Review: Married Too, Too Much of the Same

There's lots to like in Tyler Perry's sprawling multicharacter sequel, but perhaps less would have been more

Review in a Hurry: Once again, four couples vacation together to celebrate their marriages, and again, one of them is doomed by movie's end, while the others will be sorely tested. This Tyler Perry sequel hews closer to his usual formula than its predecessor, but good cast chemistry and a gutturally fierce performance by Janet Jackson keep it watchable.

The Bigger Picture: Traditionally, when a sequel features the word "too" rather than "two" at the end, it means an all-new cast retelling essentially the same story, with Teen Wolf Too being the classic example. Perry's telling more or less the same story here as well, but all the original characters return, having fallen back into old patterns after what appeared to be personal growth by the end of the last film.

So Marcus (Michael Jai White) and Angela (Tasha Smith) still yell at each other all the time between surreptitious swigs of booze, Terry (Perry) and Dianne (Sharon Leal) still have trust issues vis-à-vis her career, and Patricia (Jackson) and Gavin (Malik Yoba) are always ready with answers for everyone else, while secretly being torn apart over grief for their dead son. Meanwhile, newlyweds Sheila (Jill Scott) and Troy (Lamman Rucker) are having issues of their own stemming from his inability to find work, while her sleazy ex, Mike, (Richard T. Jones) is looking to get back in the picture.

The first Why Did I Get Married? showed some real growth in Perry as a filmmaker, with a script that reconceived his play in more cinematic language, character-based drama and humor, and relied less upon the on-the-nose Gospel and histrionic brutality that pervade much of his oeuvre. Here, alas, he can't resist the opportunity to throw in some out-of-left-field tragedies as an excuse for a climax, and they're so random-seeming that they risk making the audience laugh rather than cry (granted, the movie in general is supposed to do both, but not so much at those moments).

Still, the castmembers all have a natural interaction that's quite welcome, building on established personas to create more humor here. Jackson, however, takes things to a whole new level when Patricia finally unleashes her grief. No coincidence, probably, that her brother's death and the subsequent media circus were happening during much of production—when she shrieks that she wants to be left alone in her time of pain, the catharsis is palpable.

Two hours, however, is long for a movie like this. Robert Altman could have pulled off a script with eight main characters, and kept it compelling throughout, but Perry's not remotely at that level, and could have pared down the script to focus more on a clear protagonist.

The 180 – a Second Opinion: At one point, Marcus starts overusing football metaphors, and the other guys complain that they need a sports translator. Really? Are these the only married men in Atlanta who never watch football?