What’s a Man to a God? Whats a God to a film? Whats a film to Phase 4? What’s Phase 4 to a FAN Reviewer who don’t believe in punctuality?
….
Well, enough karaoke. The Dissection is here not to make crappy song references but to review a movie that you might find if the local Redbox is sold out of their copies of TEMPTATION.
The Story
Corey and his family grew up listening to their pastor preach about the importance of donating money to the church. But the more they seemed to give, the richer the preacher became. Confused about the church s intentions, Corey decides to take matters into his own hands and investigate how far a man will go before he robs God.
The Cast
Darius McCrary as Corey. Best known for playing Eddie Winslow on FAMILY MATTERS, and supplying the voice of Jazz in the first TRANSFORMERS big budget film.
Robin Givens as Mrs. Alexis. Worked in the TV series HEAD OF THE CLASS, and films like BOOMERANG & HEAD OF STATE. Was also married to Mike Tyson for a year.
Evangeline Gabriel Young as Mama Jean. Worked on a few films, and appeared with several of the cast, along with….
Curtis Von as Uncle E. He also directed the film, and worked with several of the cast on other films with GOD GIVE ME A MAN.
The Dissection
Well, this is something a bit different. While it may seem nice to see the latest product The Asylum has worked up, or the newest horror schlock to get released, but it’s nice to see something different. This right here is a drama, and a play to boot. Well, well, well. It’s not that interesting, but it’s still nice.
Really, a movie like this is difficult to review for a few reasons. First off, it’s a play, and so much of the usual elements of film go out the window. Secondly, movies like this have a built in audience and it caters to that audience. It’s similar to the Tyler Perry films, and the original Tyler Perry Madea plays, and Tyler Perry TV shows, and Tyler Perry in general. Still, like Tyler Perry movies, it’s very much open for criticism.
With the format of the movie, it relies all on the actors in the movie to deliver a good performance, and the story to get the audience interested and give the actors a reason to stand on stage. The actors overall do a good work. However, the story is all over the place. It feels entirely like a sitcom, with random moments where you have a dramatic scene followed up by comedy, followed up by another dramatic scene, and repeated all the way until the end. Not only that, but the plot goes all over the place to the point where it loses the focus and never really comes back.
It’s a film that needs you to shut off your brain for, but not cause it’s some dumb film, but more cause the actual details of the film are actually secondary to the family dynamic and the bits unrelated to the film. Honestly, the main plot takes up a small chunk of the film compared to the many other plots from the family members. Because of that, nothing really matters and you’re just left with a sense of boredom. It’s not bad, especially if you’re the intended audience. As a play, it has an audience and will react to events on the show. However, if you haven’t been a fan of these kind of films or plays before, this is not an entry point in any way.
As barebones as the actual movie is, the DVD is no better. Aside from three movie trailers in the beginning and being able to choose a scene, that’s it.
Think this. For 90 minutes. That's the movie.
The Verdict
Look at the trailer for the movie. Were you excited for it? If yes, go see it. If not, don’t. It’s a clear example of “what you see is what you get”.