Acrimony Movie Review

The other day my friend texted me asking if I ever watched the movie ‘Acrimony’ and the idea just came ‘this is perfect to do a movie review’. She called me to know my stand on it since I am so dramatic. So, here it is:

I love Tyler Perry, from his personal overcoming story of being homeless after producing a play to being this mogul. Also Madea (his alter ego) has influenced my personal growth so much, teaching me how to forgive and move on. Acrimony stars Taraji P Henson, I like everything about her, I feel like she’s my friend in my head. Ok, I don’t know if it’s just me but she has that type of drunk face, so I knew at some point she would become a drunk lady in the movie. Tyler Perry has done it to her before in “I can do bad all by myself”.

So the movie starts with her in school where she meets this cute guy and they are fighting for some reason that I can’t remember. It’s funny how we always end up really loving hard people who we can’t stand. They become friends…Then, she loses her mother and he comforts her, going to the funeral and showing support. Her sisters see an imposter from the beginning, but the reasons that they used to support their opinion are not the best. Basically, they don’t like him because he is not wealthy, that’s why we the audience don’t really pay attention to the ignorant sisters.

They started dating and it looks like he is a good guy, right? But then there’s this part that really stuck in my head, she says “Loss can make you so vulnerable to the point you don’t know yourself”. She knew from the beginning he wasn’t the best choice but she went along. She inherits a good amount of money from her mother and suddenly he starts asking her for money. Ok! So if you watched the movie you are going to say he never asked, she offered right? He kept telling her about his financial problems and he knew she had money, one plus one is two, right? I can honestly tell you a real man would never tell you his financial problems, a good man will pretend everything is okay and under control. Unless, you guys are married, you have joint accounts and so on…If you are my boyfriend and you keep telling me you don’t have this and that, I am sorry you are a certified gold digger. The thing about gold-diggers is that they are also manipulative and make you feel sorry for them. The screen writer is also portraying him as a goldigger, even though Taraji is the narrator and we are watching it through her perspective, every scene makes him look like an opportunist.

All of a sudden…he starts changing, distancing from her. One day after waiting for him for hours, she decides to go to his place and finds him cheating. He lives in a van, she drives off the van which results in her hurting herself and being hospitalised. Taraji finds out that she can’t have children because of the incident. At this point you start hating this guy, every scene makes you hate him more. He comes begging and it’s clear that she is going to forgive him. They live happily ever after, get married and so on…

Besides portraying him as an opportunist, the whole plot revolves around his career. He is a mechanical engineer (which she paid for his studies) who developed some kind of battery that is supposed to be a big thing but no one really cares, except him. She spends all her money investing on his battery and research but he is not able to find support from this major company. He spends all his time writing to them, asking them to have a look on his research but nothing. They even ask him to stay away from their premises since he’s seen as a stalker.

Meanwhile, their marriage is broken, whenever they are together the screen is dark and it’s clear that they are not happy. She is forced to work like crazy to support him since all he cares about is his research. She puts her house on a mortgage because he needed something, their sisters find out and come to warn her about him. Still, she is by her man’s side even though he thinks she didn’t defend him. That scene makes me want to jump in the screen and punch him on his face. I don’t really understand why they are making us believe he is manipulative and then through the end they completely change the narrative.

One day on his attempt to meet with someone from the company, he meets the girl he cheated Taraji with. She has some kind of big position in the company, so as a good opportunist he asks her if she could have a look on his battery. Surprisingly, she agrees. On the other side, they are struggling financially and might lose their house. Her sisters and puppet husbands ask him to do a one time job to save the house. Basically, he needs to drive a van and deliver something. The same day he is asked to do it, the lady from the company calls him and asks him to rush and meet her and the so called people he wanted to meet for years. That’s the first time I agreed with him, he couldn’t miss an opportunity he was waiting for years. He drops everything and goes to the meeting, losing the opportunity to get the house money back. In the meeting, they want to buy the battery for less of what is worth but then again he is the only person who sees the worth in it. At this point you say “screw the battery and take the money!” but nah! He is determined!

At home, her sisters already brainwashed her into leaving him and at that point she is already fed up. He comes with his stupid face and stupid apology saying that he was in a meeting and they offered him thousands for the battery and he said no. Obviously, no one believes him and also they found the lady’s wallet in the van, which makes them believe he is cheating. All of a sudden, the screenwriters become some kind of men advocate because you see through the screen that he is being truthful, he didn’t cheat and he was indeed in a meeting. But then again why the movie didn’t take the same approach when he was asking for money and the other things.

Now it’s all about a woman believing in her family over her man and lack of trust. The thing about men is that they feel maltreated when they are accused of something they didn’t do, but you need to understand that the first time you cheat, it gives her an idea of the kind of person you are. She kicks him out of the house, he comes back begging and so on. He finally gets a job which makes us clearly see how he saw her, because the whole time he didn’t have a job because he had her. He is going through hell and the lady from the company comes to rescue him and gives him a place to stay. Wow! This guy is lucky!

The company finally reconsiders the offer and offers him millions for the almighty battery. He gets the money and finds himself lol. He goes to Taraji to apologize and gives her a good amount of money. As a man, you watch and you tell yourself ‘this brother is such a nice guy’…Nah! As a woman, it comes off as just selfish. So you ask her back a few times, not enough! You should have crawled to get that woman back, the woman who fought for you for years. Just because you asked her back a few times and she said no, it doesn’t give you the right to act like she took you for granted.

He has moved on with his life and gets in a relationship with that lady. I know what the movie is trying to pull up, that sometimes things look like something but they are not. It’s understanding that Taraji assumed they have been together since that time she caught him cheating. I understand that sometimes man finds themselves in weird situations which they are innocent and we don’t give them the benefit of doubt. But if you want to be believed at all times, don’t cheat ever! Don’t blame women for thinking the worse when you are the worse.

They get engaged and BOOM! Taraji goes from a compassionate and supportive woman to an obsessive ex….  She starts stalking the lady and sending them threats. Then, she asks for money and it’s clear that she doesn’t want the money but him. I think it’s sad to portray women like that but that’s the reality, sometimes I wonder why we like men so much. You know sometimes it’s not even love, it’s just the feeling of losing, no one wants to lose anything especially something that you invested so much. Yeah, she becomes crazy till the point she follows them on a yatch and tries to kill him. It’s pathetic! I don’t really remember the end because the movie made me angry…but I suggest you go watch.