Tyler Perry's Temptation: "Confessions of a Marriage Counselor"

Okay so I normally don't watch Tyler Perry films, but there was something about this one that sparked my interest.  I'm not sure if it were the previews, the controversy that surrounded it because of Kim Kardashian "fixing" the lead female character (Which she really doesn't.  Kim's role is more of the uh, how do I say this, the bitch at work who hates on you because she's probably jealous.), or the fact that my boo Lance Gross was in.  Regardless I saw it.  Now I went in expecting the usual Tyler Perry, which is constant reminders of follow the Lord and don't let the devil get to you.  Don't worry there was plenty of that as the lead female's (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) mother was a reverend, how early on in the movie it is mentioned the mother and daughter would walk to church, and Jurnee's little mention that she is a Christian so she doesn't believe in sex before marriage.  All in all the film was somewhat decent.  Although the timeline of the movie is horrible as the married couple go from looking like they were teenagers in the 90's (thanks to that Kid high top fade) when they're really only 25/26).   Don't get me started on the aging.  I believe that Perry needs to hang up the screenwriting hat and just hire someone else.

You're  Happy Until Someone Else Comes In The Picture Saying Things Could Be Better
Obviously the film is highly targeted at young adults.  All of the leads are portrayed as being in their 20's with Jurnee's character mentioning that she'll be turning 26 in a few days.  Perry really plays up Jurnee being this country hick that's moved to a big city just in the ways that she dresses and Kim Kardashian's character is there to remind us that Jurnee really can't dress.  (Sounds like art imitating life for Kim.)  This rich billionaire enters the picture and is pushing really hard to give Jurnee The D.  Like seriously, he wants to offer that to her bad.  She seems to be in love with her husband and mentioning little things about him, but she soon starts to fall victim to...temptation.  Robbie Jones plays Harley, the seducer, and makes little inappropriate comments that spark Jurnee's interest in just how much greener the grass on the other side is.  He tells her how sex should be.  Which is not in a bed but more like animals having sex any and everywhere instead of the same mundane places.  Of course this dumb girl takes it to heart and goes home slapping her husband in an effort to have sex like animals.  She was so content with her sex life until someone else tells her that her man just isn't doing it right.  I'm sure you all know what this leads to without me saying it, but I will anyways. She finally caves in and get the billionaire D.  Ladies, don't be fooled by the d*ck talking abilities of men.  The same goes for men.  I will say that Perry took a different route instead of the fairy tale ending.




Fellas, Sometimes You Really Have To Man Up
Now even though Lance's character was cheated on he had some responsibility to take in his wife cheating.  There's a scene were he and Jurnee are walking and a group of young men say, "Now that's a fine a$$ b*tch!"  Jurnee gets all upset and mentions how the boys need to go to church...how Tyler Perry.  Instead of confronting the guys Lance keeps walking.  Now I'm pretty sure every woman in that theater was like, "Oh hell no!  My man better be ready to shoot anyone who disrespects me like that."  I know I was.  His character just didn't seem to care and I think that had to do with his niceness.  Somebody just accidentally hit Jurnee with a bike while running and Harley was ready to kill the man.  Good boys ain't no fun and the bad boys ain't no good.  Lance was a good man, but he seemed to be in that marriage rut that we often hear about.  Just wanting to do the same things and live life as safely as possible.  This made his wife bored.  It just seemed that in his mind they had been married for so long that spicing things up was pointless.  He supported her dreams but not 100%.  All it takes is another man to start telling a woman how she's the best thing in the world when she's not hearing it at home and a relationship can be ruined.  Once again the same thing goes with woman appreciating their partners.

Trust Your Gut 
A big issue when we start dating in our teens and probably well into our twenties, is that we sometimes ignore our natural instincts or the things that people older than us say.  The movie was so foreshadowing about Harley because early on Jurnee says that she could tell he has a mean streak based on a survey he took.  Despite all of this she still starts an affair with the man which in the end turns out horribly for her.  Of course a lot of women develop a mindset that this man won't be like that with them or we ignore them because we're blinded by love.  Early on everything is fine but overtime those flaws that you noticed but opted to ignore come out.  If you feel something isn't right then you're probably right.  I cannot tell you guys how many times I found myself unhappy in relationships and even telling my partner, yet I stayed around because they said things would get better and I believed them.  In addition to that sometimes we need to listen to older people when they give us advice about relationships.  Early on Jurnee's mother notes that Harley isn't good company but it's ignored due to Jurnee's lust.  I can't count the number of times my Mom has advised me that certain relationships would not turn out right and I simply blew her off because I felt that she didn't know what she was talking about.  Then in the end when I removed my rose colored glasses I was ashamed to admit she was right.