Good Deeds Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Good Deeds Blu-ray Movie Review

Mr. Deeds goes to right where you'd expect him to in a Tyler Perry film.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 19, 2012

There’s some actual good news with regard to Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (as with most Perry films, Perry’s name is part of the title in the press sheets accompanying the release): it is not a remake of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, a classic that has already faced the ignominy of having been desecrated once with the appalling Adam Sandler remake. And in terms of the Perry oeuvre, a corpus of films that seems to propagate like the Tribbles of that old Star Trek episode, Good Deeds is at least slightly less noxious than other Perry outings. Perry’s films are routinely not screened for critics before their theatrical exhibition, and much the same holds true for their home video releases; screeners almost always show up a good week or so after the release date. Why, you might ask? Well, the answer is clear: the marketing people promoting Perry’s films know that there is a built in audience for any given Perry offering, and they don’t want naysayers getting in the way of those opening weekend box office receipts or similarly opening week sales once the films hit Blu-ray and/or DVD. Good Deeds therefore did the expected more than respectable business in its theatrical exhibition and is currently sitting comfortably in the Top 1000 Blu-ray releases on Amazon, so no mere niggling analysis from this or any critic is probably going to upset the money cart, which might indicate that the marketing mavens’ decision not to get product out there pre-release is a needless one. On the other hand, the routinely impressive returns Perry typically sees with all of his projects points out a major flaw in his approach: he’s like the Ford assembly line of directors, churning out cookie cutter projects that seem to exist for no other reason than to bring in the moolah and keep his coterie of a repertory company gainfully employed. Despite its relative decency, that’s the overall feeling generated once again by this latest Perry offering, a film that at least attempts (unsuccessfully, unfortunately) to stay away from nonstop melodrama, but which can’t help but fall into the rut that Perry seems all too willing to dig for himself.

As with most Tyler Perry films, a brief summation of the characters and plot set up will suffice to give a pretty reasonable roadmap of where the film is going, due to that selfsame rut that Perry seems so intent on mining. Perry portrays Wesley Deeds, a decent enough guy who reveals in some voiceover narration as the credits play out that his life has been dictated to him by his parents and as a dutiful son he’s done what he’s told, with the result that he’s very successful but feeling unrealized as a human being and wondering just exactly whose life he’s actually living. Wesley is so buttoned down and predictable that his fiancée Natalie (Gabrielle Union) quietly predicts under her breath what Wesley is about to say with unfailing accuracy.

Wesley’s family is (surprise!) extremely dysfunctional, and includes his troubled brother Walter (Brian White), who has lost his driver’s license after a string of DUIs, and Wesley and Walter’s imperious mother Wilimena (Phylicia Rashad), a woman who knows what’s best for her boys and isn’t about to let little things like what they want for their lives stand in the way.

Meanwhile a comely janitor for Deeds’ company finds herself in a serious situation. Lindsey (Thandie Newton) is facing eviction, something that will once again uproot the young worker and her adorable daughter Ariel (Jordenn Thompson). Thinking she can stave off the landlord if she can get to the Deeds Corporation to pick up a paycheck, she rushes to the corporate headquarters and ends up taking Wesley’s reserved spot in the company parking lot. That of course sets up the “meet cute” which will bring Wesley and Lindsey into contact with each other.

So there you have the building blocks: an uptight, overly controlled man under the thumb of his mother and about to marry an equally controlling woman, and a homeless free spirit who is defensive about her straits but who still is able to sense the joy in simply being alive. Is there even the slightest doubt about how all of this will end up, albeit after having gone through the requisite sturm und drang that is so typical of virtually every Perry project?

There are a couple of unexpected choices in Good Deeds which at least partially tip the scales away from outright predictability. First of all, Perry moves away from his preferred stomping grounds of Atlanta to site the film in San Francisco, and there’s some lovely location photography that rather scenically utilizes the gorgeous City by the Bay. But perhaps more importantly, Perry has toned down some of his melodramatic elements, at least in terms of fiery showdowns a la Madea. There are certainly melodramatic elements in abundance throughout Good Deeds, but it’s as if Perry has finally realized that the sheer drama of living and facing life’s tribulations can be enough, and doesn’t need any pointing up with needless hyperbole.

As with almost all Perry films, while the plot mechanics may be completely predictable and the characters not especially innovative, the performers do very effective work. It’s fun to see Rashad in a sort Claire Huxtable on steroids role, a characterization that’s not immediately likable but who (of course) ends up redeeming herself, at least somewhat. Thandie Newton is as excellent as usual, and her scenes with Thompson as her daughter tug rather strongly at the heartstrings, a Perry standby. There are a couple of bizarre supporting performances in the film, including an over the top Jamie Kennedy as a flamboyantly gay character that seems distinctly at odds with this more serious Perry side.

As I’ve mentioned repeatedly over the course of too many Perry reviews to count, this multihyphenate is obviously an extremely talented man, but he needs to work with other writers and directors to expand his horizons. He can move the dramatics from Atlanta to San Francisco, but until he finds something new to say, it’s the same old Tyler Perry.

Good Deeds Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tyler Perry's Good Deeds is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is yet another very handsome mounting from Perry, one which is elevated further by Alexander Gruszynski's nicely detailed cinematography and some great location work in San Francisco. This high definition transfer is just a bit hampered by some overly dark interior scenes which rob the image very slightly of fine object detail and sometimes leads to very minor crush. There's also some extremely minor aliasing on some of the aerial shots of the iconic San Francisco skyline. Otherwise, though, this is a sparklingly clear presentation which offers very pleasing fine detail and richly saturated colors. Perhaps contrast could have been pushed just slightly in the interior sections which might have helped somewhat with shadow detail, but overall this is an extremely strong transfer that should easily please Perry's large fan base.

Good Deeds Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Tyler Perry's Good Deeds features a nicely detailed lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that offers some good directionality even in quieter dialogue scenes and routinely creates a convincing sense of immersion in many of the cityscape environments. Fidelity is very strong on this track and dynamic range is rather surprisingly wide for a film that deals in smaller character moments and intimate dialogue scenes. As with most Perry films, music is rather important here and props should be given to Aaron Zigman's very effective underscore. Zigman's work is very subtle at times, but the score sounds fantastic in this DTS-HD Master Audio setting, as do some of the source cues, including (rather remarkably) Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting", which wraps the film up with requisite schmaltz and tear provoking sweetness.

Good Deeds Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Motherly Love (HD; 9:49) profiles the family dynamics at hand in Good Deeds, specifically with regard to Phylicia Rashad's Wilimena Deeds character, and includes interviews with the principal cast as well as behind the scenes footage.


• Two Worlds Collide (HD; 7:45) focuses on the differences between the characters of Wesley Deeds and Lindsey Wakefield.

Good Deeds Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tyler Perry's Good Deeds isn't the worst Tyler Perry film ever made, which may be damning with faint praise, but it's about all this reviewer can come up with for yet another trite and true offering from the McDonald's of filmmakers. As with most Perry movies, there are glints of commendable elements here and there, but the overall tenor of the film is so relentlessly predictable that it becomes a challenge to actually appreciate them. This Blu-ray looks and sounds great, and if Amazon sales are any indication, there's obviously a very large and enthusiastic audience for what Perry is dishing out. More discriminating palates may want to sample something that doesn't reek of mass market mechanics.