out on top. We already went through “Night School” and “The Oath”, which weren’t good movies, but she has always been the only notable performer to come out on top proving her display of range, grace, charisma, and perfect timing and delivery. Unlike those aforementioned films where she was reserved, Haddish is back on her “Girls Trip” no filter routine and is fully unleashed and by God she’s funny as hell. She doesn’t become anywhere close to being as funny as her character from “Girls Trip”. When the film hits with it’s comedy, every single gut laugh comes courtesy of her. Some chuckles result from Whoopi Goldberg, but the majority of them come from Haddish. At this point, I would jump head first into anything her name is attached to because I love her. Whatever goes through Tanya’s mind comes directly out of her mouth and it’s some foul-mouthed, nasty things, but she has a caring heart of gold deep down. All of the things she does may be a bit boujee, but she means well. You like her because of her humor, how unapologetic she is, but also because of how she’s the human punching bag of the movie. She may have no filter but everyone treats her like shit. Her sister treats her like shit and so does her mom. Nobody wants to give her shelter at all and the only person who has a decent heart towards her is her coworker/sister’s love interest, Frank (Hardwick). She is not a bad person, but the film actively gives her the short end of the stick and it doesn’t let her change who she is. Her optimism and personality remain the same and it makes you go, “Good on you!”
The streak of “Evil Perry” (as Korey Coleman would put it) continues and NOTHING HAS CHANGED AT ALL! This is Perry’s first R-rated comedy and, while it is noticeably raunchier than his previous films, the narrative still treads the same waters as all of his other comedies.
You know how Woody Allen has hired male actors who could mimic mannerisms and dialect that are congruent with his own? Well, the same premise is present here.Perry is best known for his character Madea who has all of the attributes to Haddish’s Tanya. So, through the rapidness of her dialogue, it hit me that TANYA IS THE SAME CHARACTER AS MADEA!Both have no filterBoth are ex-convictsTalk so much about how gangsta they areTry their best to teach a person a life lesson on how to be a better personJust like the earlier Madea movies when her presence wasn’t so prominent, once they leave the screen and are absent from the picture, you miss them so much.The only differences between Madea and Tanya is that Tanya is an actual woman, much younger, and gets to say sexual stuff explicitly. So, as the film went on, it became clearer:
Even her mom (played by Whoopi Goldberg) has the same characteristics as Aunt Bam who is a pothead and has a room full of marijuana in her house.
While this is more contentedly mature than Perry’s other films, some of his cheap filmmaking is present, primarily the overuse of ADR and ad-libbing to be the root to all of the laughter. You can tell when something is ad-libbed through this very undeveloped script and whatever isn’t said onscreen is obviously said in the recording booth. Someone can be offscreen and then they scream out a punchline in another room and it's so noticeable. The ADR is unbearably bad. As per usual, he shot an entire movie in a little over a week… ten days to be exact. Yup! Someone tell Tyler that filmmaking is not a race. I know you need to make that money, but boy it would be nice to develop your ideas and characters instead of recycling the tropes you’ve been overusing since 2005. For this being his first of many features under Viacom, I’m not fond of what they had him do in this. So the story is centered on a woman helping out her sister who is getting catfished. Guess who makes an appearance to move this story?
Yeah. I’m not kidding. A good percentage of this catfish story involves the guys from “Catfish” which is an MTV show which is owned by Viacom which owns Paramount Pictures. So yeah, in this movie, there is an in-house product placement for “Catfish”. Can you say sellout? Was this a requirement in the fine print of the contract? Forcing Perry to advertise other Viacom properties in their production?New studio contract, same ol’ Tyler Perry. Why did I think that him moving from Lionsgate to Paramount would help him improve as a director and screenwriter? The writing is so lazy that all the characters give Tanya shit for being in jail for five years, but they never address why she was in jail in the first place.
Outside of Haddish, the film is not that funny. The characters are all so bland for they are just the reused carbon copy characters you see in any of his other films. They’re just a bit more shallow than before. None of the characters are either consistent or fully fleshed out. For example, Amber Riley (who plays Danika’s best friend) is one of the many topsy-turvy characters who gives nothing but bad advice to her friend while telling her sister some of the dumb shit that she does. You can’t have it both ways!! Then, your lead Danika (played by Tika Sumpter) is just incredibly unlikable. For her being the straight man, Danika is kind of a bitch. I’m not trying to be disrespectful in any way, but the way this character is presented is really detestable. She’s so caught up in this online relationship that it blinds her from anything else in life like her family, her job, or anything logical. She’s selfish and inconsiderate of others’ emotions and puts her own first. You despise her character all the way through because she does nothing but hurt the feelings of her sister and Frank, the ex-convict who works at her local coffee shop played by Omari Hardwick. Shit, Tanya and Frank form a friendship that’s stronger than the sisterhood she should’ve been sharing with Danika. You would think this would be a buddy comedy where Tanya and Danika set some shit off, but it’s just Tanya giving Frank tips to win her soulless sister’s heart and you root for them. But when it comes to the finale, where Danika comes to her senses as to why she wants to get back with Frank, you just hate her even more.
Then, you have scenes where the acting is just so bad. The cast is fine and give serviceable performances, but when Danika’s ex-fiancée comes in for a second, it’s cringeworthy bad. I can’t find the name of the actor who plays him, but his three minutes of screen time are terrible and so are some of the other supporting characters.Like a lot of comedies, whenever something funny occurs, Perry just doesn’t know when to say “cut” as the jokes go on for way too long and they immediately lose their touch. In terms of humor, Perry’s writing has gotten better, but in terms of storytelling and filmmaking, it’s the same cheap shit that is numbingly exhausting.
In the 2014 film “Top Five”, Chris Rock made a faux Madea Halloween poster which became the inspiration for 2016’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” which had a sequel in 2017 that we don’t talk about… at all. So yes, Tyler Perry made two Madea Halloween movies based off a joke Chris Rock made in one of his movies. The only logical step to take it further is to have Chris Rock come into a Tyler Perry movie and make a cameo, right? Honestly, I’m fascinated by how full-circle this saga of stupidity has come. I never thought I’d see the day where Chris Rock would appear in a Tyler Perry movie, but damn I didn’t want it to be today.
While Haddish’s performance once again elevates the film, her talents are boggled down by the same recycled mediocrity of Tyler Perry’s filmmaking. “Nobody’s Fool” is another shallow, run-of-the-mill comedy, despite being raunchier than Perry’s previous efforts.Rating: 1.5/5 | 36%Super Scene: Fake Charlie“Nobody's Fool” is now playing in theaters everywhere.
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