The Family That Preys
Lionsgate
At Quality 16 and Showcase
2.5 out of 5 stars

By Jonathan Hurwitz
For the Daily

When you watch a Tyler Perry film, you know more or less what you’re getting into: a mediocre stew, brimming with good old-fashioned family values. And Tyler Perry probably isn’t going for an Oscar with another one of his predictable, mundane films.

In “The Family That Preys,” the prolific director strays from the comedic likes of eccentric grandma Madea ("Madea's Family Reunion"), and instead adds two polarized families living in the South instead. But the families really aren’t that different, as both are brimming with long-rooted feuds and family secrets.

Academy Award winner Kathy Bates (“About Schmidt”) plays Charlotte Cartwright, a wealthy widow who’s the CEO of her own construction company. Her domineering son, William (Cole Hauser, “Pitch Black”), adds a pinch of family feud to the mix as he tries to kick his own mother off the corporate ladder. Alfre Woodard (TV’s “Desperate Housewives”) plays Alice Pratt, a hard-working widow in charge of a diner and mother to two daughters. Alice’s daughter, Andrea (Sanaa Lathan, “Love and Basketball”), and her husband, Chris (Rockmond Dunbar, TV's “Prison Break”), begin working for William, but the plot becomes quickly convoluted with subversive schemes and a power-driven affair. As deceit consumes both families, their paths become crossed in a growing business scandal and some serious — yet still humorous — catfights.

With this film, Perry relies on girl power the whole way through. A key aspect of the film is a subplot involving Charlotte and Alice embarking on a cross-country road trip. A definitive Oprah/Gail complex develops as the two leave their disastrous home lives behind to spend time dancing in country bars (in the case of Charlotte) and slapping male strippers with a Bible (in the case of Alice). Bates and Woodward's talents are well-represented here, ultimately leading the cast through the movie.

While the "road trip" subplot does serve as a distraction from the main point, Perry knows how to present drama. More importantly, though, the drama is surrounded by family experiences that are easy to relate to: the hard-working male, the independent woman, the widowed mother and the young family with children struggling to lead an economically stable life. Perry further draws in his audience here as he utilizes universal experiences that characterize many of his movies.

Perry's latest is another in the line of his slightly predictable films with universal themes. It’s nothing revolutionary, but “The Family That Preys” is ultimately enjoyable to watch, serving as a showcase for Perry’s talent as a director of drama and of workable actors.