Two professional white guys who recently saw Tyler Perry‘s For Colored Girls hold differing opinions. One says “there’s no way this movie is getting a Best Picture nomination…there are two or three really good performances but Perry just didn’t succeed at translating the play into a good film.” The other claims “it’s the real deal — maybe too conceptually out there for safe, old, mainstream white Academy tastes, but the performances range from good (Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine) to great (Phylicia Rashad, Thandie Newton) to pretty much masterful (Kimberly Elise, Macy Gray).”

I’m not so sure about the opinion of viewer #2 as he calls himself a “Perry fanboy” and says that the Colored Girls helmer “is one of the most important directors working today, and not just because of his underrated films.” Choke, gag, spit….what? Holy dogshit, he actually did say that. Tie me up and tie me down and splatter a chocolate milkshake all over my face, neck and hair as I scream and struggle to free myself.

So I went back to viewer #1 and said, “Are you sure? I mean, do you think others might share the other guy’s reaction?” Listen, don’t worry about it, he replied. For Colored Girls “is not a Best Picture. It has solid performances across the board, but Perry isn’t a good director and the best parts of the movie are the monologues that come straight from the play. He obviously wanted to do something like Precious but the material just isn’t as strong and it feels like a filmed play rather than a movie.”