Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor
March. 29,2013 PG-13Judith has known her husband Brice since they were children, but now their marriage is growing stale. Having just completed her graduate work in psychotherapy, she's eager to begin a career as a marriage counselor. She takes an internship at a matchmaking firm for millionaires and meets Harley, a charismatic billionaire investor who makes no effort to hide his attraction to Judith. Although quite resistant at first, eventually Judith succumbs to his charms, placing her marriage in jeopardy and forever altering the course of her life.
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Reviews
You won't be disappointed!
One of my all time favorites.
In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
Blistering performances.
Temptation is a pretty simple but well executed morality play/ cautionary tale. The characters are either completely good and moral, or completely bad and immoral. Bryce represents goodness, commitment and good Christian values. Harley is the bad boy, representing lust and excess. Judith has to choose whether to stay noble or give in to temptation. Of course, the viewer knows which choice Judith should make, and, of course, the viewer knows which choice Judith will make. The third act is simply about us witnessing Judith get Judgement for her actions. I can totally understand how professional critics and movie buffs used to edgier, more original and more challenging fare would be left unimpressed, but I personally found it decent and engaging. Much better than most of the stuff that comes from writer-director Tyler Perry.Tyler Perry's works are always brutal on actors. They are given the task of making his broad and stereotypical characters, and melodramatic plots, realistic and relevant. In this film, as many rise to the occasion as miss the mark. Jurnee Smollet-Bell is good as the good-girl-gone-bad and Lance Gross is good as every mother's dream son-in-law. Ella Joyce has the toughest role as Judith's god- fearing, southern mother Sarah (and she likely represents the film's target audience). You just know most of the audience were agreeing with everything she had to say as she tries to save her daughter, but Joyce does a great job making her convincing and likable to anyone.At the start of the film, Judith (Smollet-Bell) is presented to us as an educated and self-sufficient woman. She is also presented as humble, not particularly image conscious or flashy, and very faithful (she has been with the same man for 19 of her 26 years). Finally, she is gorgeous and her handsome husband, Bryce (Gross), is a successful pharmacist working towards owning a pharmacy. She seems to have very strong values and so much going for her. And in walks Harley.I agree with other reviewers who felt that the Harley character (played by Robbie Jones) was miscast and poorly written. He needed to be charming and sexy to convince the audience he could seduce someone like Judith. Instead, he was scrawny, strange-looking and sleazy. I found it creepy how every time he was alone with Judith he would tell her how much he wanted to make love to her (in the office, on the plane, at his apartment, quite brazen). And he kept getting angry and saying he was "Crazy in love" with her (I was like WTF?!Who talks like that? Isn't that a Beyonce song? I can't be the only one who found that weird). Vanessa Williams phones it in, relying on her natural elegance to carry her through (although she seems to be having fun with the French accent). I have nothing against Kim Kardashian, but her addition is gimmicky and distracting. She also give a poor performance despite basically playing herself (sigh). On the other hand, Brandy was surprisingly good. Finally, the white lady at the pharmacy was extremely grating and unfunny. Perry couldn't help himself and had to insert a comedic relief character/jester into the mix but the jokes weren't funny the first time and were excruciating by the fourth (SPOILER ALERT: the punchline is that lesbians wear coats and boots. Amusing right).The camera work is also surprisingly good for a Perry flick. Usually his films look like they were shot in the 90's and then kept in storage until he could find an audience and a distributor. But there are some sleek shots in this, especially of the South and the Washington skyline. My final criticism is the music though. It was very bad throughout. For example, there is a scene where Bryce is driving to Harley's place with Karen and this cheesy car chase music from every action movie ever starts playing. But this otherwise shows some improvement for those who can't understand Perry's incredible success, especially in the directing. And at least Perry doesn't act in this one. Verdict: Watchable, but wait for it to come on TV.
Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor would barely pass the muster of a Lifetime movie of the week if it weren't for the first part of the title. Tyler Perry slaps his name on any given piece of garbage that's called a screenplay and it can get made - it helps, I suppose, that his movies are always made for peanuts, the kind of budgets that would make Woody Allen on his small-scale character pieces 'Wow, that's rough'. Perry may care and be passionate about his material (certainly he's passionate enough about Jesus and the church, not just here but in many of his films), but he has such a dearth of talent that it's nothing short of remarkable.His story here, good God, is about a 'good girl gone bad' scenario, which is framed by the sort of dramatic device which (um, spoiler sort of not really?) will involve the main character in some way, though we won't know how until the end. But here, it's about a woman who has a man, and she meets a rather "devilish" young gentleman (why do I even bother with quotes, HE'S THE DEVIL, PEOPLE!) who comes in to this firm as a new client or other. Well, who cares what he does really - matter of the situation is, he is rich, powerful, looks and acts like a playboy, and is a rotten person really.But why should the 'good girl' know about that, in such a cautionary tale? Wait, I'm sorry, 'cautionary'? That's not putting it correct - this is like a man holding up a hundred stop-lights that are flashing at a mile a second in front of your face. There are also attempts once or twice at humor - the kind of boring, awful sort of bits of comedy that are ill-timed and poorly thought out and acted. Wait, there's acting here? Some of them try, and no I don't mean to pick on Kim Kardashian, she's not even really the worst of it. What sucks is seeing someone like Smollett-Bell (at one time was the Eve in the underrated Eve's Bayou) or even Vanessa Williams not even try to rise above the dreck that is the script.Or maybe it's a combination platter of terrible. Certainly the dialog is laughably bad throughout, the kind that's usually either far far FAR too obvious, or over the top, or trying to be clever or poignant every-single-step-of-the-way, and ultimately no one is allowed to really be a person. Everyone's a sign-post, a marker, another piece of the MESSAGE (in caps) that Perry is trying to sling at the audience like a monkey throwing feces with a serious look on his face. It's hysterical filmmaking of a terrible order with its double-crosses, insane tonal shifts, and by the end it just leaves you completely drained and wondering 'what the HELL did I just watch?' In other words, The Room - Tommy Wiseau's magnum opus to himself and love and life - had more nuance than this rom-drama claptrap. It might not be so insulting as well if it didn't take things in drama that should or could or would be handled with care and vitality and depth - infidelity, sexuality, sexually transmitted disease - and bungle them, miserably.
Oh my goodness this movie was the bomb! First I must say that the lesson taught in this movie is accurate, cheat on your loving faithful spouse and there will be consequences, you may not see the consequences immediately but your sins will eventually find you out, and they did for the unfaithful wife. And she had to live with the consequences even though everyone forgave her for the infidelity. Secondly, it showed how easily it is to fall into an inappropriate relationship, that's why I think Kim Kardashian did a great job of acting (although largely playing what she does in real life, which is to be concerned with the externals). It was Kim's influence of external beauty that fueled the fire of the movie. I tell you this film is one that will keep you on the straight and narrow in your personal marital life. This is a must see movie!
Brilliant storyline. My sister made me watch this and id read bad reviews so thought it wouldn't be that good. Caught me by surprise with a few things that happened. Few shockers. I was hooked. Kim k cant really act but so what? She wasn't so bad. Jus because shes in a few scenes.. don't mean the movies rubbish or anything. But the main people are brilliant. Personally I loved this movie and I don't understand why there's so many bad reviews. It had me gripped. Grass isn't always greener on the other side. Loved the message it gave out, and loved the ending! So not expected. I think it should be watched. Too bad its so underrated!