I foresee a lot of 5.1s in the future of Tiffany Haddish. Many will be earned; some will be not. But if there’s an actress I could tie to any imdb rating, it would be Tiffany Haddish: 5.1. Get used to it. It’s gonna happen about twenty more times before she’s through.
My favorite love-to-hate director is back, and now I know this is this best year for black film ever. I was all set to write about how Tyler Perry had destroyed what a good thing George Tillman Jr., Carlos López Estrada, and Spike Lee had contributed to this cinematic year. But in 2018, even Tyler wasn’t up to his standard awful. While Nobody’s Fool was still a bad film with a ?? title, it remains several cuts above Tyler Perry’s usual excruciating journey to Vomitville. Yes, 2018 is such a quality year for black film that even Tyler Perry offered some laughs.
It’s always hard to tell if Tyler Perry is delivering a comedy as his films always end with the two least funny people in the cast delivering the ho-hum romance telegraphed from act 1, scene 1. Yet, whereas his usual “comedies” are peppered with what appears to be drag from a third-rate improv show, this one substituted his Madea alter ego with professional talents like Haddish, Whoopi Goldberg, and Chris Rock.
Now you may not have a sense of exactly how unfunny I find Perry’s Madea alter ego, so let me try to explain: The plot here is Tanya (Haddish) gets out of jail and is taken in by her successful sister, Danica (Tika Sumpter). Meanwhile, Danica is juggling two men: one anonymous soulmate e-mailer who is likely catfishing her and one live barista, Frank (Omari Hardwick). Danica’s concerns –despite being the plot- are secondary, however, because every single scene is infused with Tiffany Haddish being Tiffany Haddish. The overindulged loudmouth has two go-to forms of comedy – 1) “I like sex.” This isn’t a funny road when male characters travel it; I have no idea why it should be funny with women. 2) She gets heated, says something outrageous, and punctuates her pronouncement with, “BITCH!” A little of this is all one needs, and Nobody’s Fool is replete with it. Now, how much do I dislike Madea? I find the tiresome Haddish shtick twenty times more tolerable.
So even though every scene gets hijacked by Haddish, this story really is about Danica and her quest for love. And, of course, this is what drives me crazy about giving so much power to a man who wields the camera so poorly. Tyler Perry is stuck in this world in which he is dying to appeal to females, but doesn’t quite know how they work. Danica, for instance, is pushing for a VP promotion at work, but she sacrifices her entire career for a possible Skype. I can’t tell you exactly how Bechdel-hostile that scene is. As is Tanya’s constant, “gimme dick” patter; it better be funny, because it sure doesn’t check the boxes of tasteful, intuitive, or feminist.
And then, of course, there is Tyler’s crappy directing: The two funniest moments in the film are both sex scenes. Kudos that you finally figured out how to make a proper R-rated film, Mr. Perry. Well done. The problem is that only one of the scenes was intended to be funny. Uh oh.
Come to think of it, I probably was far too generous to Nobody’s Fool. The title doesn’t make any sense (who does it pertain to?) and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I suppose the star-and-a-half treatment reflects the fact that this Perry film was watchable, if bad. It didn’t leave me feeling hollow or disgruntled or just plain ill as so many past Tyler efforts have. For any other director, these words would be damning with faint praise, but for Tyler Perry, this review is practically a sycophantic ass-kissing. Don’t be Nobody’s Fool. The film rests entirely upon your tolerance of Tiffany Haddish and nothing more. If you can stomach her angry libido routine and beg for more, this is the film for you.
We know Tyler ain’t quite my bag
When watching, my heart tends to sag
But this version, not appalling
In absentia, Tyler’s calling
You know I find his Madea a “drag”
Rated R, 110 Minutes
Director: Tyler Perry
Writer: Tyler Perry
Genre: Another month, another Tyler
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Suckers for cheap sexual innuendo
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who stopped believing in Tiffany Haddish after Girls Trip
