Good Deeds

Tyler Perry never seizes to amaze me in that he can go from one film that is a crazy, over-the-top comedy with the likes of Madea in it to a sensitive, well acted, real-life drama like "Good Deeds".

Businessman Wesley Deeds (Tyler Perry) is jolted out of his scripted, predictable, routine life with fiance, Natalie (Gabrielle Union) when he meets Lindsey (Thandie Newton), a single mother with a 6-year-old daughter, Ariel (Jordeen Thompson), who happens to work on the cleaning crew of Deeds' office building.
Lindsey has her own set of problems with being poor and not being able to stay in her apartment even though she has a job. So between sleeping in their car and staying in the janitor's room at the office building to staying at shelters, their life continues to spiral. Meanwhile, Wesley is trying do deal with his angry, bitter, combative brother, Walter (Brian White) who has no compassion and is incredibly self-absorbed. Wesley, through his meeting Lindsey, starts realizing that there's more to life than his dysfunctional family, non-connected fiance, his business and doting mother, Wilimena (Phylicia Rashad). What's a guy to do?

Others to round out the cast are Eddie Cibrian as John, Wesley's second-hand man in his business, Beverly Johnson as Brenda, Rebecca Romijn as Heidi, and Jamie Kennedy as Mark Freeze.

This was painstakingly well written and directed by Tyler Perry ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman" '02, "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" '02, "Madea's Family Reunion" '06, "Madea Goes to Jail" '06, "Daddy's Little Girls" '07, "What's Done in the Dark" '08, "Meet the Browns" '08, "The Family That Preys" '08, "Madea's Big Happy Family" '11). This was all laid out in an extremely realistic, honest way, so it almost seemed like the audience was looking in on people's lives rather than watching a film.

It had few inconsistencies, such as seeing people smoking in a San Francisco bar which, in California, is against the law. But, all in all, this had a great story with 'real' acting. Perry really pulled it off. How often can one go see a film about people in crisis, dysfunction, upheaval and still be entertained just because of how it's delineated? Not many.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                       Rated: PG-13                        111min.