What grade should one assign to a likable film that mostly succeeds in accomplishing its goals, but which demonstrates a total lack of ambition or originality? Should it be graded for its own successes, or examined for its relative place in cinema? This is a dilemma that has confronted me for as long as I’ve been thinking critically of cinema. And Peeples, the latest release from the Tyler Perry brand, presents this conundrum as well as any film ever has.
Peeples, from first-time writer-director Tina Gordon Chism — who previously had writing credits on the films Drumline and ATL — offers nothing we haven’t seen many times before. When Grace Peeples (played by Kerry Washington of Django Unchained and TV’s Scandal) attends her family’s annual reunion in the Hamptons without inviting her live-in boyfriend, Wade (Craig Robinson, of Hot Tub Time Machine and TV’s The Office, in his first leading role), he decides to surprise her there and finally meet her family — only to find, naturally, that they’ve never heard of him. Everything that follows transpires exactly as you imagine it would, with nary a surprise in sight, from the father’s grumpy disapproval to the series of awkward misunderstandings Wade endures to the film-ending proposal and happy-ever-after.
Indeed, this is a film that borrows heavily from Hollywood’s most exhausted sitcom conventions. The premise, for one, is lifted straight from Meet the Parents, with David Alan Grier (at his surliest) in fine Robert De Niro mode. The central relationship, meanwhile, is founded on that head-scratching cliché of the schlubby average guy who somehow manages to land an astonishingly beautiful and patient woman (who, in real life, would never afford him a second glance). To the film’s credit, though, these characters are developed just enough that we understand such a pairing more than we usually would; beneath Grace’s beauty and intelligence lurks a less-than-immaculate past, while Wade is thankfully given more notes to play than the typical Tim Allen/Jim Belushi stock character normally allows — he’s a sweet and earnest nice guy who works with children rather than merely an idiot goofball.
Beyond its two leads, Peeples stacks its ensemble cast with one underdeveloped character after another, which is a shame, since this a film about a family where everybody has more going on than the façade of perfection that he/she each presents. In fact, each family member is limited to a single personality trait — dad Virgil is an intimidating judge; mom Daphne (a radiant S. Epatha Merkerson) is a faded soul singer who hides how much she regrets giving up her stardom; sister Gloria (Kali Hawk) harbours a secret about her relationship with long-time “best friend” Meg; and brother Simon (Tyler James Williams) is a geeky teenager who thinks he can only get a girlfriend if he acts more like a thug. And I’m not even going to start about how utterly wasted the glorious Ana Gasteyer is in a throw-away role as the town mayor. And, yeah… that’s it. That’s all you need to know about these people. Actually, that’s all I know about these people.
The film is not without its laughs — well, for the sake of accuracy, let’s call them mild chuckles — but much of the humour falls flat, due in no small part to the fact that this is territory that has long been over-explored. Nothing feels fresh; nothing feels new. When a film’s funniest line is Wade referring to the rich and seemingly perfect Peeples family as “the chocolate Kennedys,” it’s wise to temper your expectations. But, in spite of everything, I couldn’t help but be charmed by these Peeples. They won me over with their sweetness and their familiarity. I felt the same way watching this film as I did watching last fall’s NBC sitcom flop, Guys with Kids. There, again, nothing was original. No risks were taken. But the familiarity of the characters and situations was comforting, like going home at the end of a long day, like earning the opportunity to switch off your brain for a while. Ultimately, Peeples is cinematic comfort food.
But should comfort food be rewarded for clearing the unimaginably low bar it sets for itself? Peeples is reasonably successful at telling its story well and attaining its goal. But what Peeples does is far less complex and ambitious than what many other movies do. Compared to my own favourite films of the past year — Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Zero Dark Thirty — which strive for art and thoughtfulness and poetry, or even compared to the more mainstream pleasures of the Oscar-winning Argo — which is a masterclass in suspense editing — Peeples is inarguably disposable. I enjoyed it, but I’ll surely forget it. In the grand scheme of things, I can’t in good faith call that a worthwhile film.
