Acrimony

Acrimony

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Lyriq Bent, Crystle Stewart, Ajiona Alexus

Directed by Tyler Perry

The Story:
Melinda (Taraji P. Henson) is a woman with a terrible anger issue, so much so that she's required to attend therapy.  While there, she recounts the reason why she's so angry in the first place, and has to do with her ex-husband Robert (Lyriq Bent).

She remembers meeting when they were in college, when a young Melinda (Ajiona Alexus) was smitten by the attractive, intelligent Robert (Antonio Madison), but as time goes by, he becomes more obsessed with his invention of a self-sustaining battery than he is with Melinda, and often uses Melinda's inheritance to fund his research while she works two jobs just to make ends meet.  He even cheats on Melinda early in the relationship, leading her to run down his RV and knock it on its side.

After another infidelity in Melinda's eyes, she finally breaks it off with Robert, who then goes to make it big with his battery and buy everything he once promised Melinda he would get for her, but now he has a new fiancee Diana (Crystle Stewart), leading Melinda into a downward spiral of anger and resentment which she might not pull herself out of.

The Synopsis:
Acrimony - bitterness or ill feeling.  Synonyms: bitterness, anger, rancor, resentment, ill feeling, ill will, bad blood, animosity, hostility, enmity, antagonism, waspishness, spleen, malice, spite, spitefulness, peevishness, venom.

As the definition of the film's title flashes across the screen, you can tell this isn't going to be a walk on the sunny side of life.  Tyler Perry has made a name for himself in producing, writing, and directing films that showcase the African American community, often using the same actors in different movies.  While some of his films have been standouts ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman," "For Colored Women"), others haven't hit with the same resounding note.  "Acrimony" is, unfortunately, one of the latter, as it's a two-hour cringe-worthy induction of a woman's spiral into madness and unintentional hilarity.

The film opens with Taraji P. Henson's character sitting in a psychiatrist's office, talking about how she's not the stereotypical "mad black woman," but as the film progresses, that's exactly what she becomes.  While she's on the outside a strong-willed, determined, fierce woman, on the inside she's a powder-keg waiting to explode.

"Acrimony" uses the aspect of an unreliable narrator to tell its tale, meaning that the narrator has some seriously compromised credentials to tell the tale.  While we see the early relationship of Melinda and Robert strictly through Melinda's eyes, we're already tainted by Robert strictly due to her point of view, and never hearing his.  Even at his most genuine moments, we hear Melinda narrate that it's all just a part of a big con.  While there are moments of questionable behavior (such as his cheating early on, and constantly asking Melinda for money), you can't help but wonder if everything Melinda details is wholly accurate, especially seeing her state of mind as she tells it.

Then, when the story comes to the present, you see that Melinda is absolutely no saint, and your hatred turns from Robert to her, as you see her for her true colors.  Basically, "Acrimony" is a tale where there's no good people, but just two hours of despair, bitterness, anger, and resentment - so basically the film does what the title tells, so you can't go in expecting a happy ending.

Tyler Perry spends a lot of time (a...lot...of...time) telling the backstory of Melinda and Robert, and Perry has always been a great playwright, so he tells this story as the older Melinda narrates, and it seems like the characters hear her voice and act on what she says.  To their credit, Antonio Madison and Ajiona Alexus (who also plays a younger version of Henson's Cookie character in "Empire") are compelling characters and portray their relationship with all their ups and downs in a very realistic way, but again, it just dragged on.

When their story forwards eighteen years later, Henson finally graces the screen in all her glory, an actress who's acclaimed and polished, one of the best in her field.  Yet, she seems to have chosen another poor film to showcase her talents (earlier this year she appeared in "Proud Mary," which is nothing to be proud of), and here she over-dramatizes everything as if...well...she was in a play.  Basically, "Acrimony" would've been better on stage, because there you're supposed to be over-the-top so everyone in the theatre can see and hear what's happening, but that's not a necessity on the big screen.  Still, she channels her inner Cookie to deliver a truly destructive performance, and even though Cookie is more refined and calculating, Melinda is full-on psycho.  Lyriq Bent actually does the poorest here, almost blending into the background compared to the greatness of Henson.

It's interesting because the film is so long, that Perry seemed to forget to include an ending.  We spend one hour and fifty minutes being sucked into this whirlwind disastrous relationship, and all of a sudden there's ten minutes of conclusion that's so mind-bogging in its stupidity that it can't help but be laughed at - and that's exactly what happened in the theater.  Everyone there was laughing at the conclusion, which was as emotionally dark and violent as could be, because it seemed totally tacked on and overplayed - or maybe it was because the film was finally ending, and we could all release our collective breath that we could finally do something else.

The Summary:
Long and drawn out, with a very unsatisfactory ending, "Acrimony" was more than just bitterness felt by its lead actress, but by the viewers watching it as well.

The Score: D+