By Geno McGahee
There was a time when I had no interest in Tyler Perry’s work. It seemed very silly and I didn’t want to waste my time, but during my Christmas review spree, I watched A MADEA CHRISTMAS and I realized how talented Perry was. I began watching his other work, including BOO and MEET THE BROWNS and continued to be impressed with his story-telling. Now the new Netflix Original movie, written and directed by Tyler Perry, A FALL FROM GRACE, is another example of his talents.
Grace Waters (Crystal Fox) is a woman that hasn’t known love in a long time. She spends most of her time hanging out with her best friend, Sarah (Phylicia Rashad), but things dramatically change when she meets Shannon (Mehcad Brooks), and why wouldn’t they? He looked like Cameo. WORD UP! He had that hairstyle that was so awesome in the 1980s and he decided to bring it back. Good for him.
Grace and Shannon became a thing and everything seems perfect. The two get married and all is good until Grace starts to discover what her man was doing behind the scenes. She gets fired from her job, her house that is paid off now has a 400k mortgage and all of the money is missing from her account. When confronted, Shannon becomes aggressive and cruel and lets his wife know that she’s been played. WORD UP!
After watching her husband screw a younger chick while taking all her money and property, Grace has enough and takes a baseball bat to him. This leads to a murder case where Grace is ready to sign a plea deal. Rory (Tyler Perry) is the lead prosecutor and assigns Jasmine (Bresha Webb) to the case with the order that she gets the deal signed and move on. There’s something inside of Jasmine that wants to try the case and believes that Grace is not guilty of the crime.
As Jasmine starts investigating the case, she starts to do her job as a lawyer and defies Rory to try the case in court. Unfortunately, she is not experienced and it shows early and often and the judge isn’t having it. Eventually, Jasmine ends up in contempt and is behind bars herself. This is when all sorts of shit happens, including some cool twists.
(WARNING: SPOILERS ARE AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.)
I knew Sarah was dirty from jump because of her years working with Bill Cosby. On THE COSBY SHOW, that annoying dancing in the intro should have been enough to know that Bill Cosby was wrong. I have depression from the whole Cosby thing. I loved pudding pops and Jello and now I can’t look at either without crying. Thank god Kevin Spacey didn’t endorse any products. That would have hurt too.
We learn that Grace was set up and that Shannon is still alive. Holy shit. It backs up what I have said for years: CAMEO WILL NEVER DIE! WORD UP! Jasmine finds out that she has more to worry about then just Cameo when she uncovers the dirty secrets of Sarah. It leads to a great conclusion to the film that I really loved.
A FALL FROM GRACE is a great example of Tyler Perry’s diversity, writing a solid drama turned thriller with twists and turns. The film goes nearly 2 hours but it is paced really well. I wasn’t a huge fan of the narration from Grace, but it didn’t stop my interest in it. I was surprised of the quick turn the film took. It was a crime film turned thriller in a blink of an eye. Perry really wrote a clever story and I highly recommend this one.
