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Visual Review
Everything you need to
know about
DADDY’S LITTLE
GIRLS
…and how it relates to you
and the world around you.
Includes info on the
actors, director, with news,
reviews, and photos.
visual review by
david bruce
visualhollywood.com
SHORT SYNOPSIS
Movies Contain the
Essence of Being Human
The film is about an attorney Julia Rossmore (Gabrielle Union) who falls
in love with a financially challenged mechanic Monty James (Idris Elba), a
single father of three children. The children, all girls, try their best to
destroy the relationship until they get to know her a little better. The
relationship hits a snag when the mechanic's ex comes back into his life
and threatens to take away their kids.
The Cinematic Arts Have
the Power to Transform
KEY ACTORS
GABRIELLE UNION
(Julia)
IDRIS ELBA
(Monty)
JENNIFER SMITH
(Tasha)
KEY TALENT
Our Artists Are
Our Liberators
Writer-Director Tyler Perry (far right) on the set of his new
movie, DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS, starring Gabrielle Union (left)
and Idris Elba (center)
GABRIELLE UNION
(Julia)
Actors are Liberators
in Masquerade
GABRIELLE UNION is a actress and
former fashion model. Among her
notable roles is that of Isis, a
cheerleader opposite Kirsten Dunst in
the film Bring it On. She also played a
medical doctor in the CBS series City
of Angels. She once appeared
recurringly on 7th Heaven.
In 1992, Union was assaulted and
raped at gunpoint while working at a
shoe store. Her attacker fled, but later
turned himself into the police after
another rape. He took a plea bargain
and received a 33-year jail sentence;
Union has said she will testify at his
parole hearings to ensure he's not
released early. In 2006, Union visited
Congress for the National Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault
Legislative Action Days.
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
Actors help us: laugh, be happy, cry, get angry,
and even think. Can there be any better gifts?
IDRIS ELBA
(Monty)
Idris Elba is an Afro-European
television, theatre and film actor who
has starred in both British and
American productions. Idris is also a
DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis /
Big Driis the Londoner, and a hiphop soul recording artist. He's the
only child of a Sierra Leone father
and a Ghanian mother. Idris was
born and raised in Hackney, London,
England. He has one daughter
named Isan.
He has a large female fan following
and thus appeared on the cover of
Essence's "Hot Hollywood Men"
issue, April 2004 and again in
Essence's November 2005 "10
Hottest Men on the Planet" issue.
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
TYLER PERRY
(Writer, Director, Producer)
Tyler Perry is a playwright and actor.
He is best known for producing
popular melodramas for the stage and
screen that feature African-American
characters in moral quandaries. His
best-known character, played by
himself, is "Madea", an overbearing if
well-intentioned woman who serves
both as comic relief and as the loud
voice of conscience to the principal
protagonists of these morality plays.
From a critical standpoint, Perry's
work suffers from the flaws typical of
melodrama: simplistic plots, cartoon
characters, facile moralism,
predictable denouements. These
flaws, however, have not blunted his
work's appeal to an audience which
enjoys hearing the same homilies
presented in only slightly-varying
settings.
Filmmakers are Revolutionaries
Posing as Entertainers
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
Stories are
Transforming
The film tackles the subject of fatherhood in black America via the
story of Monty (Idris Elba), a garage mechanic fighting to reain
custody of his three young daughters.
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
All Kids are Born Artistic
What is Natural is Essential
But the courts award custody of his daughters to his corrupt,
drug-dealing ex-wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith).
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
Stories Embody the
Essence of Being Human
Monty desperately tries to win them back, enlisting the help of Julia
(Union), a beautiful -- and hard-nosed -- attorney he meets during his short
stint as a chauffeur.
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
Film making is a
Community Event.
While Monty and the Ivy-League-educated Julia couldn’t be less alike, an
unexpected romance blossoms…and it soon begins to feel like true love.
EXTENDED SYNOPSIS
Cinematic Story Telling is a
Profoundly Humanizing endeavor.
But in order for their relationship to survive, the couple must reconcile their
two very different worlds -- and overcome the forces that threaten to tear
Monty’s family apart.
LIFE CONNECTIONS
Art is a
Liberating Force
In part, DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS is Perry’s answer to
media’s largely negative portrayals of African-American
men as fathers.
He describes the character he created, Monty, as “just
a regular guy who grew up and lives the 'hood. Not
unlike many black men, Monty didn’t know his father
and he barely knew his mom. But with children and
age, he decides to walk the straight and narrow so as
to not fall into the stereotype but to be the best man
that he can be.”
DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS is also about the search for
love. Here, too, Perry drew inspiration from real life.. “I
wrote about what I felt was universal for working
women and men who are looking for love. Julia works
very hard, is very successful, very proud and very
strong. As fantastic as Julia’s professional life might
be, she also wants love. But she's having some issues
finding a decent man because her standards are so
high.”
CRITICAL OPINION of
DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS
E
R
A
S
W
E
I
REV
E
V
I
T
I
S
O
P
30%
Daddy's Little Girls (3 stars out of 5)
--Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
Tyler Perry devotes some nurturing, at
least, to his 'Girls'
--Mark Olsen
Los Angeles Times
The Free Speech
Discussion of the Arts is a
Mark of a Free Society
Perry gets better at directing
every time he tries.
--Peter Debruge
Variety
Lumbering morality tale packaged
as a romance.
--Luke Sader
Hollywood Reporter
FILM REVIEW:
TYLER PERRY’S DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS
FROM VISUAL HOLLYWOOD
Art is the Language of
Liberation
The movie is revolutionary in the number of stereotypes it breaks.
The woman is the drug dealer and the worse of two parents, rather than the
man. A black man is presented as a loving, caring and devoted parent, rather
than the mother. A black woman is presented as a hard working successful
professional woman, rather than some “knight in shinning armor” guy. Leave
it to Tyler Perry to reverse so many stereotypes in need of examination. How
can anyone fault such a movie as this with such positive and important
culture correctives?
--David Bruce
FINDING TRUTH IN TYLER PERRY’S DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS
The more people have
studied different methods
of bringing up children the
more they have come to the
conclusion that what good
mother and fathers
instinctively feel like doing
for their babies is the best
after all.
--Benjamin Spock
Always be nice to your
children because they are
the ones who will choose
your rest home.
--Phyllis Diller
Society is only as free as its arts.
Art is the voice of human freedom.
TRIVIA AND NEWS
TYLER PERRY’S DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS
Movie Making is the Convergence
of Many Talents and Art Forms
Atlantic Records released Music from the motion picture: Tyler Perry's
Daddy's Little Girls, in stores and online on January 16th, 2007. Among
the highlights of the album is "Family First," the first-ever recording by the
Houston Family -- Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, and Cissy Houston.
Tyler Perry shares with his viewers the theme of forgiveness. "While
you're losing sleep being mad at them... they are sleeping peacefully".
Tyler continues to share his Christian beliefs with audience members and
fans. He believes God blessed him and wants to share the faith.
WHY MOVIES ARE SO IMPORTANT
To Restrict Creativity is
to Restrict the very
Nature of the Creator
"The meaning of life is the most urgent of
questions" --Albert Camus (Existentialist thinker)
thinker .
In “Movies and the Meaning of Life” author Kimberly Visual Hollywood takes
an existential approach
Blessing points out that movies can help us reflect
to life. We celebrate
on five of life’s most important questions:
with human freedom.
We use movies and the
1) What is reality and how can I know it?
arts as a means of
2) How can I find my true identity?
understanding the
3) What the significance of my interactions with
human condition and
others?
our collective relation to
4) What’s the point of my life?
the world around us.
5) How ought I to live my life?
The idea behind Visual Hollywood is that Movies can
and must play an essential role helping us explore
the meaning of our existence and our life together.
No other quest is more necessary or important.
Movies are powerful. Movies bring personal
meaning, and can contribute to a peaceful world.
Cinematic story telling can be a transforming event.
Our basic quest is:
1. To know what it
means to be human in
the world.
2. The pursuit of human
freedom.
visual review by
visualhollywood.com
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