why did i get married

Why Did I Get Married? is a film adaptation written and directed by Tyler Perry, which was inspired by the play of the same name. The movie stars Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Richard T. Jones, Sharon Leal, and Perry himself. The film will be released in the US on October 12, 2007.

Contents
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 External links



[edit] Plot
A big-screen adaptation of Perry's hit stage play of the same title, "Why Did I Get Married?" is an intimate story about the difficulty of maintaining a solid love relationship in modern times. During a trip to the picturesque snowcapped mountains of Colorado, eight married college friends have gathered for their annual seven-day reunion. But the cozy mood is shattered when the group comes face-to-face with one pair's infidelity. As secrets are revealed, each couple begins questioning the validity of their own marriage. Over the course of the weekend, husbands and wives take a hard look at their lives, wrestling with issues of commitment, betrayal and forgiveness as they seek a way forward.


[edit] Cast
Janet Jackson - Patricia
Jill Scott - Sheila
Richard T. Jones - Mike
Sharon Leal - Diane
Malik Yoba - Gavin
Tasha Smith - Angela
Michael Jai White - Marcus
Denise Boutte - Trina
Lamman Rucker - Troy
Tyler Perry - Terry

[edit] Trivia
Jill Scott, Richard T. Jones, Tasha Smith and Malik Yoba have all appeared on Girlfriends.
This is the third film which Tyler Perry directs, but the fourth to write.
Tasha Smith appeared in Tyler Perry's previous movie, Daddy's Little Girls
Review in a Hurry: Prolific writer-director Tyler Perry offers a dark meditation on marital woes, sending four couples on a retreat to work on relationships rife with VD, verbal abuse, incompatible goals and more. Fear not, though, because big issues also beget big, natural laughs.

The Bigger Picture: In the movies, we usually watch a man and woman flirt, bicker and then ride off into the sunset. In this film, Perry challenges the "happily ever after" myth by exploring four different but equally messed up couples that gather for an annual reunion. It's not fun and games, though, as they embark on this mountain getaway to work on their marriages.

The movie is light; they joke about being black people in Colorado. The movie is dark; secrets are exposed and the outlook for love is much bleaker than the view of the landscape.

The do-it-all Perry (Madea's Family Reunion, Diary of a Mad Black Woman) adapts from his stage play and gets great performances out of everyone, in part because they all seem so sure of their characters. Jill Scott is a breakout, and Tasha Smith has the greatest lines and she does them justice.

There is the power couple: He (Perry) wants more babies; she (Sharon Leal) wants to work. There is the bitchy couple: He (Michael Jai White) wants to fight; she (Smith) wants to fight and drink. There is the couple you want to run from: He (Richard T. Jones) makes fat jokes; she (Scott) cowers and feels worthless. And, at the center of it all, there is the poster couple for marriage. She (Janet Jackson) is a relationship expert who writes books about her friends; he (Malik Yoba) is her supportive husband…well, sort of.

Now, a movie about a bunch of friends hanging out in a lavish house in snow country, cooking dinner and sipping wine, could easily slip into sitcom territory, or self-important drama-rama. Perry is wise to bring on the serious issues such as verbal abuse, infidelity, financial treachery and STDs. The resulting laughs are nervous and the tears look real.

Watching Married isn't just a helluva lot more fun than reading a self-help, it's a helluva lot more enlightening, too.

The 180―A Second Opinion: Next time, Perry should rethink his cinematography and demand a bigger budget for set design. The audience is always aware that this is an adaptation of a stage play. A little more action and a little less conversation would also help elevate it to pure film. 'Why Did I Get Married?' Four married couples vacation in the Colorado mountains to look at their relationships - and their secrets. With Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry, Jill Scott. Director: Tyler Perry (1:58). PG-13: Sexual references, language. At area theaters.

A disclaimer: Tyler Perry's hell-raising granny-in-drag, Madea, doesn't show her face in this film.

Not to worry. Director Perry can't keep away from characters big and bold. And his latest mashup of laughs, tears and scandal is made to order for the powerful female cast.

Janet Jackson stars as a picture-perfect (but emotionally scarred) romance psychologist who corrals her now-married college friends into an annual retreat to take stock of wedded bliss.

The pals and their spouses have only just arrived at their snowbound Colorado mountain cabin when romances turn rotten.

Powerhouse attorney Diane (Sharon Leal) so obsesses over her BlackBerry that she hasn't cuddled up to her husband, Terry (Perry), for over a year.

Magnificently honey-voiced Sheila (Jill Scott, padded out to a girth that gets her character booted from her seat on an airplane in the film's opening) must endure the jabs of her breathtakingly nasty hubby (Richard T. Jones).

The problems are real; the solutions are ... well, really entertaining. Perry mixes heartfelt drama with bold-stroke, insult-slinging comedy.

Tearful moments à la "Waiting to Exhale" are quickly chased off the screen by catfights worthy of TV's "Flavor of Love."

For every sigh in Scott's emotional performance, we have a barb from Tasha Smith's hilarious shrew, who can barely put down her cocktail long enough to get her claws into the mother of her man's children.

Dancing from story to story, joke to bust-up, Perry is assured, if a little lazy. Romantic blunders are easily forgiven, the pop psychology can be plodding and all some characters need, he seems to be telling us, is a good cry.

But these things are easily forgotten in the face of Perry's tried-and-true formula: Strong and sexy women, wayward men, rampant gossip, vindictive exes, ignorant white folks and a drop-dead makeover just in time for the finale.

Perry, so adept at giving fans of his touring plays an evening that spans the entertainment gamut, once again delivers something for everyone.