Temptation is a movie I question on how one would be able to consider it as a serious film. Between the laughable dialogue and over the top drama, unlikeable and ridiculously wooden characters, Temptation has such a ridiculous feel of camp I kept waiting for Madea to pop out and say "Just kidding guys".
What's up? The movie begins with a marriage counselor telling a patient her "sister's" big mistake that she made with a decision to put lust and excitment over true love and stability. Her "sister" is Judith (Jurnee Smollett) a dating therapist who is stuck in a rut. She's not on the career path she would like to be (who could blame her with Kim Kardashian and Vanessa Williams with her terrible French accent as coworkers) and her marriage to Brice (Lance Gross) seems to be stuck in a tedious rut. She soon gets a chance to spice things up with Harley (Robbie Jones), a coveted man who is everything that Brice is not. At first, Judith is appalled by Harley's blunt flirtations with her, but soon can't resist this mystery life, to the dismay of her loving husband and family. Judith soon learns that if something is too good to be true, there's probably good reason.
What's good? It's a shame that such talent is wasted in such a bizzare soap opera like Temptation because minus a few exceptions I felt the cast was pretty strong. Jurnee Smollett will catch and keep your interest as Judith even when she begins to turn to the dark side. Lance Gross does well as Brice as well, effectively gaining sympathy as Judith's betrayal brakes his heart. Robbie Jones does the bad boy role as well and I also enjoyed Brandy as a side character working at Brice's pharmacy, though I really do question what her character's purpose in being in the movie was in the first place.
What the fuck? I feel like Tyler Perry forgot to make any of his characters likeable in this movie. Judith cheats on her husband and breaks away from everything and everyone that she loves for a man she barely knows. Brice forgets about his wife and is written as someone who is to say the least...a bit vacant. And Harley is an asshole. Not to mention Kim Kardashian and Vanessa Williams' characters who honestly make the first three seem like saints. Who gives a shit what happens when everyone is so nasty?
Life and love can definitely be dramatic and trying times, but Temptation takes it to such an extreme level you would swear you were watching a spoof or a children's play. Nothing or no one feels authentic here, it feels like Perry might as well have put in subtitles at certain points, "LOVE CAN SUCK, AND MIGHT MAKE YOU CHEAT, WHICH WILL CLEARLY HURT BUT YOU'LL GET YOUR ASS BEAT" literally. I felt like at times I was watching a public service announcement about the consequences of being unfaithful. It feels silly, most notably being scenes involving the climax, and a an early scene with Judith trying to spice up the sex life in her marriage is flat out painful.
Overall Temptation is a painful, ridiclously overdone try on the difficulties of romance and the negatives of being unfaithful. It tries to eliver a message with all of the subtlety of a hammer while delivering laughable situations and ridiculously unlikeable characters that really make the movie drag. It's not a fun movie to watch, it's certainly not something I would take seriously and it's capable of being forgotten within a matter of days. The most meaningful confession you could hear by the finale is that this movie was created for the sole purpose of sucking up your money.
1/4
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