zacharyallen918 The characters, the office atmosphere most importantly the office affair, the marital tension between Andrea & Chris and her attitude towards him ever since she began her affair is spot on.. I hate this movie because of its authenticity but at the same time I praise it for that very thing. One of Tyler Perry's best, if not his best. It unfortunately hit home for me, which is why I can't help but watch it everytime it comes on. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you watch it, you'll be surprised as I was. Zach Reynolds/Oklahoma

anniespringate5 "You can't make yourself happy by bringing misery to other people." One of the best quotes I have heard. What a great movie, twists, turns and I loved it! It is a movie that shows that different can co-exist, moral is always the best choice and that one should never underestimate the power of love. The actors have the ability to make you feel. There is depth in their performances and you know that when Kathy Bates is starring you are in for a quality experience. Yes it may be more appealing to a female audience, but it is not a chick flick. It has much more than that. It is a movie that would be on my 'suggest you watch this' list.

Steve Pulaski The Family That Preys is Tyler Perry's shameless attempt to make a cinematic soap-opera, and if you go by what soap operas are known for - heaping helpings of drama, thin characters, bland settings, and stiff dialog - the film is better than the average unsubstantial hour you could spend watching All My Children on CBS. And yet, there are several more substantial ways you could spend two hours rather than watching a Tyler Perry film. As always, the choice is yours.The film feels like a full season's worth of soap opera material compressed into a one-hundred and thirteen minute film, featuring a various array of characters and their various arrays of problems. The characters come from one of two families, either the wealthy, whitebread socialites lead by the mom, Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates) or the working-class black family ran by Alice Evans (Alfre Woodard). Cartwright and Evans have remained the best of friends, despite enormous financial differences, and develop a "Thelma and Louise"-like friendship when they hit the road in a bold turquoise convertible to explore the humble countryside.Their children, all grown up and of all different ages, are the other characters we focus on. Alice's daughter is the bitchy, unfaithful Andrea (Sanaa Lathan), who is married to the ambitious, hardworking Chris Bennett (Rockmond Dunbar), who works a lowly construction worker job with his pal (Tyler Perry) working for William Cartwright (Cole Hauser). Chris has ambitions of starting his own construction company with his friend, until he realizes that first he must get his marital issues straightened out when he finds his wife has over $200,000 in a private banking account.As you can infer, this leads to unconditional drama between the families, who must work it out on their own while their mothers are living it up in the south. This family drama will likely be exciting to audience who demand a film that briefly touches on a wide-range of emotions, rarely emphasizing on one certain moral or encompassing virtue. For those who want more characterization, investment, and positivity, this is a pretty meager offering. However, Perry doesn't pull punches when it comes to juggling multiple different characters. He shows his capability here when he creates several different people, all inhabiting the same world, and all dealing with unique problems. Even if the film is overwrought, it nonetheless is a competent production that steers clear of idiocy and wooden features like many other Perry movies do.I'm also proud to see that the film sticks to its dramatic genre, regardless on how much dramatic material it infuses into its story. Coming off of the first Perry movie I watched (Diary of a Mad Black Woman roughly a year ago), I was offput by the way the film juggled an abundance of genres, ranging from melodrama to bizarre slapstick comedy to Christian-gospel to bleeding gum moral propaganda. With The Family That Preys, I respect the fact that Perry remains more attentive to the drama at hand. The last thing I wanted to see was the loudmouth, insufferable Madea show up and inflict her radical, obnoxious energy to a premise that is more about slow-moving tension. As I've seen, this is something she clearly doesn't do well with.The Family That Preys is a serviceable picture, with unanimously fine acting (especially from its leads, Bates and Woodard), a more focused agenda, and a pleasant little picture. I grossly misrepresented this film which, judging by the cover, looked like a tired "walk in the shoes of another family' film dealing with race-relations and upper vs middle class, sociological drudgery. Perry has effectively made me second-guess just how aware and intelligent he is in terms of dealing with a specific subject. Just when you think he's doing one thing, he switches over to a slightly better thing.Starring: Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, Rockmond Dunbar, Taraji P. Henson, Cole Hauser, Tyler Perry, Robin Givens, and KaDee Strickland. Directed by: Tyler Perry.

cliffordn-1 This movie has a perfect balance between humor and drama to keep you glued to your screen, delivered by a committed cast under appropriately paced direction. I find it hard to explain or understand why it has such a hash rating. I can only conclude that reviewers say the cover, perhaps the direct/ writer and decided that they have enough information to make a calling. Any unfortunate prejudgment that may end up denying quality drama lovers a pointer to what is nothing short of a great drama they may want to watch over and over again and share with friends and family. But please do not simply read the reviews or even take my word for it, see it for yourself and make up your mind.