NO GOOD DEED – Surprisingly Goes Unpunished

Box Office: “No Good Deed” Tops “Dolphin Tale 2”

With $24.5 Million

The Sony/Screen Gems thriller (No Good Deed) took in $24.5 million from 2,175 theaters, easily beating expectations. Going into the weekend, analysts expected the home invasion thriller to hover around $20 million. Females made up the bulk of the audience, taking up 60% of the seats in theaters, and 41% of ticket-buyers were under 30 years old…READ MORE Variety

These numbers make me happy because Taraji P. Henson and Idris Elba are very talented actors, plus I admire Will Packer’s success as a Producer and most importantly, seeing black actors in mainstream movies that have nothing to do with black themes or issues means so, so much to me!!!

I have a friend who likes to quiz me on my black movie knowledge and I do fail miserably, but it’s because a number of movies featuring black actors, don’t have an appeal for me, a girl who grew up watching movie musicals, loves Sci-Fi/Fantasy, ghost stories and Blockbuster action movies – something like For Colored Girls or even a comedy like Friday, is a far cry from my preferred genres.

However, I was glad to get behind an action/thriller where an upper middle class black family Terri (Henson) and her husband (Henry Simmons) are living a good life in a beautifully decorated home, the husband goes out of town leaving Terri with the kids, during a storm, planning a girl’s night with her best friend Meg, (Leslie Bibb from that show I liked “GCB”), only an unexpected, handsome, well-built stranger knocks on the door, claiming to be a nearby neighbor who just had a car accident in the rain.

The studio cancelled the press preview screening for No Good Deed, for fear the ending would leak out, so in support of this movie, I purchased a full-price ticket! But now what do I do about writing a review? Despite the positives stated above, the truth of the matter is –
Director Sam Miller’s No Good Deed, is no good. It’s badly written, cliched, boring and down right stupid at times and the so called “twist” at the end is not worth the build up.

There’s one scene between Meg (Bibb) & Colin (Elba) that has a psychological edge to it, where I thought, now this is getting good, until she goes and does the regular ridiculous things all secondary characters do to get killed in movies, she confronts him with her suspicions, and on top of that, turns her back – Predictable!

Taraji P. Henson and Will Packer

Obviously, the only goal here was to put a black female in a role that would typically feature a white protagonist hitting her assailant over the head, running, and not taking the gun type thriller; and while I applaud that wholeheartedly, I just wish it had also been a movie filled with psychological suspense, where you found some sympathy for Colin, with more time for Terri to be seduced by him and therefore, not only later be in danger, but emotionally betrayed. I would have loved a movie closer to Labor Day where even though you knew Josh Brolin’s character was an escaped prisoner, you went back and forth on whether or not to trust him.

Oh well, as we get more and more used to faces of all colors & hues dominate the box office, we can then start expecting better and better scripts.

T &T’s LAMB Score: 2.5 outta 5

Comments are welcome on our facebook page for the post. Have you ever trusted a stranger, to good or bad results because he/she was attractive?

While You’re Here

ABC’s new family comedy, “black-ish” falls right in line with this post.

Premiering on September 24th at 9:30pm
takes a fun yet bold look at one man’s determination to establish a sense of cultural identity for his family.

The series stars Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross and special guest star Laurence Fishburne. “

Created by Kenya Barris , Executive-produced by Barris, Larry Wilmore, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and E. Brian Dobbins.

“black-ish” was The series is produced by ABC Studios.