It should come as a surprise to no one that I’m not a Tyler Perry fan. For a myriad of reasons: from the inconsistent quality control, the harmful stereotypes that proliferate his movies, and the rampant misogynoir in his work— his vision of Blackness disturbs me. And yet, my younger sisters love his movies. As do my other relatives. They feel seen by his work whereas mainstream filmmaking overlooks them. So, when I sat in my seat for the World Premiere of his latest film, “A Jazzman’s Blues,” I sat with a bundle of complicated feelings to watch a filmmaker I find neither appealing nor intriguing. 

But “A Jazzman’s Blues” promised a side of Perry not seen since he first…

I admire Tyler Perry’s business and behind the scene work more than his movies. I personally think his plays are his magnum ops. Every now and then he drops a gem of movie to appreciate. 

A simple story about forbidden love with some nice performances on deck. I gotta give it to him this is definitely his best looking film ever. The cinematography is gorgeous shining from wide fields to crowed cities. I’m really glad this movie didn’t go overboard and really stuck to its interesting story. It has alot of unlikable characters but they all were so convincing without feeling forced. Also loved the two leads and really felt the chemistry between them. 

This isn’t the greatest love story…

I preface this review like I do for basically any review I do for a Tyler Perry film. You guys can probably guess if you followed me for a bit, I’m not his biggest fan. I absolutely respect how he’s built his brand and given career opportunities to a lot of unknowns in the African American community don’t get me wrong. His movies are “critic proof”, despite how I may view them, they make a ton of money and satisfy his target audience. I just personally think a large majority of his films feel lazy, loud and obnoxious, and specifically catered to middle aged women. His brand of humor, that is specifically for his Madea movies which I found funny…