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Overanalyzing Anime
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Melinda loves her husband; there's no denying that. It's why she has, so willingly, given him her money, her body, and so many years of her life. Even through all of the lies, and the secrets, and the cheating; even when everyone told her that he wasn't any good for her, she stood by his side. But all things have their breaking point, and, when she finds evidence that he may have been unfaithful again, her love turns to wrath as she enacts her revenge for all that he's taken from her.
Acrimony is by far one of the most frustrating movies I've seen in a while, and it's because it's so frustrating that I can't help but applaud it. I know that may sound strange, but it'll make sense as we delve deeper into its plot.
Honestly, it's very interesting - I went to watch this with my girlfriend and, for the life of me, I can't think of a movie in which we've had such opposing views in regard to what we thought of it. I genuinely liked it (and would probably be willing to see it again), while she claimed it was, "the worst movie she had ever seen."
Now, I'll be the first to admit that this movie is heavily flawed. It's far from Tyler Perry's best work in terms of cinematography. I couldn't help but laugh at certain scenes; for example, both times we saw young Melinda and Robert conversing beside the city river, I couldn't help but cringe. The background looked atrocious; in all honesty I've seen better sets on television shows. I'm willing to forgive a lot when it comes to CGI/green screens, but that was especially bad.
Not only that, but I took issue with almost every actor that embodied the younger versions of the main characters. I don't know if it was the script, their ability to act, the way in which they were directed, or a combination of the three; either way, I couldn't help but cringe during certain exchanges between characters. And it honestly surprised me because I'm used to relatively decent performances from Tyler Perry movies, but this was definitely lacking for pretty much the entire first act. It's really a shame, too, because I like Ajiona Alexus is most of her roles, but this just wasn't one of them. Really, the only person who played their role well was Antonio Madison as a young Robert.
While the scenes from the past were necessary in order to get a better understanding of the characters, I'll say that they were definitely the weakest aspect of this movie. It's not until the characters are older that the story becomes much more entertaining, as both Taraji P. Henson and Lyriq Bent are excellent in their roles as the bitter, resentful wife and the forlorn, sullen husband, respectively. They really sell their respective roles, and the more I watch their individual stories unfold, the more I begin to genuinely care about how they'll end.
Now, this next part of the review will dip into spoilers, so for those of you who've yet to see the movie, I highly recommend holding off on reading the rest of this review until after you've seen it.
Still here? Well, let's dive in.
So this movie was nothing like I expected it to be, which is what I imagined most people felt when they walked out of the theatre. That's mostly due to the fact that every piece of promotional content for this film depicted it as a scorned woman out for revenge, and while that's what I came for, it's not really what I got. As much as I feel for Melinda, and understand her frustration, she really wasn't ever betrayed. Yes, Robert did cheat on her when they were younger, but after she forgave and took him back, he never did it again. While he didn't provide for her during their marriage, he definitely remained faithful throughout their marriage.
Now, I mentioned earlier that I found this film to be incredibly frustrating, and that's because of how it made me feel for both of their characters. At the beginning, I felt bad for Melinda, as it seemed as though she was being manipulated by this man; as each scene had her older self's voice narrating, claiming how "naive" and "stupid" she was to trust his lies and manipulation. Even though I could see that he seemed like a genuinely good man (at first) I stayed weary because I knew that at some point, he was going to change. And it happened, time and time again - whether it was the cheating, the keeping secrets, or his unwillingness to provide for her in the way that she needed; he proved that she was right.. until he didn't.
When we finally got a chance to see things from his perspective, (i.e. without her voice in our heads) we could see that he genuinely wasn't a bad man. Yes, at first there were doubts, for example wanting to meet Diana for coffee, it was easy to let ourselves think the worst of him due to his past actions.. which is exactly what Melinda did upon finding out. The difference is, we have the benefit of knowing that nothing happened, while she doesn't. So, who could really blame her for thinking that he was cheating on her again, especially since he had done it with this woman before?
This is where my frustration was compounded, because when he came back, it was obvious that her threshold had been reached and there was no saving their relationship. He had broken her trust, yet again, and while there was nothing intentionally malicious behind the act, the damage was done. And then it just got worse.
Having their divorce finalize, just before he received the check for $75 million just completely bothered me. I felt conflicted because, after seeing him scrubbing dishes and sleeping in homeless shelters, I couldn't help but feel happy for his hard work finally paying off; so much, in fact, that he could give back what he had taken from Melinda over the course of their relationship. But, at the same time, I felt so upset that Melinda had reached her breaking point - which was, quiet frankly, justified - just before everything would have turned around in their relationship. I can completely understand how that could send a person reeling; especially when she had a digital front-row seat at him fulfilling all the promises he made to her. It was simply devastating to watch her spiral out of control in the way that she did.
I'll admit that the final scene was a bit much, but everything leading up to it was definitley worthwhile, and is why I love the movie so much. I can see why there are those that may not necessarily care for it, but I for one can take flaws because, unlike most movies, it was able to illicit a genuine response from me, and that's something I can definitely appreciate. I feel there have been times where many of us have been a little acrimonious after a particularly bad break-up/divorce; not necessarily to the same extent as Melinda, but I feel that there are many that can understand that bitterness that comes from seeing someone doing better than you, especially after you made the decision to leave them in the hopes of finding someone better.
My rating: 8/10
But, tell me your opinions of the movie in the comment section! Did you like it, love it, hate it? let me know! And feel free to browse the site for my reviews!
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