This movie has been the talk of Prime Video, and I just had to see what the fuss was about. I’m no stranger to a Tyler Perry movie, but I can safely say that this movie has moved to the front as one of my favorites. Starring Meagan Good and Cory Hardrict, Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black does not shy away from the ugliness of toxic love. Good plays Ava, a good-natured and faithful woman, while Hardrict plays Dallas, her egotistical and entitled husband. Ava has dedicated her life to trying to be a good wife and please her husband, going so far as to diminish herself. Meanwhile, Dallas does everything in his power to keep Ava down and unaware of her worth. Things come to a head when Dallas leaves Ava heartbroken as he abandons their marriage. I wasn’t expecting to get sucked into the movie the way I did, but it definitely had me leaning in as Good’s character works to rebuild and take back her life in the face of a husband who only seeks to keep her under his thumb.
As I said, I’m no stranger to a Tyler Perry film, so I am very familiar with the formula for his films: a wronged lead character usually with low esteem plus an egotistical and entitled antagonist usually of the husband variety equals a betrayal of some kind, whether it be infidelity or in this case divorce. That is usually the formula, or some variation of that. However, I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that the formula has become stagnant or outdated. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that everyone either knows someone experiencing this exact circumstance or has experienced it themselves. So, bearing that in mind, I’d say that this film is very much life imitating art, and given what I know of Mr. Perry’s background, he is merely holding up the mirror to the dangers of toxic love and the risks of not knowing your worth.
It is rare that I feel the need to give flowers to the villain of a story, but I really must commend Cory Hardrict for his portrayal of Dallas. He was truly committed to making this character as unlikeable as possible, and I have to say that he went above and beyond. As Dallas, he is disrespectful, he’s entitled, he really makes you dislike him not just as a husband but as a person altogether. There is not one redeeming quality to the character in this performance. As I don’t believe this is in line with who is as a person, I must commend the lengths he must have gone to give this performance.
And we can’t mention the villain without mentioning out heroine. And yes, Meagan Good is the heroine in this story. She may not wear a cape, but the journey of her character is very clearly intended to be a beacon of hope for other people in similar situations. Hats off to Good for being able to showcase both sides of the coin, essentially having to deliver two performances in one. that of the timid and softspoken wife and the zero-f*&ks-to-give reborn woman. Not to mention, she kept it classy and didn’t get out of fellowship, at least not at first, when dealing with her disrespectful soon-to-be ex-husband.
Another element of the Tyler Perry formula is the discovery of new love on the horizon for the main character. For this film, that new love took the form of Joseph Lee Anderson (Young Rock) as Benji, an old platonic friend, which builds a longstanding guy-math theory about woman having guy friends. Funny enough, this principle is actually addressed during one of Ava’s confrontations with Dallas. Anderson’s Benji is the opposite of Dallas as intended and allows Anderson to showcase the nobility of a character who knows how to love the right way. As stated, this is another staple of a Perry film, and while it may come off as more fantasy than reality, it gives the audience something to hope and strive for.
What I did enjoy about Divorce in the Black was the film’s conclusion, which resonated of Jennifer Lopez’s Enough, which if we are being perfectly honest was the only way that this story could have ended. It was the only possible satisfying conclusion, if you ask me. Say what you will about Tyler Perry and his formula, but it is a working formula, and it certainly works here with Divorce in the Black.
