Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)

Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor would barely pass the muster of a Lifetime movie of the week if it weren't for the first part of the title. Tyler Perry slaps his name on any given piece of garbage that's called a screenplay and it can get made - it helps, I suppose, that his movies are always made for peanuts, the kind of budgets that would make Woody Allen on his small-scale character pieces 'Wow, that's rough'. Perry may care and be passionate about his material (certainly he's passionate enough about Jesus and the church, not just here but in many of his films), but he has such a dearth of talent that it's nothing short of remarkable.His story here, good God, is about a 'good girl gone bad' scenario, which is framed by the sort of dramatic device which (um, spoiler sort of not really?) will involve the main character in some way, though we won't know how until the end. But here, it's about a woman who has a man, and she meets a rather "devilish" young gentleman (why do I even bother with quotes, HE'S THE DEVIL, PEOPLE!) who comes in to this firm as a new client or other. Well, who cares what he does really - matter of the situation is, he is rich, powerful, looks and acts like a playboy, and is a rotten person really.But why should the 'good girl' know about that, in such a cautionary tale? Wait, I'm sorry, 'cautionary'? That's not putting it correct - this is like a man holding up a hundred stop-lights that are flashing at a mile a second in front of your face. There are also attempts once or twice at humor - the kind of boring, awful sort of bits of comedy that are ill-timed and poorly thought out and acted. Wait, there's acting here? Some of them try, and no I don't mean to pick on Kim Kardashian, she's not even really the worst of it. What sucks is seeing someone like Smollett-Bell (at one time was the Eve in the underrated Eve's Bayou) or even Vanessa Williams not even try to rise above the dreck that is the script.Or maybe it's a combination platter of terrible. Certainly the dialog is laughably bad throughout, the kind that's usually either far far FAR too obvious, or over the top, or trying to be clever or poignant every-single-step-of-the-way, and ultimately no one is allowed to really be a person. Everyone's a sign-post, a marker, another piece of the MESSAGE (in caps) that Perry is trying to sling at the audience like a monkey throwing feces with a serious look on his face. It's hysterical filmmaking of a terrible order with its double-crosses, insane tonal shifts, and by the end it just leaves you completely drained and wondering 'what the HELL did I just watch?' In other words, The Room - Tommy Wiseau's magnum opus to himself and love and life - had more nuance than this rom-drama claptrap. It might not be so insulting as well if it didn't take things in drama that should or could or would be handled with care and vitality and depth - infidelity, sexuality, sexually transmitted disease - and bungle them, miserably.

This movie featured people who were basically social misfits. Judith was an accident waiting to happen. Her religious mother denied Judith a relationship with her father. Therefore she attached herself to the first man in her life, Brice. She expected him to be both husband and father. When Brice seemingly took her for granted she becomes confused. She was perfect prey for the con-artist Harley. We find out that Harley's mother left him in a crack house. Thus he never respected women. That's why he slept around giving women HIV. His riches provided him more access to new victims. Brice loved Judith enough to save her from Harley but it was too late. As a health care professional he know the risk of contracting HIV so he bounced. My only issue with the movie is it features a broken down Judith limping into the drugstore to face the same man who she betrayed. Most people living with HIV do not look run down and sickly. We have a 6'10 250 man who is one of the greatest basketball players ever. There are generations of people who do not even know he is HIV positive. But as a director, Tyler Perry is a very spiritual man. It comes out in all his movies. Jurnee Smollett made this movie worth watching. She is one of the most beautiful yet under rated actresses in Hollywood. I have watched this movie several times just to see her face.

This is probably one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen. Not only because it preaches pseudo-morals but because it makes absolutely no sense. OK, so you want to tell the world that if you don't stay with your boring husband who forgets your birthday two years in a row, you will burn in hell. Fine, if that's what you think. But do you have to throw in all the bad stuff just because? Seriously, who believes that?So we have this rich guy, who's supposed to be the next Mark Zuckerberg and who states himself that he is a workaholic. Now, imagine Zuckerberg would beat all his girlfriends, sleep around in parties and take drugs all day long: Wouldn't we all know that, because he's famous? Wouldn't we all know that ZUckerberg, Bill Gates, whoever on Forbes hits his wife? Come on! And how can it be that he is a workaholic, but then turns out he's taking drugs and partying all the time and actually never works? His ex girlfriend is super scared, we see how she walks into her apartment and takes a bat, just in case he's there, she wants to move away cause he came in where she works, she changed her name and yet, she is still living in the same city! Maker perfect sense, Tyler Perry.I don't want to bother you with more details, just don't watch this crap from someone who obviously doesn't have a very high opinion about women or sex.

I don't understand everyone's hate for Tyler Perry?! I have loved all his movies! Especially 4 Coloured Girls and The Why did I get Married movies. He is a great writer and his movies keep my interest from start to finish and this one was no different! I loved everything about this movie, and the cast, it was great! The ending was so shocking and not expected! I would watch this movie over and over! I even didn't mind Kim in it, I mean she wasn't all that bad! I was surprised, but in all honesty, I think she was just being herself, which was probably easy for her. I would totally recommend this movie to anyone! I love Tyler Perry and I hope he continues to write movies!