Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls: Review By moviegeek

Tyler Perry's least successful film effort (financially), Daddy's Little Girls, is an extremely watchable drama with little more to its credit. Monty (Idris Elba) is a struggling mechanic who is losing custody of his three girls. At the end of his rope, he turns to a lonely attorney, Julia (Gabrielle Union), to help his get back his daughters from their desp*cable mother. Eventually, a romance blooms between the two.

I think starting with the good things would be easier. Firstly, Perry again shows excellent work behind the camera. I like his long, moving shots. Idris Elba is remarkably good in the movie. His portrayal of fierce desperation is spot on. The movie is also well-balanced unlike some of his other efforts. There is a good balance of good and bad, tension and peace, comedy and drama.

But that last element makes for a relaxed movie, or, if you will, a very tame one. The drama seems to be toned down and the leads seem too mannered. There is too much distinction between good and bad, noble and evil. It's far too obvious who we need to root for and who we want to lose. The pacing is irritatingly predictable and the characters are too hollow to inhabit it more fully.

Speaking of the characters, this is definitely the weakest array of characters I've ever seen in one of Perry's movies. They don't seem like three-dimensional people. Instead, they act more as plot devices. For example, the mother is awfully wicked. But she is NOTHING BUT wicked. She has no good side whatsoever. She has no appeal. We have no reason to believe that she was EVER a good mother to any one of her THREE daughters. The same goes for the obnoxious children who are present to be obstinate to their dad's new girlfriend, or for Julia's friends, who simply tell their friend what she is doing wrong.

Finally, there is the storytelling. I've already mentioned how soft it was compared to the heavier material Perry has done, but there really isn't any payoff. In the last four or five scenes, the movie spins way out of control with some mixed messages and an incredibly dorky courtroom scene. This is a courtroom drama, but the courtroom scenes are by far the least convincing.

This is a disappointing film, one of Perry's weakest efforts. I can't say that this movie was bad because it is very watchable. But there are far too many holes that aren't filled either with fully-developed characters, intriguing plot pacing, intense drama, or even, at the very least, a little love.