I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

How sad is this?

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

When it's not being divine inter-conceited - completely out of nowhere, into your lap bull - it makes not a single shred of sense. This is a masterclass on how NOT to write a screenplay. Monty is the only consistent thing in this film. What does a drug dealer want with his kids? How did his ex wife turn into such a monster? What exactly does someone like Julia find 'fall in love' attractive about him? ... I mean I know a relationship like there's isn't far fetched but, in this movie, it only seemed to make sense for them to find each other fun. It's all drama for drama's sake and, in no way, illustrates the idea that when everything seems like it's about to get the better of you, don't let it because things are about to get better for you. It's a good message, just prove it properly.

I'm being generous and biased in this review. This a Tyler Perry film, who has one of the only film companies based in Atlanta at the time, with Rainforest Films being the other.This is Tyler Perry's first non-adapted film, which really showed. He did a great job on dialog. It was funny and well directed (the dialog, not the movie). Problem with most of his scripts are the black and white characters - they're either just so horrible, or really great people. There's no in between. He's also preaching to the choir on his social commentaries, based on the crowd at the movie theater.Other problems - continuity. Big time. Like, untucked shirt on closeups, nice and tucked in for the far shots. Lying down for closeups, sitting up for long shots. It was pretty distracting. Tyler, you got the cash, rent another camera and get those all knocked out at once.If the movie were didn't have the technical issues and writing style (like a play), it would have been a higher rated films, but despite that it was pretty enjoyable. Good to see buildings and roads I recognize.

The biggest problem with this is that it's so totally predictable almost from the very beginning. Is there any surprise that comes up at any point in the entire movie? About the only thing thrown in that threw me off for a few minutes was the rape conviction against Monty (Idris Elba) which ended up being explained away anyway. The basis of the story, of course, was Monty's frantic need to get custody of his 3 daughters back from his ex-wife, who's hooked up with a drug dealer and seems to be into some pretty bad stuff herself. That leads to his budding relationship with Julia (Gabrielle Union) - a high powered lawyer who had employed Monty as her driver for a while, and finds herself strangely drawn to him both personally and professionally, as she ends up representing him. There's a lot of extraneous material thrown in - the community's combination of outrage and impotence against local drug dealers, the wrong side of the tracks romance between Monty and Julia, the situation the kids find themselves in when they're taken away from Monty and handed over to their mother. Sometimes it seemed as if there was a bit too much extraneous material to be honest.What I liked about the movie was the decision to make the girls' father the good guy, and the fact that the black community living in Monty's neighbourhood was shown to be diverse and mostly good, honest folk with a few losers thrown in. I also liked the performances from Elba and Union - they worked well together - and from the 3 McClain girls (I assume sisters themselves) who played Monty's children. They were as far removed from irritating child actors as you could imagine. They were quite good.Unfortunately, what I didn't like about this was the predictability of the whole thing. There was virtually no dramatic tension throughout, because you knew without any doubt how pretty much everything was going to turn out. That really drags a movie down in my opinion. (4/10)

Aside from the fairy-tale ending, this movie had many realistic moments, especially those concerning a successful lawyer dating a down-on-his-luck neighborhood mechanic with a criminal record. Naturally all her friends looked down on her new boyfriend because he was not a professional, even though they tried to set her up with a series of losers -- who were overplayed as such to make a point.All that said, many of the characters and situations in the movie held the ring of truth, and the acting was solid. OK, it ended up with the bad guys going down and the good guys winning, but even so it was a fun and fairly realistic ride. The protagonists were likable and the settings believable. If you think feel-good movies are sappy, don't watch this one -- but it's hard not to feel good to see a father win his three little girls back from his pathetic ex-wife and her drug dealer boyfriend...