Let’s Talk: ‘Flew’d Out’

So, per usual, I spent my Saturday night on my best friend’s house catching up on our shows and the new routine I implemented–watching a Tubi movie. I never have a rhyme or reason for the Tubi movie I pick and this one was no different. It’s called ‘Flew’d Out,’ which sounded hilarious to me as well as the fact that it was a thriller. So, the laughs and entertainment ensued….. until we got to the end of the movie. I would like to also say that I looked the director up on social media, and all comments with criticism of the movie are not there. Only positive comments, congratulations, and people asking to be in the next film. This discussion will not be that.

I want to start by saying I enjoyed watching the film as a whole. I was annoyed with the use of music. You do not need music under every piece of dialogue. That bothered me to no end. Hearing music where we didn’t need it. I was also rooting for Josiah and Tiara. I saw the vision and liked them together as they were and you could have accomplished the same goal without this supernatural element to the film. Let me explain. By the way, if you have not seen the film, do me a favor and go watch it and then come back. I also want to note that I will be critiquing the plot and storyline—not the message of the movie. I don’t agree with the message of the film because people should live their life the way they want to and there is a lot of unnecessary emphasis on women and them needing to be the only ones who change. Yeah….it’s a no from me dawg. I digress.

So boom, you introduce Tiara and her problematic ways. I agree with her being a problematic character….until I heard her side of the story. Here’s the number one reason why this movie irked me. The movie allowed time for Tiara to have these discussions with various people in her film about why she lives her life the way she does. From my point of view, the movie gives her this platform for a reason. Anyone she talks to who challenges her about her views just gets to have a continued discussion with her about it. There is no consequence to what she’s saying. There isn’t one of those “ah ha” moments where the movie stops to make you understand that a person had made a valid point. None of those things occur. Again, from my point of view, you’re allowing her to speak her piece letting me, as the viewer, feel comfortable with her defending herself. She had valid points that weren’t struck down by anyone who spoke with her. Even her discussion with Josiah about the romantic movies made sense and Josiah challenged her, but it just felt like a spirited discussion. The movie didn’t give me any indication that what she was saying was wrong. Strike number one.

Strike number two, the movie lied to me. As an avid amateur film critic, the one thing I know about movies, good movies, is that they don’t lie to you. This movie lied to me and I will tell you how. When Tiara was talking to Father Silas, she asked him what they were doing to the women. She asked if it was mind control or brain swapping and Father Silas said it was none of those things. Trust the process. We don’t do anything. This line made it seem like the women who went through the process were willing to change and not forced to change. LIES! Don’t lie to me in a movie. People in the movie can lie to each other, but the audience always knows when that is happening. There is always some indication that there is a lie somewhere. Actions, a previous conversation, SOMETHING! The movie lied to me the entire time. They lied about the process and they lied about Tiara’s views being ok for her. It wasn’t until I got to the end of the film where I realized that the people had lied to me and I was confused as to why you even had to do that.

If you want to get rid of the ho in me and make it so I’m compliant with the change while still keeping the movie as a thriller, here’s how you do it. Take out the supernatural part of this. It doesn’t make sense and you just threw it in there and didn’t explain it well. It takes more than just someone monologuing about a power they randomly got for this to work. So here’s what you do. The beginning of the movie is fine. Leave it like it is up until she’s transported. (I changed my mind as I wrote this. Bear with me.) You can still keep it where Josiah is part of this church, but do one of two things. One, you can make it so he rebels against the church and he decides that he wants Tiara the way she is and she decides that Josiah is the one for her and they leave the church. Josiah gets the girl and she is no longer a ho. Problem solved. Or two, you could have her fight the entity…spirit thing that is supposed to take over her body, that y’all also didn’t explain very well. She could pretend to be possessed and fight back and leave. This experience could lead her to change her life. Again, she would no longer be a ho.

What I gathered from the movie is that the message you want me to catch is that ho culture is destroying the Black community. You have also told me in this film, from Father Silas, that this is a decision that Tiara and other hoes like her would want to make on their own. Nothing after transport was something Tiara wanted to do, and yet, you tried to make me believe (lie) that she just willingly went along with this. She literally was complaining the entire time. How did y’all even deem her to be well enough to go to church for the switch? Make it make sense because it does not. And y’all didn’t have to make me like Josiah like that for me to get to the end of the film and wish I never met him. You didn’t have to do that!

And another thing, the women she was introduced to in that kitchen. Of the three, only one of them seemed to fit the mold of their definition of a hoe. You broke your own rules, movie! Those women didn’t say anything about sleeping around. One was abused and the other was cheated on. The last one was the one that fit the definition with having six kids with a bunch of men. Why were the other ones switched? And where do we get these men from? You also never explained that. Do you recruit them? There clearly is no process for them, as Father Silas says, so how do they become these upstanding gentlemen worthy of these transformed women? I need the writers of this movie from and center. I need a revised version of this film. The thriller element turned into a supernatural element that did not work for what you were trying to do. It also confused your message for the entire film adding that to the movie.

If you watched this movie, PLEASE tell me your thoughts about the storyline and plot. I don’t care about your views on hoe culture. I will tell you all that right now. Storyline. Plot…and GO!