Tyler Perry Risks It All With 'Acrimony' (Review)

Since the beginning of time, women have been dismissed as crazed or deranged, their emotions ridiculed and shoved aside as irrational or without merit. Though mental illness and unhealthy behaviors are certainly very real, women aren’t often allotted the space to tell their stories and to speak their truths without fear of backlash or being confined to some heinous outdated stereotype. In his new suspense thriller Acrimony, Tyler Perry sets the stage for one woman, Melinda Gayle (portrayed by Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson) to tell her story — a tale riddled with heartbreak and betrayal. Beautifully shot in crisp, dark greys, the film opens in the aftermath of Melinda and her ex-husband Robert’s (portrayed by Lyriq Bent) marriage. It’s clear from her outbursts and enraged emotional state that Melinda is not dealing with the demise of her relationship well. Order by the courts to attend counseling sessions, a reluctant Melinda dials back time eighteen years and begins to piece together the romance between herself and Robert – which started in college and eventually led to the inside of a courtroom.

Henson, as usual, is intensely captivating as Melinda, her fury literally penetrates the screen as she relays the story of her relationship to her therapist and to the audience. Perry captures her various emotional states, slowly building to her current boiling point. Bent, who rose to prominence in the Saw franchise and who currently sizzles as Jamie Overstreet in Netflix’sShe’s Gotta Have It is also fantastic. The chemistry between the actors is very much that of two people who have spent nearly two-decades of their lives with one another.

Instead of forcing Henson and Bent to play younger versions of themselves, relative newcomers Ajiona Alexus (who plays young Cookie on Empire), and Antonio Madison are wonderfully cast as young Melinda and young Robert respectively. Their stellar performances with all of the levity, earnestness, and hope of youth created a steady foundation. They were also able to connect their characters seamlessly with Bent and Henson's older version.

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Lyriq Bent Talks 'Acrimony,' Storytelling And Why He'll Never Be Put In A Box

Lyriq Bent is captivating. At six-feet tall, the dashing actor exudes warmth and maturity on screen and in real life. Since stepping into the entertainment industry in the early 2000s, Bent has been gaining momentum, starring in everything from the infamous Saw franchise to the acclaimed mini-series, The Book of Negros and more recently, in Spike Lee’s Netflix joint, She’s Gotta Have It. However, Bent’s latest venture, starring opposite Taraji P. Henson in Tyler Perry’s R-rated crime thriller,Acrimony will reveal a different side of the Kingston native. Ahead of the film’s premiere, Bent and I sat down to chat about the flick, working with Perry, and why he and Henson just clicked. Though he’s been in the industry for some time, Bent hadn’t had the opportunity to work with Perry until now. "(Acrimony) was so different than what (Tyler Perry’s) normally done," he explained. "The opportunity to help him create a beautiful story in a different genre was important to me because I can see we have to tell our own stories, and Tyler's done more than his part in trying to do so. Now that he has so many films under his belt, he felt it necessary to change genres, so I felt very lucky that he thought that I was capable or that he had the confidence in me to make that crossover."

For Bent, Acrimony is much more than a tale of an embittered, unhinged woman out for revenge. The foundation of the film was grounded in a young romance between Bent and Henson's characters Robert and Melinda which blossomed over time. "I liked the fact that it's a story about human nature," he revealed. "It's about emotions. It's about two people who love each other and try to build a life together, and they go through an emotional rollercoaster. They try to bring it all back home at the end of the day."

ABFF 2015: Taraji P. Henson Gets Candid on Fear, Having a Baby in College, Hollywood Struggles, Career Goals, Oscar, 'Empire' + More

Taraji P. Henson has been well known and loved in the Black community since her portrayal of Yvette, in John Singleton’s "Baby Boy" (2001). However, it was the unprecedented success of Fox’s hip-drama "Empire" that made her a household name around the world. This past weekend, at the 19th Annual American Black Film Festival. ABFF’s 2015 Ambassador Taraji P. Henson sat down with Gayle King to talk about her long running career, dating, raising her son and what she wants most of all.  Here are some of the highlights, and Shadow and Act attended.

Here are some highlights from the conversation:

On going From Electrical Engineering to Acting

- What had happened was I auditioned for the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the tenth grade, and I didn’t get accepted.  My best friend did, isn’t that horrible? I took it to heart. I thought that meant I could not act, so I stopped acting. When it was time to go to college I knew I had to go to school, so I just said electrical engineering because it sounded like I could make a lot of money.  But, I was terrible at math. Acting was still in me, but I was just afraid.

On Fear

- When I was at A&T I had to pass the fine arts building to get to my English Class. One day, I walked passed and they had an audition for a play and I was like 'I’m gonna do it.' And I got my monologue, and I remember standing on that stage and the only thing I kept hearing in my head was ‘No’. I was nervous and my hands were shaking, it was horrible. And they said, we’ll put up on the bulletin board the next day who gets the call back. I was so riddled with fear that I never went back to see if I got the call back.

On Growing Up

- I grew up in the hood and I wasn’t the coolest. I was an artist. I was a little quirky and to the left. I dressed a little crazy. But you know, I would set trends I would do kooky things like wear clips in the front of my hair and next thing you know, Peaches and them got clips in the front of their hair.

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Image: Chuck Hodes/Fox