Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Acrimony Blu-ray Movie Review

Anger mismanagement.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2018

One of the more memorable film titles of the late sixties was If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, and if I may be permitted to co-opt its underlying idea, modern moviegoers may be tempted to say at some point, “If it’s any day, it must be Tyler Perry”. This ubiquitous (some might say unrelenting) creative pumps out so much “product” that it’s almost a rarity not to see his name emblazoned across some film or television property on a virtually daily basis. After years of frankly lowbrow efforts that often feature Perry as any number of characters in his increasingly unfunny Madea franchise, Perry seems be trying something at least a little different with Acrimony, though in true Perry fashion, he simply doesn’t seem to be able to escape his own self-imposed limitations as a writer.

There are any number of ways Perry might have approached this particular story and managed to deliver the kind of edgy entertainment he certainly seems to be aiming for. Since large swaths of the film are told in flashback, it might have interesting had Perry provided Rashomon-esque competing reminiscences, leaving it to the audience to figure out what “really” happened. (And, like you, I never expected to see Rashomon come close to being mentioned in a review of a Tyler Perry film.) Instead, though, Perry indulges in “cutesy” presentational elements like dividing the film into sections which kind of play like the seven stages of grief, each with its own “title card” (see screenshot 14 for just one example). As putative heroine Melinda (played by Taraji P. Henson as an older woman, Ajiona Alexus as more of an ingenue) deals with the shenanigans of her initial boyfriend and later husband Robert Gayle (Lyriq Bent and Antonio Madison), Perry also indulges with a “running tab” of expenses that Melinda pays in order to further their comfortable home life as well as Robert’s attempts to forge a high tech career.

There’s a lot of bandwidth being devoted to so-called “toxic masculinity” in certain places these days, but Acrimony might be posited as a prime example of “toxic femininity,” though as is often the case with Perry’s outings, the setup is so cartoonish that some may simply feel that Melinda, a long suffering “coyote”, finally just cracks and takes revenge on her particular “roadrunner” (to put everything in an appropriately “animated” setting). But Perry simply seems incapable of crafting a film without a bunch of patently ridiculous, and often completely unneeded, soap operatic histrionics, and Acrimony certainly fills the bill (and then some) in that particular regard.

But what undercuts the storytelling here (such as it is) is Perry’s unbalanced way of presenting Melinda. Is this a basically noble woman collapsing under the weight of repeated betrayals, or a bat guano crazy lady who “passes” as relatively rational at least some of the time, only showing her true colors when push comes to shove? Perry seems to want it both ways, but then he disposes with both of them by indulging in a completely over the top finale that actually may make some audience members laugh at least as heartily as they ever had at one of Perry’s ostensible comedies.

Once again Perry has assembled a capable cast, but he gives them little to do other than react hyperbolically. Henson brings some of the same ferocious intensity that made sections of Empire: The Complete First Season so memorable, but Perry’s writing is so hackneyed that Henson’s characterization ends up being a lot of sound and fury signifying, yep, nothing. The supporting cast is beautiful, as is Perry’s wont, but also often completely vapid, something that Perry’s slapdash writing style only exacerbates.

Acrimony Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Acrimony is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The IMDb has no real technical data on the shoot, but cinematographer Richard Vialet's personal site states this was shot with Sony F55 cameras, though there's no definitive data at what resolution the DI was finished at (I'm assuming 2K, but you know what they say about assuming things). As should probably not be too much of a surprise to those who have read the review comments above, I didn't flock to see Acrimony in its theatrical exhibition, and while I have to assume that this is how the film looked in that exhibition, this is frankly one of the odder looking Perry films that I've personally reviewed. Several scenes are kind of hazy looking, with a blue-gray overlay and/or undertone that tends to make things look like they're being performed in a kind of fog or (and this a joke) some kind of constant "day for night" stratagem. The entire film doesn't look this way, mind you, but there are several long sequences that have this kind of unusual approach, one that almost deliberately defeats fine detail levels. Perry also kind of strangely tends to shoot a lot of Henson's key moments in near darkness, and shadow detail tends to be minimal in several of these moments (see screenshots 16 and 17 for two examples). In brighter light and when grading approaches aren't aggressive, the palette actually pops relatively nicely and detail levels are at least marginally better. There at least are no compression anomalies of any note.

Acrimony Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Acrimony features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that achieves some liveliness due to Perry's admittedly kind of interesting use of Nina Simone tunes throughout the film (for those unacquainted with Ms. Simone, I highly recommend What Happened, Miss Simone?, which I reviewed a couple of years ago, which is a piece about a really troubled black woman whose life story has some tangential connections to what Melinda supposedly experiences, at least in terms of relationships with males). The music is probably the most consistent engager of the surrounds, since this is such a relentlessly talky feature, but there are some moments of good placement of ambient environmental effects, including the ludicrous climax, and dialogue is always delivered flawlessly, if without a ton of surround presence. Fidelity is fine throughout, with no signs of damage.

Acrimony Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Unleashing Acrimony (1080p; 10:46) is a pretty standard EPK with scenes from the film and interviews.

Acrimony Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For those of you keeping score, I actually gave one of Perry's "straight dramas" pretty high marks, but that was years ago when For Colored Girls was released on Blu-ray. In the intervening years, I have waded through innumerable Madea films and other lackluster properties, all branded with Perry's name prominently featured above the title, but with little actual content "inside". That's once again the case with Acrimony. I guess it's commendable that Perry has jettisoned his lunatic Madea family for at least one film, but like a bad virus, I have a bad feeling he may be back soon with another such effort. Technical merits are fine (though I found some aspects of the video presentation a little odd) for those considering a purchase.