First Hit: Although a few funny bits, it was overdone, too long, and way too predictable.
You’d think with a good cast including Tika Sumpter (as Danica), Tiffany Haddish (as Tanya), and Whoopi Goldberg (as Lola) there would be a funny redeeming story with meaningful exchanges but this fails at both ends.
Here Danica is a advertising executive trying to get promoted. One of her team members Kalli (Amber Riley) is appropriately loyal, however her boss Lauren Meadows (Missi Pyle) is so far-fetched it makes the agency they work for seem fake and foolish. It was either a huge mistake to cast Pyle in this role or to make this role look foolish. The meetings with Meadows teams vying for the opportunity to create the ad program for a new fragrance were stupid.
Danica is a very controlled person who has done everything she can to put her life together, work hard, and create a nice life for herself. Tanya is her sister, who spends a fair amount of her time in jail for drugs or prostitution. As the film begins Danica gets a call from their mom, Lola, telling her that Tanya is getting out of jail and that Danica has to pick her sister up and also provide a home for her. Reason is that the last time Tanya stated with her mom, she ripped out all the copper wire and plumbing to sell for dollars. It cost Lola $35,000 to fix the home.
Danica was also dumped by her fiancé one week before their wedding and for the last year has been emailing, texting and having phone calls with Charlie (Mehcad Brooks) who is an engineer on an oil derrick. She’s never met him, seen him, skyped him (he says bad Wi-Fi connections), but is in love with him. She claims that he’s the perfect man, meets everything on her list and cannot wait to meet him.
Adding to this story Danica is being actively pursued by the owner of a local coffee store. The owner Frank (Omari Hardwick) gives Danica her daily coffee for free and it always comes with a single red rose. But despite his pursuit Danica doesn’t pay him any mind because he doesn’t meet the items on her list.
The hilarity sections ensue when Danica picks up Tanya from prison and takes her back to her apartment. Tanya is so overboard you cannot help but laugh at some of the dialogue. Because Tanya needs a job and needs to attend AA meetings, Danica escorts her to her office to help her get started. On the way they stop by the coffee store and Frank offers Tanya a job because she fixed and served coffee at the prison. Then Tanya and Danica discover that Frank hosts AA meetings in the store after hours because he also has a prison record and wants to make his life right.
Tanya also believes that her sister Danica is being “Catfished” by this unknown entity named “Charlie.” This is because there’s never been any real face to face contact between him and Danica.
With these setups there is bound to be some hilarity and funny scenes, and there are. But the ending is obvious, it takes too long to get there, and the office scenes are unfathomable.
Sumpter is OK as Danica. Her character is too smart to fall in love with a phone voice and the story's handling of the office she worked in was poorly done. Sumpter had to walk a fine line in this film to make it work, and unfortunately, she didn’t get much help from the script or director. Haddish’s role is over the top and for the most part doesn’t work. There are a few hilarious scenes but they rely on a gross pushiness of her character. Goldberg’s role as their mom was minor and mostly useless. She had a few good lines but overall, I’m not clear why the role was needed. Hardwick was excellent and the best part of this film. His consistently honest character, a person working to make his life right, was wonderfully portrayed. Pyle’s role was horrible. I do not believe that anyone acting like this would actually be in a position of leadership in any advertising agency. This was an issue with Pyle, the script, the director or all three. Brooks was OK. I thought his caricature of a suave man on the internet and when he first meets Danica, then turning into an obnoxious self-focused jerk at dinner was to far a stretch of the character. Riley as Danica’s team member was OK. She seemed to be acting the role versus being the role, and that’s not a good thing. Tyler Perry wrote and directed this mess. It is unfortunate he overdid all his characters and made this film seem cartoonish. The film ended up not being un-funny and not dramatic.
Overall: Unclear idea and overdone execution made me wonder how this film got made.