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This film, as with many other Perry films, is adapted from a stage play, though I find it hard to believe it is very far from a dinner theatre production. Titled “confession”, “Temptation” frames the storyline as being told by a marriage counsellor to her new patient. In it, we meet Judith (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and Brice (Lance Gross), sweethearts who are married and live in Washington D.C. where Judith’s husband works as a pharmacist in a small family drugstore, run by Yiddishe Momme Renee Taylor, whom some may Mistake for Perry himself in whiteface drag.
Judith, on the other hand, possesses one of the most outrageous roles in a film of recent memory: “In-house therapist” for Janice, a caricaturish matchmaker with a high-end accent, who has a two-bit slave (Kim Kardashian) whose only job appears to be berating Judith for her sensible shoes and discount store clothes. (“Is your icon a Delta stewardess?”)
If credulity had not been suspended already, it comes to light that, in spite of all her claimed expertise on relationship compatibility, Judith is a nice Christian girl who hasn’t been with any other man besides Brice. This makes her perfect catnip to Harley (Robbie Jones), the social media billionaire, who comes with an offer that sounds like he wants to invest in Janice’s company, only to later make her a more attractive offer to get her into bed.
The film’s direction turns right into an overtly moralistic approach. Judith’s life is turned upside down by Harley’s machiavellian ways. Harley’s Internet fortune enables him to give Judith her dream job as a private marriage counsellor. Furthering proving his chivalry, he nearly assaults a cyclist who collides with Judith at the park. This is in stark contrast to Brice’s cowardice. Undoubtedly, Harley’s business jets him into First Class. Ferraris and Rolls Royce became her new mode of transport. This family-friendly approach enables him to maintain his PG-13 rating while still appeasing churchgoers. Rest assured, this meeting is crafty enough not to offend Perry’s more radical followers, similar to a bathroom scandal submerged in sufficient steam.
So we know best that the love of money is the root of all evil due to the Bible stating as such. Judith being tempted by a rich guy that isn’t a total asshole is far too complex for Perry’s universe. Hence, having achieved his prize, Harley is now revealed to be a sadistic bully who drags Judith into a deep rotting underworld of pretty bad behaviour, evidenced by a throbbing techno rave party which is Perry’s answer to the masked ball in Eyes Wide Shut.
To make the movie hover around two hours, Perry had to throw in a mystery subplot where a new pharmacy assistant (Brandy Norwood) is running away from someone in her troubled past. Least mysterious is the true identity of the film’s unnamed narrator who leaves the listener traumatized but with no clear morality to take away, save for perhaps, “parents really do know best, so listen to them if you don’t want to get a divorce and an STD, or worse, both.”
In his earlier 2007 dramedy “Why Did I Get Married?”, Perry unfurled themes of marriage, infidelity, and the nuanced effort required to keep relationships alive with depth. The characters in that film were reasonably three-dimensional with some hint of an inner life. Here they are little more than puppets on Perry’s string. And Sam Gross, for example, scorches through most of the movie delivering the commanding personality of a teacup chihuahua, and only when the script calls for him to resemble something other than a bystander poised does he give the performance needed. What more can people say about a movie that features Kim Kardashian as the most believable thing in the movie?
As with most of Perry’s previous films, their craft contributions range from adequate to unremarkable with some supra-metropolitan D.C. shots thrown in to spice up the otherwise clear Georgia soundstage filming.
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