Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.5

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor Blu-ray Movie Review

Lead us not into 'Temptation', and deliver us from banality.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 24, 2013

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that Tyler Perry keeps churning out films like some out of control sausage factory impresario, or the fact that people keep flocking to them in droves. Perry obviously has a brand, for better or worse, and the mere appearance of his name above the title (for let’s face it, it’s always above the title) pretty much guarantees a sizable haul at the box office and then in so-called ancillary markets like home video. I am (obviously) not in Perry’s preferred demographic, and so am probably not the best person to complain too vociferously about his evidently unquenchable thirst to release a film every day of the week, but even a cursory glance at the critical responses Perry generates proves that I am not the only one taking Perry to task for his cut and paste film making methods. Perry’s films are routinely withheld from reviewers before their theatrical exhibition and the same technique often prevails for their home video releases. Most studios want to get their DVD or Blu-ray product into the hands of press people as soon as possible in order to generate advance word of mouth and (hopefully) increased sales. Not so with Perry’s discs. It’s a rare day when I at least receive his latest (and let’s face it, there’s always a latest) before street date. The bean counters who are in charge of adding up the piles of money Perry’s projects routinely bring in obviously don’t want anything getting between Perry and his paying (and seemingly adoring) public. Temptation (sorry, I just outright refuse to include Perry’s moniker as part of the title) is yet another example of Perry Xeroxing ideas and even characters from his previous outings and plopping them down in an ostensibly new plot and setting. It’s a putatively more dramatic outing than some of his previous efforts and it’s one of his few films where Perry himself does not make an on screen appearance. Temptation, but neither of those facts dissuaded Perry’s fans from making the film yet another reasonable success at the box office. As Charlie Brown might say, Sigh.

Where to begin with this ridiculous piece of claptrap? Virtually every Perry trope is well in evidence here. The ever faithful older generation, prone to prayer and gospel music? Check. The rebellious youth, hiding some awful secret? Check. The dysfunctional couple, working through one self-created trauma after another? Check and double check. Temptation is so completely predictable it’s almost laughable at times. The film works as a supposed flashback, a story told by a marriage counselor to a client considering an affair, but anyone who doesn’t guess the “putative” twist before it’s revealed needs to go to a Screenwriting Cliché 101 class, or at least to more Tyler Perry films—if they’re really desperate, anyway.

Judith (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and Brice (Lance Gross) have been friends since childhood and got married at a probably too early age. Judith eye is wandering due to Brice’ inattention and Judith’s desire to branch out from her job at an ultra-swanky matchmaking firm into a more fulfilling career as a marriage counselor (one might reasonably wonder why a woman would consider herself well credentialed to be a marriage counselor when her own marriage is on such rocky ground, but I digress). Judith’s work life includes incessant advice to both loosen up and dress better from her coworker Ava (played by Kim Kardashian, and if you’re not laughing yet, there’s no hope for you). Judith’s wacky boss Janice (Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America and singing star) tells Judith not to be so fast to dismiss the advances of über-rich client Harley (Robbie Jones). With friends like these. . ., as the old adage goes.

Meanwhile Brice, the boring but decent good guy, runs his pharmacy and hires a skittish young girl named Melinda (Brandy Norwood) who is escaping from an abusive relationship. He also deals with a blowsy assistant named Ms. Chapman (the ineffable Renée Taylor, evidently replacing Cicely Tyson as the former legend Perry decides to debase with a lamentable supporting role). Judith and Harley of course do end up having a torrid affair, while Brice and Judith’s prayerful mother Sarah (Ella Joyce) try to warn her she’s fallen under the sway of the Devil, or at least sex, drugs and probably even rock and roll (more like bland pop, but I digress).

Perry basically writes the same melodrama over and over, slightly changing the characters and basic plot lines while maintaining his tenuous grasp on structure and believability. Temptation just devolves into ludicrousness the longer it goes on, with a third act that attempts to weave the three elements of the plot—Judith and Harley, Brice and Melinda, and the counselor telling the story—into one cohesive whole, ending up creating nothing other than a general laughingstock along the way. This film has a sort of trashy camp appeal that offers glittering people doing incredibly stupid things, kind of like an African American version of Dynasty. The soap operatic element has never been more firmly on display in Perry’s work than in this film, and his use of supposed symbolism is actually laugh out loud funny more than once. Your parents probably told you to resist temptation when you were a child, and as much as all of us tend to ignore the usually solid advice we received from our elders, in this case it couldn’t be more a propos.

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Temptation is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Perry's films, as bland and predictable as they almost always are, usually have solid technical credentials and that's once again the case here, although this outing is awfully dark quite a bit of the time, without sufficient shadow detail illuminating the sides of the frame. Perry changes things up by utilizing a supposed setting of Washington, D.C. rather than his usual Atlanta, and some of the second unit establishing footage doesn't have quite the same pop as the bulk of the film. Colors are generally nicely saturated and accurate looking, and the image is quite clear and well defined with good fine detail.

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Temptation's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix does a good job delivering Perry's laughable dialogue and ubiquitous source cues with good fidelity and some sputtering instances of dynamic range. There's not a whale of a lot of immersion here, aside from the music and occasional ambient environmental effects, but dialogue is cleanly presented and always easy to hear, which may not actually be a good thing.

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Professional Fashionistas (1080p; 7:41) looks at the film's costumes.


• The Temptation Ensemble (1080p; 13:32) profiles the film's cast.

Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tyler Perry is evidently on record claiming Temptation is his most powerful film. That may be a backhanded compliment at best, but if you're not in Perry's fan base, chances are you might find this mess "powerful" in the same way you usually think of laxatives being powerful. Caveat emptor.