Following his 2018 movie “Acrimony,” Tyler Perry returns to comedy with his film “Nobody’s Fool.” It features the star-studded cast of Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, Tiffany Haddish and Whoopi Goldberg. The movie follows Tanya (Haddish) upon her release from prison where she discovers her sister, Danica (Sumpter), is involved in a catfishing joke. Despite such a cast of veteran actors, the movie falls flat due to stale comedy, regressive jokes, false advertising and an underdeveloped plot.
Not your typical Tyler Perry comedy, “Nobody’s Fool” stars Tiffany Haddish, so it’s a Tyler Perry comedy with an infinite supply of sex jokes. Tiffany Haddish plays the same character as in every other movie — a loud, inappropriate, sex fiend. Viewers cannot blame Haddish for squeezing every drop out of her 15 minutes of fame, but when the crude comedic stylings of Haddish and the stereotypical black jokes of Perry are combined, audience members feel as though they have watched a movie released 10 times before.
Throughout the film, the actors deliver a number of politically incorrect jokes. At one point, Kalli (Amber Riley) concludes one of the male characters is gay for not wanting to sleep with Danica. When one of the male characters shows compassion and emotion, Tanya squeezes his nipples in an attempt to turn off his “b—h switch,” and later proclaims he has a vagina. Due to the R-rating, it is understandable if “Nobody’s Fool” contains raunchy and controversial jokes. However, in a time of Women’s Marches and when the rights of the LGBT community are being threatened, jokes skating the lines between comedy and homophobia or misogyny feel willfully ignorant.
In the movie, Danica is “Nobody’s Fool,” but viewers around the nation are all fools of Tyler Perry. Trailers for the film market it as a comedy about a woman who finds herself on the receiving end of a catfishing scheme. In reality, the movie leans much more towards romantic comedy, but not the good kind. The movie utilizes the biggest romantic comedy cliché in the book — professing love to a partner in the pouring rain accompanied by a sappy love song. Except for this time the audience is led to believe this is revolutionary because the woman stands outside instead of the man. Unfortunately, gender-bending a cliché does not make it any less trite.
“Nobody’s Fool” lacks plot development, which shows throughout the film. The trailers for the movie depict it as a film starring Tiffany Haddish, however, her character remains one-dimensional the entire time and only comes on the screen to deliver punchlines. The synopsis for the picture notes the recent release of Tanya from prison, but the film fails to properly address this issue. For the sake of propelling the plot, the film glosses over the struggles ex-convicts face when re-integrating into society. In the film, Tanya gets out of prison, finds employment with unimaginable ease and retains her rough-around-the-edges, brash personality with no regard for how she comes off to the greater whole of society. While audience members maintain a suspension of disbelief when consuming art, they are not supposed to turn a blind eye to glaring plot holes.
When going to see "Nobody's Fool," theaters across the nation will not be dead silent, but they will not be erupting in rapturous laughter either. “Nobody’s Fool” adds nothing new to the repertoire of Perry or Haddish. Haddish does what she does best — play a replica of her “Girl’s Trip” character, and Perry recycles the same stale comedy he has used since the early 2000s. Even though “Nobody’s Fool” contains funny moments, creating a movie without such blind disregard for politics of the day would be a marked improvement.
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