I love candy as much as the next person, but too much candy can lead to cavities. That’s what I got watching this film.
Tyler Perry’s “Doing Life” does nothing for the argument that he’s using AI to write some of these movies. Let me explain.
“Doing Life” is a story about Anika and Carousel. Anika used to work in the same jail that Carousel was serving time in. I don’t think it tells us how long she was working there but he had be in for 10 years. Anywho, there’s a prison riot (that’s not really explained) and Anika is almost raped…until Carousel makes it to her to save her. Later, Anika leaves the jail, and gets letters from Carousel. They start a relationship through these letters, in a way, and then, he gets out. Romance ensues.
Alright, here’s the thing. I’m going to always start with my complaints so I can end with the good stuff. There was no real push and pull in this movie. Lifetime does a better job with roller coasters than this film did. Now, you may say, “Well, Amber, he might have just wanted to make a feel good movie.” And while that may be true, guess what? I’ve been Devon Franklin and TD Jake’s do that, too. There just had to more than a momma who was beyond rude, a sister who was kind of playing the fence, and the one sister who was just like her momma. Also, was Carousel supposed to end up a lawyer or artist? Sure, he can do both, but it wasn’t clear what his real passion was.
Going back to the AI allegations, I’ve toyed around with having ChatGPT finish a chapter or scene for me, and what it gives me is exactly what I saw in this film. We’re also used to Perry giving us way more dialogue, and this felt awkward and like it was missing feeling. And another thing, Tyler Perry, why did you never get this man a haircut?! That bothered me to NO END! I get it. They don’t have a lot of money but SOMEONE would have cleaned him up.
And not to skip ahead, but Tyler Perry, what was this ending? I feel like we could have cut some time in the middle to give us a proper ending that showed us more. Maybe we get to see him get a better job as a paralegal or something. Maybe we see her go to nursing school. Maybe we see her sister’s show close or something like that. I wanted to see a lot more than what I got. I needed to see more than I got.
Tyler Perry seems to work in extremes. Extreme situations. Extreme characters. Extreme settings, and that’s all fine and good BUT I needed a good in-between character. Carousel was in jail for attempted murder, but was sweet as pie. Anika was scared to death most of the time. Her momma was mean as a snake, and don’t blame the cancer. She was mean like that all her life. Give Anika a friend. Give her some mixed feelings. Make Carousel disappear for a time. Do something to make me really dig into these characters.
Now, with all of that being said, I would watch this again. Maybe once because I was mainly yelling at the momma the entire movie. I’m starting to learn that Tyler Perry makes talk back projects. He wants you to talk back to the screen like we did when we went to the plays.
All in all, it’s a very beautiful movie. I found myself saying, “Aww” way too often, but it was warranted. It’s tell folks to watch it.
What did you think? Was it too sweet for you too or just right?
