Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? DVD: Review By Brian Gallagher

Tyler Perry has never been one to rest on his laurels. After his breakthrough feature film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2005, the moviegoing public has been fed a steady diet of Perry in the years to follow. He's put out four theatrical features in those three years (Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, this film and Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns), writing, producing, directing and acting in all of them. He even squeezed in a television series with House of Payne. Not only does he not rest on his laurels, I doubt if he rests period! This film, Why Did I Get Married? , is another solid entry in the Perry canon, but it seems he may be slipping a bit... just a tiny bit.

The film revolves around a group of married friends who all get together in some different location each year to talk about their marriages and their lives. There's Patricia and Gavin (Janet Jackson and Malik Yoba), the seemingly-perfect, successful couple, Terry and Diane (Tyler Perry and Sharon Leal), a pediatrician and successful-yet-too-busy lawyer who rarely have time for each other, Angela and Marcus (Tasha Smith and Michael Jai White), a constantly-fighting couple and Mike and Sheila (Richard T. Jones and Jill Scott), who are severely on the rocks with Mike constantly making fun of and ridiculing Sheila for being overweight. These four very different couples are all extremely close friends and they are all coming together again for this year's retreat... which turns out to be what no one expected.

I haven't seen all of his films, actually, Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion is the only one I've seen, but I thought that worked quite well on both comedic and dramatic levels. In this one, the scales tipped heavily towards the dramatic end. While it does have that genuine feel to it, it just, as a whole, seemed like a whole lot of other movies instead of his own. We've seen these sorts of old-friend-reunion stories countless times before, and I would've thought that someone as sharp as Perry would mine some territory not so heavily dug into as this one. That aside, Perry does bring his own blend of humanity and authenticity to this scenario, which ultimately makes this worthwhile, along with some simply splendid performances.

While Janet Jackson's return to the silver screen for the first time since 2000 was surely the centerpiece around this movie's marketing, she isn't the real star of this show here. Don't get me wrong, she turns in a dandy performance as Patricia, a successful author/professor, but the real star of this show is songstress Jill Scott, who turns in an absolutely towering performance as Sheila, an embattled woman torn by her love for her husband Mike and his constantly cruel behavior towards her because of her weight. From the first time we set eyes on her, in a particularly embarrassing situation on an airplane, we know we're in for one hell of a performance. While she may not have a ton of acting experience, she truly gives an astounding performance. While this truly is an ensemble piece with equal weight given to each performance - the rest of which are all exceptional as well - Scott's performance really stands out in this talented crowd.

While Perry does succ*mb to some of the clich&#233s of these types of movies, his script throws us for a few loops as well and, while there isn't quite as much humor in here than I'd hoped for, it really is some solid writing. While he does use some clich&#233s in here, he also plays with some conventions in subtle ways as well that are done quite nicely. I just wished he would've chosen a different, less-played-out venue for it.

Altogether, Why Did I Get Married? is another quality flick from the restless Tyler Perry, but with a few little slips here and there, it seems like maybe he's due for a little rest or break for awhile.

Not a whole lot here. All we get are three featurettes. The first one is Janet Jackson: Return of an Icon, which is basically a bunch of interviews with various people in the cast like Tasha Smith, Malik Yoba, Sharon Leal, Michael Jai White, Tyler Perry and others, talking about their experiences with Janet on the set. We also hear a little from Janet herself and why she was drawn to this role and back into acting after seven years. It's a nice little seven-minute featurette that's worth watching.

Reflections On Getting "Married" is a featurette with all of the main players in the cast waxing philosophical on the concept of marriage and love and all that stuff. It's about seven minutes long as well and if you're interested in this selection of actors' thoughts on marriage, than give this a try. If not, might as well skip it.

The Music of Married is the last one here, and this has composer Aaron Zigman talking about his process and all sorts of musical stuff and also talking about how much he likes Perry. He talks about the kinds of stuff he did with certain characters as well and I guess some of this stuff is interesting, but most of it is just footage of the orchestra playing in a soundstage intercut with footage from the flick. I don't know why this is the longest feature at eight and a half minutes, because I would've rather seen this as the shortest. If you really dig music or composing, check it out, otherwise, its skippable.

The film is presented in the widescreen format, enhanced for 16x9 televisions.

The sound is handled through the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 formats.

Nothing too special We have the big title card up top and two separate hearts with the four guys on one side and the four girls on the other and a weird upside-down question mark with wedding bands on the curvy part. The back has a critic quote, a synopsis, the dual-heart thing again but filled with random pics from the movie along with a special features listing and the billing block and tech specs. Not too bad, but kinda bland, especially the tan background.

Tyler Perry has made us laugh and cry over the past few years, but you'll be more likely to cry than laugh here. This is Perry's first major dramatic piece and, while he does a pretty damn good job, as usual, it could've been set in a much better, less-worn-down world. Still, Perry still has what it takes to tell a story in a way only he can.