adminReviewed by Joel White
Film: The Single Mom’s Club
Cast: Nia Long, Amy Smart, Cocoa Brown, Terry Crews, Ryan Eggold, Zulav Henao, Tyler Perry.
Director: Tyler Perry
Cinema: Eastgate
Running time: 106 minutes
Age restriction: 12
It is painful to admit when one is wrong. Tyler Perry’s work in Hollywood has been severely panned in that he has always appeared as the cross dressed Madea, a woman.
In that series of film, spanning seven years, the necessity to modulate this voice, as well as his wardrobe, always seemed too many steps down the wrong road.
It is with great pleasure that I can report on a film for which he is the writer, the producer, and the director in which sufficient self-restraint has been exercised, when called for, allowing the numerous characters portrayed to appear as individual and real personalities. Even further,with a small part in the film our Tyler holds back admirably.
We are in the south eastern American State of Georgia, in one of its busy, urban settings. With a series of coincidences the use of which has always brought Hollywood criticism as well as praise five divorced mothers, having only that in common, come together for the purpose of mutual self-defence.
One is an import from Mexico, two are black, and two are white. The film deserves praise in that it avoids the stereo typing which normally accompanies such motley casting.
Accurately as is virtually always the case the offspring have been given to the mothers. In an accurate variety of ways we are shown how the dividing of one home into two parts exacerbates the financial problems.
In forming what the five divorcees like to think of as a club which will provide the group therapy, the mothers ultimately achieve their purpose. But most certainly not at the expense of allowing me to highly recommend this film as filled with humour and comedy.
In order to accord with reality, it is the mothers who must as the home breaks up find a route around the difficulties always associated with one parent homes. Equally realistically, the financial problems are not glossed over.
Further to its praise, the film takes us along as the individual mothers cope with their children who it is rightly felt are the major losers when a marriage breaks up.
Certainly not the setting for a comedy, this film comes with the gift of teaching us a good way of handling a bad situation. It is a highly-recommended film.
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