Driven by the discreet charm of lead Craig Robinson, writer-helmer Tina Gordon Chism’s domestic comedy holds together just well enough
Domestic comedy
“Peeples” may appropriate its entire premise and plot structure from
“Meet the Parents,” but its heart is suffused with French cinema. Not
the cinema of Godard or Rivette, exactly, but rather that specific
strain of heated, horny, hyperactive farce that Gallic auds actually
attend. Set amid the bourgeois black upper class rarely glimpsed on
film, and driven by the discreet charm of lead Craig Robinson,
writer-helmer Tina Gordon Chism’s debut pic deals out generous doses of
anarchic hijinks without stressing over the narrative connective tissue
in between, and the end product holds together just well enough. Modest
B.O. beckons.
Last year, the Paul Rudd comedy “Wanderlust” was released on Blu-ray with an alternate “bizarro” cut that re-created the same rote plot as the theatrical cut, using only deleted scenes and outtakes, and it’s not difficult to imagine “Peeples” following a similar route. Hilarious bits of business and inspired goofery flow freely and effortlessly throughout the film, yet even the most basic narrative devices seem to have been dragged in kicking and screaming. The pic is hardly tautly assembled, but it probably could stand to be even looser, as its primary pleasures all seem to be peeking into the frame from the margins, photobombing the rather blase story lingering in the center.
As for that story, Chism makes little effort to disguise her obvious working model. Wade (Robinson) is a blue-collar children’s entertainer dating the out-of-his-league Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington), with plans to pop the question. Before he can do this, however, he decides to first meet her family — described as “the chocolate Kennedys” — at their palatial seaside home.
Wade’s plans go pear-shaped rather quickly. Peeples paterfamilias Virgil (David Alan Grier) is a fusty federal judge with no intentions of making nice with his prospective son-in-law; mom Daphne (S. Epatha Merkerson) is a recovering alcoholic and former disco diva; brother Simon (Tyler James Williams) is a nerdy teen who imagines himself an R. Kelly-like lothario; and sister Gloria (Kali Hawk) is a TV reporter who has brought along her comely camerawoman (Kimrie Lewis-Davis) for mysterious reasons known only to everyone in the audience.
Unlike “Meet the Parents,” “Peeples” is rather unconcerned with even approximating actual human behavior en route to setting up its setpieces, which often works to its benefit. Many of the film’s best bits arise from scenarios that are unexplained, or introduced so flat-footedly that they might as well be, while the most strenuously orchestrated, long-lead punchlines often dissipate into sad little laughless dribbles. (At the screening attended, one completely throwaway gag involving a dartboard had the audience in stitches, while a go-for-broke drug freakout scene passed by with barely a whimper.)
In his first leading role, Robinson strikes an odd note halfway between Seth Rogen and Rodney Dangerfield, but it’s one that clicks well within the pic, and the role should help the comic deservedly move beyond supporting parts. Grier is perfectly cast as a punctilious patrician, and Melvin Van Peebles, who appears in a late cameo as the eldest of the Peeples clan, is always a welcome sight. Save for the delightfully flighty Merkerson, however, the female contingent of the cast has rather skimpy material on which to chew.
Though “Peeples” boasts the imprimatur of producer Tyler Perry, it bears little resemblance to the multihyphenate’s own authorial projects, and the film’s lack of shoehorned sermonizing or high camp comes as a substantial relief. Tech credits are all perfectly adequate.
Last year, the Paul Rudd comedy “Wanderlust” was released on Blu-ray with an alternate “bizarro” cut that re-created the same rote plot as the theatrical cut, using only deleted scenes and outtakes, and it’s not difficult to imagine “Peeples” following a similar route. Hilarious bits of business and inspired goofery flow freely and effortlessly throughout the film, yet even the most basic narrative devices seem to have been dragged in kicking and screaming. The pic is hardly tautly assembled, but it probably could stand to be even looser, as its primary pleasures all seem to be peeking into the frame from the margins, photobombing the rather blase story lingering in the center.
As for that story, Chism makes little effort to disguise her obvious working model. Wade (Robinson) is a blue-collar children’s entertainer dating the out-of-his-league Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington), with plans to pop the question. Before he can do this, however, he decides to first meet her family — described as “the chocolate Kennedys” — at their palatial seaside home.
Wade’s plans go pear-shaped rather quickly. Peeples paterfamilias Virgil (David Alan Grier) is a fusty federal judge with no intentions of making nice with his prospective son-in-law; mom Daphne (S. Epatha Merkerson) is a recovering alcoholic and former disco diva; brother Simon (Tyler James Williams) is a nerdy teen who imagines himself an R. Kelly-like lothario; and sister Gloria (Kali Hawk) is a TV reporter who has brought along her comely camerawoman (Kimrie Lewis-Davis) for mysterious reasons known only to everyone in the audience.
Unlike “Meet the Parents,” “Peeples” is rather unconcerned with even approximating actual human behavior en route to setting up its setpieces, which often works to its benefit. Many of the film’s best bits arise from scenarios that are unexplained, or introduced so flat-footedly that they might as well be, while the most strenuously orchestrated, long-lead punchlines often dissipate into sad little laughless dribbles. (At the screening attended, one completely throwaway gag involving a dartboard had the audience in stitches, while a go-for-broke drug freakout scene passed by with barely a whimper.)
In his first leading role, Robinson strikes an odd note halfway between Seth Rogen and Rodney Dangerfield, but it’s one that clicks well within the pic, and the role should help the comic deservedly move beyond supporting parts. Grier is perfectly cast as a punctilious patrician, and Melvin Van Peebles, who appears in a late cameo as the eldest of the Peeples clan, is always a welcome sight. Save for the delightfully flighty Merkerson, however, the female contingent of the cast has rather skimpy material on which to chew.
Though “Peeples” boasts the imprimatur of producer Tyler Perry, it bears little resemblance to the multihyphenate’s own authorial projects, and the film’s lack of shoehorned sermonizing or high camp comes as a substantial relief. Tech credits are all perfectly adequate.
Film Review: ‘Peeples’
Reviewed at the Landmark, Los Angeles, May 2, 2013. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 95 MIN.
Production
A Lionsgate release
presented with 34th Street Films of a 34th Street Films production.
Produced by Tyler Perry, Stephanie Allain, Paul Hall, Ozzie Areu, Matt
Moore. Executive producers, Michael Paseornek, Preston Holmes, Charles
S. Dutton, Sherry Marsh.
Crew
Directed, written by Tina Gordon Chism. Camera (Deluxe
color), Alexander Gruszynski; editor, David Moritz; music, Aaron
Zigman; music supervisor, Joel C. High; production designer, Rick
Butler; costume designer, Paul Simmons; art director, Leo Holder; set
decorator, Janet G. Shaw; sound (Dolby Digital, Datasat, SDDS), Franklyn
D. Stettner; supervising sound editor, Mike Wilhoit; re-recording
mixers, Joe Barnett, Christian P. Minkler; special effects supervisor,
Conrad F. Brink; visual effects supervisor, Jose Marra; visual effects,
2G Digital; assistant director, H.H. Cooper; casting, Kim
Taylor-Coleman.
With
Craig Robinson, Kerry Washington, David
Alan Grier, S. Epatha Merkerson, Tyler James Williams, Melvin Van
Peebles, Diahann Carroll, Malcolm Barrett, Kali Hawk, Ana Gasteyer,
Kimrie Lewis-Davis.
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