Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)

Over the past decade, Tyler Perry has become a big name in Hollywood.  Between the cinematic and television works that he has created, directed, produced, and starred in, Tyler Perry has built himself into a household name.  It is tough to find anyone who has not at least heard of Tyler Perry.  The guy is putting himself everywhere and anywhere possible.  One of his most recent efforts was a movie titled Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor.  This is the movie I watched for this week’s Sunday “Bad” Movie post.

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor tells the story of Judith, played by Jurnee Smollett-Bell.  She is a wholesome woman working at a dating service run by Janice (Vanessa Williams).  When a potential investor, Harley (Robbie Jones) arrives, she is tempted to cheat on her husband Brice (Lance Gross).  Her whole world is turned upside down and some crazy things happen along the way.  Also in the movie are Kim Kardashian as Ava, Judith’s coworker, and Brandy Norwood as Melinda, Brice’s coworker.  It was written and directed by Tyler Perry, who surprisingly did not make an appearance in the movie.

You might be expecting me to tear into Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor and completely rip it apart for being moronic and dumb.  I am not going to do that because it was not nearly as bad as I was expecting.  It was entertaining at times and not the mind-numbing experience that I was anticipating when I went in to it.  My expectations were exceeded, if only by a small amount, and it makes me not hate the movie in the way you probably thought I would.

The one thing that most surprised me about Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor was the acting.  Most of the acting was solid, if not good.  The three leads encapsulated what their parts in the movie were meant to be, giving performances that sold the motivations of each of their characters.  They did not go beyond that into great acting territory, but for the most part all three actors serviced their roles well.  The standout performance in the movie, however, is from Brandy Norwood.  She manages to make the most of her small role. If her character had been in more of the film, the movie might have been much more watchable than it ultimately ended up being.  I really liked her performance.  It was direct when it needed to be and subtle when it needed to be.  Norwood knew exactly how to play the role and played it well.

What doesn’t really hold up is the plot of Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor.  The entire movie is based upon the idea that a faithful woman could easily be turned to adultery by one man making a move on her.  The entire love triangle aspect of the movie felt very forced, and it was the whole concept of the movie.  Nothing about the motivations (yeah, I’m bringing up that word again) felt true to reality, even if the actors were able to make it work in the slightest way.  The writing seemed haphazard and lazy just for the sake of setting up a relationship drama and the whole setup never really worked.  Even though the actors sold the characters’ motivations on a scene by scene basis, I don’t understand how any of these motivations even occurred in the first place.  None of it felt natural.  It all felt like plot for the sake of plot, rather than what people would really act like.  It’s what really destroyed the film.  You could have the best components ever created, but without great blueprints, the structure will fall apart.  That architectural sort of metaphor is comparable to a movie.  You might have a good director and good actors, but without a story or vision, the movie will collapse upon itself.  Actors and directors can only do so much with a story and when a story is unbelievable, there is no saving it.

It’s difficult to write about this movie without wanting to bring up the twist ending.  I’m going to discuss that right now, but I will try my hardest not to spoil anything in the movie.  The twist at the end of Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor feels like it was thrown into the story at the last second to give some sort of emotional heft to the story and to make the lead character sympathetic.  The rest of the movie had made the audience dislike her.  The final twist seems to be an attempt to make you care about her again, even though she has spent the last half of the movie being a horrible person.  To her friends, to her colleagues, to her family, and to her husband.  She’s been horrible to everyone.  However, we’re now meant to feel for her because of something that happens in the final minutes of the movie.  This is terrible storytelling at its worst.  If you wanted the audience to care for a character, you shouldn’t be writing the character as an unsympathetic person.  Instead, you make us relate to the bad things she is doing in a way that is not off-putting.  Then you would not need to throw some sort of final surprise into the movie in an attempt to save the character’s respectability.  Alas, Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor gave what it gave, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of those who watched it.

Maybe I ended up tearing into the movie more than I wanted to through this post.  It isn’t an unwatchable movie by any means.  I still appreciate a lot of the performances in the movie, and there are individual scenes that give hints of something great.  It’s just that the script was not strong enough to give a satisfying product.  Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor collapsed under a weak script.  It’s a shame since there was promise in what I saw.

Before I go, I have some notes to share:

• Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor was nominated for two Golden Raspberry awards.  It was nominated for Worst Director for Tyler Perry, and it was nominated and won for Worst Supporting Actress for Kim Kardashian.
• If you have any suggestions of what I should watch as a part of the Sunday “Bad” Movies, you can always leave a comment below.  Or if you’re feeling adventurous, go to Twitter and tell me there.
• Tyler Perry was the director of Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor.  He was the star of a previous Sunday “Bad” Movie.  It was called Alex Cross.
• Zack Kibria, Sharon Oliphant, Denise Santos, and Keith Ratchek were all in Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor.  They were all also in Parental Guidance, covered in the 27^th Sunday “Bad” Movie post.