Divorce in the Black is about a woman who married a dirtbag who is just another member of his dirtbag clan. The couple isn’t doing so well and he – not she – files for divorce. But when she starts seeing someone before the papers are signed, he goes nutso…or, really, more nutso than he always was. Because Tyler Perry knows how to write nuance.

I thought the first act of this flick was strong and I had hope for a pretty good flick (I’ve liked a couple of Tyler Perry films in the past). But his instincts and, perhaps, ignorance of how to make a good thriller, strikes and we wind up with a movie I swear he’s made a few times before.

Which is too bad… it seemed like it might be a more serious drama about a woman trying to escape her dirtbag husband. There are some good scenes with her parents talking about how men and women should treat each other… and some decent sparks with her new boyfriend.

But the movie way too long because the writer just doesn’t know how to fill time with decent characters… or certainly how to write a protagonist who isn’t clueless and dimwitted. But the real culprit is the one-note dirtbag husband who starts out a dirtbag, stays a dirtbag, and ends up a dirtbag. Wouldn’t want nuance in your divorce melodrama… crazy is as crazy does.

So for a movie that had potential but quickly slid into mediocrity in a plot that felt way too familiar, I’m giving this one a pretty low rating. If Tyler Perry could write better characters and a more convincing script, he might hit on a good film again.

Score: 62