The Family That Preys
Encyclopedia
The Family That Preys is a 2008
American
drama
written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry
. The screenplay, focuses on two families, one wealthy and the other working class, whose lives are intertwined in both love and business.
This is the second of four movies in which Perry's signature character, Madea, does not make an appearance. It is also the second Perry-directed film (alongside Daddy's Little Girls) that is not based on any of the filmmaker's stage plays.
, socialite
Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates
) hosts the wedding of her best friend Alice Evans' (Alfre Woodard
) daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan
), who is marrying ambitious construction worker Chris Bennett (Rockmond Dunbar
). The couple is congratulated by Charlotte's son William (Cole Hauser
) and his wife Jillian (KaDee Strickland
), who deprived Charlotte of planning an elaborate reception for them by eloping. William suggests the newlyweds contact him for employment with the Cartwright family's highly successful Atlanta construction company after they return from their honeymoon.
Four years later, Ben (Tyler Perry
), is married to Andrea's sister Pam (Taraji P. Henson
). Pam looks after Andrea's three-year-old son for extra income while working at her mother's diner. It troubles her that Andrea doesn't do more to help their mother financially when her designer clothes and new Mercedes
make it clear she is prospering. What Pam doesn't realize is her sister is involved in an extramarital affair with William and enjoying all the perks that come with the relationship.
Chris has dreams of opening his own construction firm with Ben, but Andrea - who clearly now thinks she's much better than her husband because of her success - ridicules him and his aspirations. He and Ben apply for a loan at the bank and are declined, but he accidentally discovers his wife has nearly $300,000 on deposit in a secret account. When Andrea returns home late one night to find Chris sorting through financial records she had hidden, she claims the money is an accumulation of bonuses she received from William and insists she has the right to keep some things private from her spouse. Telling him he never will be as charming and successful as William, she refuses to finance his dream.
William is determined to wrest control of the company from Charlotte, and is certain the $500 million deal he recently has closed will prove he's capable of running the firm. Instead, his mother hires Abby Dexter (Robin Givens
) as COO
. She determines the company will have to front $25 million to make William's new deal viable, and the only way to raise the money is for Charlotte to sell 10% of her shares, thus leaving her with a minority vote. William reminds Abby his vote combined with his mother's will give the Cartwrights continued control, and she advises Charlotte to sell her shares.
Charlotte suggests she and Alice take a road trip in the vintage turquoise Cadillac
convertible
she has purchased. Alice initially declines but eventually agrees, and the two women head west, following neither a set route nor timetable. Rambunctiously adventurous Charlotte introduces Alice to honky tonk
s and strip club
s with male dancers, while religiously strait-laced Alice reciprocates by bringing Charlotte to a communal baptism
so her soul can be saved. Late one night, when Charlotte becomes unduly stressed while trying to deal with her digital camera, she reveals she has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease
and has been told there is nothing that can be done to slow the process of her mental decline.
Meanwhile both Jillian and Abby become aware of Andrea and William's affair. Although Jillian makes a flippant remark to Chris that Andrea is with her husband, he is oblivious. William then fires both Chris and Ben after being approached for investment money to start a separate construction business on their own. Abby then fires Andrea, who has been told by Jillian to stay away from her husband William.
Charlotte and Alice return to Atlanta, where Andrea confronts and gets mad at Chris for depositing her $300,000 into a business account, the majority of which has already been distributed. She says that he is tired of him and that he and Ben will never be like William. Ben remarks that nobody is trying to be like him and that she can't see that because of the affair. Chris pulls Andrea aside and she tells him the money came from William and that he is her man. Chris, furious, slaps Andrea and she falls over the counter. He arguably says that she thinks that he was crazy. She says keep the money and throws some money in his face and says to get some boxes and get his stuff. Chris couldn't believe that after 5 years they have been married, she would talk to him like that. He wonders about their son and Andrea says that William is the father.
Meanwhile, William is plotting a takeover of the family firm. Although she and her mother-in-law never have been close, Jillian warns Charlotte about her son's plan. Charlotte then calls a board meeting and fires William from the company, telling him she has the support of the Calvary Company; until now a silent investor
that turns out to be Alice, who for years has been given financial guidance by Nick Blanchett (Sebastian Siegel), a homeless man she frequently fed and cared for at her diner.
Nick's story behind his homelessness is explained earlier by Alice to her daughter Pam while at the diner. Alice explains to her that Nick had at one point been a frequent customer of Alice's who would leave her "big tips" and loved her coffee. One day Nick lost his job and not long afterward, his wife died and Nick then lost custody of his children. In an assumed severe untreated depression, Nick now lived "wherever". Nick still came into the diner on a regular basis and would repay Alice for her kindness by giving her secretly solid financial investment advice. It is later revealed that the job Nick lost had been working for William, who fired Nick without cause. William's downfall allows Nick to find some comfort as well as satisfaction/vindication.
In the parking lot, William is approached by Andrea who, unaware of the recent turn of events, expects him to back her in her battle with Abby and leave Jillian to marry her. Instead, he tells her their affair is over and drives away, despite her claim that her son is his.
Alice later receives a call from Charlotte, when she tells her that she is dying of a deadly combination of pills, which causes Alice to have an emotionial breakdown & as she questions "are you living or dying?"
Alice makes a eulogy
at her funeral,which becomes a song as the movie ends with Chris leaves Andrea and Andrea moves into a small apartment with their son, whose paternity is left unresolved, Chris gives her some money then leaves her at the doorstep. However, Chris is now successful and wealthier while Andrea is poor in an ironic twist. Chris and Ben open their own firm, Nick is wealthy and buys a house of his own, and Alice decides to sell the diner. Getting into the car Charlotte left her, she resolves to stop procrastinating and enjoy life while she can and, with a photo of the two friends taped to the dashboard, she heads north.
reported 51% of critics gave the film positive notices, based on 37 reviews, while Metacritic
gave it a 49/100 approval rating, based on 14 reviews.
Stephen Holden
of the New York Times said, "The suds that cascade through [the film] more than equal the cubic footage from nighttime soaps like Dallas
, Dynasty
and their offspring. As the movie proceeds, the flow quickens into a surging flood tide of recriminations and reversals in which blows are exchanged, claws bared and tears shed . . . The Family That Preys doesn’t worry about how it gets from A to Z. There is no problem that a miraculous (and preposterous) plot development can’t resolve in two minutes."
The New York Daily News rated the film three out of five stars and commented, "Perry's notoriously overstuffed plots have sometimes been top-heavy, but this movie, like Woody Allen
's Hannah and Her Sisters
, hangs on an elegant structure that doesn't feel forced. Perry's skills as a director have improved as his casts have gotten better, and he gives the lovely Woodard one of her most satisfying roles . . . By melding the pleasures of 1950s-style melodrama
. . . with equal-gender, African-American
-aimed plots, Perry has found success in a niche only he now occupies. And by adding Christian tenets and modern issues . . . Perry shows he knows what his audience wants. First and foremost, that's a smart, satisfying movie experience, which Family is."
Claudia Puig of USA Today
said the best thing about the film "is the opportunity it affords to watch a pair of veteran actresses still at the top of their game. Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates play best pals in this soap opera
-style story, and the moments each are on-screen are undeniably the movie's best. One senses a rapport and chemistry between the women that transcends the formulaic plot."
Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter
observed, "Although this interracial Dynasty isn't always believable - it's a stretch to accept the lifelong friendship of the two matriarchs as well as the last-minute business coup that they engineer - there's plenty of action to keep us engrossed. Perry wears his religious faith lightly . . . and is shrewd enough to balance piety with raucous humor and lots of sinful shenanigans. Perry's filmmaking skills have improved to the level of competence, and he has assembled a dream cast."
Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel
rated the film two out of five stars and called it Tyler Perry's "most cinematically polished production to date" but also "yet another example of how the mini-mogul from Atlanta is his own worst enemy, raiding his cupboard of his popular but pandering stage plays and not bothering to script doctor them for the screen. As sophisticated as the filmmaking becomes, Perry's scripts are still painfully unsophisticated grab-bags of melodramatic cliches, tired jokes and sermonizing."
Peter Debruge of Variety
said the film "recycles familiar ingredients according to his own unique formula, serving up a lip-smacking, finger-snapping sudser" and added, "Perry has a tendency to overload his features, and The Family That Preys is no exception, reflecting the helmer's view that the emotional roller-coaster of life can whip its passengers from outrage to exhilaration, from belly laughs to tears in an instant, making for an exhausting yet cathartic overall experience. The result seems ideal for [audiences] who don't see too many movies, cramming enough into one film to satisfy them until the next Perry pic comes out."
Monika Fabian of Time Out New York said, "As with Perry’s other films, his Christian moralistic storytelling can be slightly off-putting — but the solid acting and genuinely entertaining story are sure to satisfy fans, and maybe even bring in some converts."
Ken Fox of TV Guide
rated the film three out of four stars and said, "Thanks to some first-rate acting from its stars, it ranks among Perry's best."
Tom Becker of DVD Verdict
said, "The Family That Preys has that Love Boat kind of watchability and simplicity. Everything runs in a straight line, all endings are inevitable, and emotions and morals are no more complex than a well-timed platitude. The characters are amalgams of recognizable types plunked down in sitcom settings that elicit near-Pavlovian responses of cheers, jeers, and tears. Here and there, Perry throws us a curve ball—an act of physical violence presented as deserved comeuppance or a character's grim and dubiously appropriate endgame—but even these are not jarring enough to derail it. This is film as comfort food, and not the gourmet kind."
Brian Orndorf of DVD Talk
said, "Preys" is a soap opera in the most unashamed sense, and while this aesthetic has made Perry heaps of coin, his personal screen touch remains some of the worst overall filmmaking around. The new feature is perhaps even more melodramatic than anything that's come before, taking the Andrea/William affair and using it as the inspiration for the cast to arch their eyebrows to assured cramp, flare nostrils in unintentional comedic fury, and bounce impassioned lines of dialogue off each other with medicine ball grace. It's equal parts hilarious and aggravating, with Perry showing little shame as he works the characters into pants-wetting hysteria."
Gregory Kirschling from Entertainment Weekly
stated, "Tyler Perry's melodramas have a tendency to skid not only off the counter but out the kitchen and down the hall, too. The Family That Preys, his first film in six months, is all over the place: It's a boardroom/family/couples/road-trip story. Kathy Bates plays the head of an Atlanta construction company where Sanaa Lathan is a snooty exec and her husband (Rockmond Dunbar), for maximum class/race sizzle, is a worker grunt. As usual, the villains, like Lathan, are very bad, and the good guys, like Dunbar, are very noble — until they get mad and clock their wives."
. It eventually earned $37,105,289 domestically, making it the second least successful of Tyler Perry's films to date only ahead of Daddy's Little Girls.
and DVD on January 13, 2009. It is in anamorphic widescreen
format, with audio tracks and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include deleted scenes, Two Families, Two Legends, which spotlights stars Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates; Preying in the Big Easy, about filming in New Orleans; Casting the Family, with interviews with the director and cast, and Delving into the Diner, in which production designer
Ina Mayhew discusses her concept for the set.
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
. The screenplay, focuses on two families, one wealthy and the other working class, whose lives are intertwined in both love and business.
This is the second of four movies in which Perry's signature character, Madea, does not make an appearance. It is also the second Perry-directed film (alongside Daddy's Little Girls) that is not based on any of the filmmaker's stage plays.
Plot
In a prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
, socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
) hosts the wedding of her best friend Alice Evans' (Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
) daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in numerous movies, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun...
), who is marrying ambitious construction worker Chris Bennett (Rockmond Dunbar
Rockmond Dunbar
Rockmond Dunbar is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Kenny Chadway on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food, and as Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin on the FOX television drama series Prison Break...
). The couple is congratulated by Charlotte's son William (Cole Hauser
Cole Hauser
Cole Kenneth Hauser is an American film and television actor.-Family background:Hauser was born in Santa Barbara, California, son of Cass Warner, who founded the film production company Warner Sisters, and actor Wings Hauser. His paternal grandfather was Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dwight...
) and his wife Jillian (KaDee Strickland
KaDee Strickland
Katherine Dee "KaDee" Strickland is an American actress currently known for her role as Charlotte King on the ABC drama Private Practice....
), who deprived Charlotte of planning an elaborate reception for them by eloping. William suggests the newlyweds contact him for employment with the Cartwright family's highly successful Atlanta construction company after they return from their honeymoon.
Four years later, Ben (Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
), is married to Andrea's sister Pam (Taraji P. Henson
Taraji P. Henson
Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Yvette in Baby Boy , Shug in Hustle and Flow and Queenie in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009...
). Pam looks after Andrea's three-year-old son for extra income while working at her mother's diner. It troubles her that Andrea doesn't do more to help their mother financially when her designer clothes and new Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
make it clear she is prospering. What Pam doesn't realize is her sister is involved in an extramarital affair with William and enjoying all the perks that come with the relationship.
Chris has dreams of opening his own construction firm with Ben, but Andrea - who clearly now thinks she's much better than her husband because of her success - ridicules him and his aspirations. He and Ben apply for a loan at the bank and are declined, but he accidentally discovers his wife has nearly $300,000 on deposit in a secret account. When Andrea returns home late one night to find Chris sorting through financial records she had hidden, she claims the money is an accumulation of bonuses she received from William and insists she has the right to keep some things private from her spouse. Telling him he never will be as charming and successful as William, she refuses to finance his dream.
William is determined to wrest control of the company from Charlotte, and is certain the $500 million deal he recently has closed will prove he's capable of running the firm. Instead, his mother hires Abby Dexter (Robin Givens
Robin Givens
Robin Simone Givens is an American model and film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her role as Darlene Merriman on the television series Head of the Class.-Early life:...
) as COO
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
. She determines the company will have to front $25 million to make William's new deal viable, and the only way to raise the money is for Charlotte to sell 10% of her shares, thus leaving her with a minority vote. William reminds Abby his vote combined with his mother's will give the Cartwrights continued control, and she advises Charlotte to sell her shares.
Charlotte suggests she and Alice take a road trip in the vintage turquoise Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
convertible
Convertible
A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...
she has purchased. Alice initially declines but eventually agrees, and the two women head west, following neither a set route nor timetable. Rambunctiously adventurous Charlotte introduces Alice to honky tonk
Honky tonk
A honky-tonk is a type of bar that provides musical entertainment to its patrons...
s and strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s with male dancers, while religiously strait-laced Alice reciprocates by bringing Charlotte to a communal baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
so her soul can be saved. Late one night, when Charlotte becomes unduly stressed while trying to deal with her digital camera, she reveals she has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease
Early-onset Alzheimer's disease
Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, also called early-onset Alzheimer's, or early-onset AD, is the term used for cases of Alzheimer's disease diagnosed before the age of 65. It is an uncommon form of Alzheimer's, accounting for only 5-10% of all Alzheimer's sufferers...
and has been told there is nothing that can be done to slow the process of her mental decline.
Meanwhile both Jillian and Abby become aware of Andrea and William's affair. Although Jillian makes a flippant remark to Chris that Andrea is with her husband, he is oblivious. William then fires both Chris and Ben after being approached for investment money to start a separate construction business on their own. Abby then fires Andrea, who has been told by Jillian to stay away from her husband William.
Charlotte and Alice return to Atlanta, where Andrea confronts and gets mad at Chris for depositing her $300,000 into a business account, the majority of which has already been distributed. She says that he is tired of him and that he and Ben will never be like William. Ben remarks that nobody is trying to be like him and that she can't see that because of the affair. Chris pulls Andrea aside and she tells him the money came from William and that he is her man. Chris, furious, slaps Andrea and she falls over the counter. He arguably says that she thinks that he was crazy. She says keep the money and throws some money in his face and says to get some boxes and get his stuff. Chris couldn't believe that after 5 years they have been married, she would talk to him like that. He wonders about their son and Andrea says that William is the father.
Meanwhile, William is plotting a takeover of the family firm. Although she and her mother-in-law never have been close, Jillian warns Charlotte about her son's plan. Charlotte then calls a board meeting and fires William from the company, telling him she has the support of the Calvary Company; until now a silent investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
that turns out to be Alice, who for years has been given financial guidance by Nick Blanchett (Sebastian Siegel), a homeless man she frequently fed and cared for at her diner.
Nick's story behind his homelessness is explained earlier by Alice to her daughter Pam while at the diner. Alice explains to her that Nick had at one point been a frequent customer of Alice's who would leave her "big tips" and loved her coffee. One day Nick lost his job and not long afterward, his wife died and Nick then lost custody of his children. In an assumed severe untreated depression, Nick now lived "wherever". Nick still came into the diner on a regular basis and would repay Alice for her kindness by giving her secretly solid financial investment advice. It is later revealed that the job Nick lost had been working for William, who fired Nick without cause. William's downfall allows Nick to find some comfort as well as satisfaction/vindication.
In the parking lot, William is approached by Andrea who, unaware of the recent turn of events, expects him to back her in her battle with Abby and leave Jillian to marry her. Instead, he tells her their affair is over and drives away, despite her claim that her son is his.
Alice later receives a call from Charlotte, when she tells her that she is dying of a deadly combination of pills, which causes Alice to have an emotionial breakdown & as she questions "are you living or dying?"
Alice makes a eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
at her funeral,which becomes a song as the movie ends with Chris leaves Andrea and Andrea moves into a small apartment with their son, whose paternity is left unresolved, Chris gives her some money then leaves her at the doorstep. However, Chris is now successful and wealthier while Andrea is poor in an ironic twist. Chris and Ben open their own firm, Nick is wealthy and buys a house of his own, and Alice decides to sell the diner. Getting into the car Charlotte left her, she resolves to stop procrastinating and enjoy life while she can and, with a photo of the two friends taped to the dashboard, she heads north.
Cast
- Alfre WoodardAlfre WoodardAlfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
as Alice Reynolds-Evans, a hard-working single mother of two daughters and one of the main protagonists of the film. Alice is more strait-laced and cautious than Charlotte, but eventually learns to enjoy life. - Kathy BatesKathy BatesKathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
as Charlotte Cartwright, Alice's best friend and the other main protagonist. Charlotte is the more reckless of the two. She eventually develops Alzheimer's and dies after using a deadly combination of pills, but after she foils her son's plot. - Sanaa LathanSanaa LathanSanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in numerous movies, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun...
as Andrea Evans-Bennett, Alice's older daughter and Chris's wife. She eventually discloses her secret relationship with William, much to Chris's chagrin. Andrea really didn't care for her mother, sister, or husband. - Cole HauserCole HauserCole Kenneth Hauser is an American film and television actor.-Family background:Hauser was born in Santa Barbara, California, son of Cass Warner, who founded the film production company Warner Sisters, and actor Wings Hauser. His paternal grandfather was Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dwight...
as William Cartwright, Charlotte's son and the main antagonist of the film. He is determined to seize control of his mother's company. He is also secretly having an affair with Andrea, which Chris later beats him up for. William is ultimately fired after Charlotte and Alice put Nick in charge. - KaDee StricklandKaDee StricklandKatherine Dee "KaDee" Strickland is an American actress currently known for her role as Charlotte King on the ABC drama Private Practice....
as Jillian Cartwright, William's wife whom Charlotte dislikes. But later, they develop some sense of connection - Rockmond DunbarRockmond DunbarRockmond Dunbar is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Kenny Chadway on the Showtime television drama series Soul Food, and as Benjamin Miles "C-Note" Franklin on the FOX television drama series Prison Break...
as Chris Bennett, Andrea's husband and a construction worker. Andrea really didn't much have care for him - Tyler PerryTyler PerryTyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
as Ben, Chris's best friend and Pam's husband. He and Chris ultimately start their own construction firm. - Taraji P. HensonTaraji P. HensonTaraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Yvette in Baby Boy , Shug in Hustle and Flow and Queenie in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009...
as Pam Evans, Alice's younger daughter and Andrea's younger sister. She is also Ben's wife. She is hardworking like Alice and works at the diner with her and cares for Nick when she left with Charlotte - Robin GivensRobin GivensRobin Simone Givens is an American model and film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her role as Darlene Merriman on the television series Head of the Class.-Early life:...
as Abigail "Abby" Dexter, a businesswoman whom Charlotte hires to become COO, and who also becomes aware of William's plan - Sebastian Siegel as Nicholas "Nick" Blanchett, Alice's homeless friend who ends up running the company at the end of the film. It is revealed that he used to work for William, who fired him without just cause.
Critical reception
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported 51% of critics gave the film positive notices, based on 37 reviews, while Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave it a 49/100 approval rating, based on 14 reviews.
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of the New York Times said, "The suds that cascade through [the film] more than equal the cubic footage from nighttime soaps like Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
and their offspring. As the movie proceeds, the flow quickens into a surging flood tide of recriminations and reversals in which blows are exchanged, claws bared and tears shed . . . The Family That Preys doesn’t worry about how it gets from A to Z. There is no problem that a miraculous (and preposterous) plot development can’t resolve in two minutes."
The New York Daily News rated the film three out of five stars and commented, "Perry's notoriously overstuffed plots have sometimes been top-heavy, but this movie, like Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Hannah and Her Sisters
Hannah and Her Sisters
Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begin and end with a family Thanksgiving dinner...
, hangs on an elegant structure that doesn't feel forced. Perry's skills as a director have improved as his casts have gotten better, and he gives the lovely Woodard one of her most satisfying roles . . . By melding the pleasures of 1950s-style melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
. . . with equal-gender, African-American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
-aimed plots, Perry has found success in a niche only he now occupies. And by adding Christian tenets and modern issues . . . Perry shows he knows what his audience wants. First and foremost, that's a smart, satisfying movie experience, which Family is."
Claudia Puig of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
said the best thing about the film "is the opportunity it affords to watch a pair of veteran actresses still at the top of their game. Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates play best pals in this soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
-style story, and the moments each are on-screen are undeniably the movie's best. One senses a rapport and chemistry between the women that transcends the formulaic plot."
Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
observed, "Although this interracial Dynasty isn't always believable - it's a stretch to accept the lifelong friendship of the two matriarchs as well as the last-minute business coup that they engineer - there's plenty of action to keep us engrossed. Perry wears his religious faith lightly . . . and is shrewd enough to balance piety with raucous humor and lots of sinful shenanigans. Perry's filmmaking skills have improved to the level of competence, and he has assembled a dream cast."
Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
rated the film two out of five stars and called it Tyler Perry's "most cinematically polished production to date" but also "yet another example of how the mini-mogul from Atlanta is his own worst enemy, raiding his cupboard of his popular but pandering stage plays and not bothering to script doctor them for the screen. As sophisticated as the filmmaking becomes, Perry's scripts are still painfully unsophisticated grab-bags of melodramatic cliches, tired jokes and sermonizing."
Peter Debruge of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said the film "recycles familiar ingredients according to his own unique formula, serving up a lip-smacking, finger-snapping sudser" and added, "Perry has a tendency to overload his features, and The Family That Preys is no exception, reflecting the helmer's view that the emotional roller-coaster of life can whip its passengers from outrage to exhilaration, from belly laughs to tears in an instant, making for an exhausting yet cathartic overall experience. The result seems ideal for [audiences] who don't see too many movies, cramming enough into one film to satisfy them until the next Perry pic comes out."
Monika Fabian of Time Out New York said, "As with Perry’s other films, his Christian moralistic storytelling can be slightly off-putting — but the solid acting and genuinely entertaining story are sure to satisfy fans, and maybe even bring in some converts."
Ken Fox of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
rated the film three out of four stars and said, "Thanks to some first-rate acting from its stars, it ranks among Perry's best."
Tom Becker of DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict is a judicial themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. Current editor in chief is Michael Stailey, who also reviews for Rotten Tomatoes...
said, "The Family That Preys has that Love Boat kind of watchability and simplicity. Everything runs in a straight line, all endings are inevitable, and emotions and morals are no more complex than a well-timed platitude. The characters are amalgams of recognizable types plunked down in sitcom settings that elicit near-Pavlovian responses of cheers, jeers, and tears. Here and there, Perry throws us a curve ball—an act of physical violence presented as deserved comeuppance or a character's grim and dubiously appropriate endgame—but even these are not jarring enough to derail it. This is film as comfort food, and not the gourmet kind."
Brian Orndorf of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
said, "Preys" is a soap opera in the most unashamed sense, and while this aesthetic has made Perry heaps of coin, his personal screen touch remains some of the worst overall filmmaking around. The new feature is perhaps even more melodramatic than anything that's come before, taking the Andrea/William affair and using it as the inspiration for the cast to arch their eyebrows to assured cramp, flare nostrils in unintentional comedic fury, and bounce impassioned lines of dialogue off each other with medicine ball grace. It's equal parts hilarious and aggravating, with Perry showing little shame as he works the characters into pants-wetting hysteria."
Gregory Kirschling from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
stated, "Tyler Perry's melodramas have a tendency to skid not only off the counter but out the kitchen and down the hall, too. The Family That Preys, his first film in six months, is all over the place: It's a boardroom/family/couples/road-trip story. Kathy Bates plays the head of an Atlanta construction company where Sanaa Lathan is a snooty exec and her husband (Rockmond Dunbar), for maximum class/race sizzle, is a worker grunt. As usual, the villains, like Lathan, are very bad, and the good guys, like Dunbar, are very noble — until they get mad and clock their wives."
Box office
The film opened in 2,070 theaters in North America on September 12, 2008 and grossed $17,381,218 on its opening weekend, ranking #2 at the box office behind Burn After ReadingBurn After Reading
Burn After Reading is a 2008 black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Brad Pitt. It was released in the United States on September 12, 2008, and it was released on October 17, 2008...
. It eventually earned $37,105,289 domestically, making it the second least successful of Tyler Perry's films to date only ahead of Daddy's Little Girls.
Home Media
The film was released on Blu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
and DVD on January 13, 2009. It is in anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format, with audio tracks and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include deleted scenes, Two Families, Two Legends, which spotlights stars Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates; Preying in the Big Easy, about filming in New Orleans; Casting the Family, with interviews with the director and cast, and Delving into the Diner, in which production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
Ina Mayhew discusses her concept for the set.
External links
- The Family That Preys at Allmovie