Tyler Perry's Acrimony (dir. Tyler Perry)

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned; so says the proverb, and indeed the poster for Tyler Perry's new outing “Acrimony”.

Presenting itself as revenge thriller which disguises itself as a cautionary tale about the sanctity of marriage, the increasing madness on-screen sees Taraji p Henson (last seen in the disastrous "Proud Mary") play the dutiful wife to charismatic hunk Robert (Lyriq Bent) - who sinks her heart strings and then follows suit with her bank balance.

Despite it's entertainment value in a sort of so-bad-it's-good way, Tyler Perry's "Acrimony" is a melodramatic and overwrought sub-telenovela that has no idea what it wants to say and is only happy descending into outdated stereotypes for both it’s characters and storytelling.

Acrimony was made for the small screen, even if it comes with a modest $20m budget and well-known studio behind it. For one, the script is reminiscent of all of those instantly forgettable trashy erotic thrillers of yesteryear; the production quality and general filmmaking are also uninspiring and give credence to why it only took eight days to shoot - and the talented cast behind the camera can do so much better than this.

Henson plays Madeline, ordered by a judge to take anger management counseling. She has a temper, which at the best of times is under control but when it comes to “her man” , keeping her cool is easier said than done. Flashbacks give credence to the genesis of their dalliance - heavily predicated on his charm and her affluent bank balance. It’s all wine and roses for the two, until dirty-dog Robert does the nasty on her with another woman, and is caught in the act by Madeline. Let’s says she takes it badly:

and plows her car into his mobile home, inadvertently causing her own infertility.

He comes crawling back and they get married anyways, despite her reservations to his ongoing fidelity and Madeline’s encroaching sisters, who all believe him to be bad news from the minute he walks in the door.

Before long, eighteen years have passed and Madeline has had to get two jobs to support them. Robert is too preoccupied with his renewable energy prototype battery to bring home the bacon, and their contrasting views of his imagined inventions cause them to cross swords on numerous occasions and divorce quickly follows.

In a blatantly obvious plot contrivance, Robert is giving a stroke of luck with his pet-project, with a little bit of help from old-flame Diana (Crystal Stewart) and before-long he’s worth millions. To make matters worse, he’s become engaged to his new business partner - which doesn’t sit well with Madeline’s unhinged version of reality. For reasons which are only clear to Madeline (or should it be Tyler Perry’) -she seeks revenge for her ex-husbands newly acquired lifestyle and won’t stop until she can seemingly change the past: her grievances being predicated on the money and time she spent on him these past eighteen years, and his affinity for extra-cirricular hanky-panky.

Up until now, Perry’s drama had only slightly caught my attention and was bordering on boring me into submission. But as the final third begins, it’s nothing if it’s not entertaining - and if you’re like me you will find yourself refraining from screaming at the screen in a vain attempt at reconciling with her tragic decision making.

At the best part of two hours, it’s a almighty long running time for a film which could quite as easily have been told in a 85 minutes.As for the final denouement to Perry's jealously tale, the less said about it the better. I came out feeling unhappy with it’s portrayal of it’s female characters, and wondering about it’s protagonist that if she really is that crazy: isn’t Perry making us laugh at her just a bit cruel?

Those involved in the project can do assuredly better than this turgid and limp revenge thriller. If it was Perry’s main objective to be provocative within the mileu, it’s only ironically so- as you will project your disdain and confusion at the tragedy on screen for all the wrong reasons, instead of getting swept up in it's profundity.

Though beautifully shot and not without the odd titter here and there, "Acrimony" would have found popularity in its rightful residence in the straight-to-dvd bargain big if it weren’t for its major Hollywood influences, and that’s perhaps the best thing you can say about it.

Rating 1/5