Like a clock being right twice a day, we can always count on Tyler Perry to make some version of the same film over and over. He’s been doing so for almost 20 years, and he shows no sign of pumping the brakes anytime soon.
Perry’s upcoming 25th film, “Divorce in the Black,” stars some of Black Hollywood’s favorites, including Meagan Good, Cory Hardrict, Richard Lawson and Debbi Morgan.
The trailer starts off with Good, who plays Ava, at the dinner table with her husband Hardrict, who plays Dallas. In typical Perry fashion, the Black woman is enduring something traumatic — this time around, it appears Ava is in an abusive relationship. Eventually, she divorces him and finds a new man, only for Dallas to begin stalking her.
Basically, it appears to be a variation of 2015's “The Perfect Guy” — which stars Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut and Michael Ealy — but in a slightly different font and with a different director. But it shares beats with at least a dozen of Perry’s own films...even the beginning of the trailer looks just like his February film “Mea Culpa.”
When Prime Video dropped the trailer on Instagram Thursday evening, the comments seemed to be overwhelmingly against the film’s plot and expressed disdain for Perry’s consistent “Black woman in distress” trope.
Social media is quick to critique Perry for writing, producing and directing all his own films without a writers room to offer different perspectives. Memes and sarcastic tweets poked fun at the predictability of Perry’s plotlines.
But Perry’s defenders are also out on Twitter/X clapping back at haters, reminding folks that he became a capital-B billionaire by consistently catering to the audience that he has targeted since the beginning of his career.
Though it is true that Perry consistently puts the main Black female lead in a dangerous situation, I’m willing to bet money that most, if not all, of the people complaining will watch “Divorce in the Black” in later this summer. Perry knows exactly what his audience wants to see, and he delivers it every time...even if it is shamelessly predictable.
It’s a surprisingly well-crafted marketing tactic that draws us in because, let’s face it...we love the drama. Even though “Mea Culpa” received scathing reviews from critics and fans alike, we still watched it and posted about it on social media.
We are, indeed, tired of the same ol’ factory churn from Perry. But we’ve been complaining about it for years, and he’s still going...seemingly completely unbothered. “Divorce in the Black” will release July 11 exclusively on Amazon Prime.
I know I’ll be watching, and you probably will too.