Tyler Perry’s ‘A Fall From Grace’ Is A Must-Watch, Tommy Wiseau-Esque Classic

The beauty of Tyler Perry is that when he releases a movie called “A Fall From Grace,” you can rest assured that the main character will be named “Grace.” That is the Tyler Perry promise.

Crystal Fox plays Grace in A Fall From Grace, written and directed by Perry, which hit Netflix this past Friday. It’s difficult to know the internal workings of a company like Netflix, but it certainly seems that they practice less creative oversight than traditional studios, a situation that combines in A Fall From Grace to give us Tyler Perry in his purest form. A Fall From Grace is Tyler Perry the way he was meant to be experienced.

Tyler Perry’s entire MO is a certain kind of artistic laxness, an ability to see his first thought through to completion without letting the slightest complication or self-editing creep in. It truly is a certain kind of superpower. His stories are almost always about an evil woman, the main character’s name generally makes a play on words in the title, and that’s about as far as the idea ever goes (As in Good Deeds, in which Perry played “Wesley Deeds“). His movies offer the twin comforts of recognizing the familiar and not thinking too hard. I’m saying he’s a real first-draft daddy, and I’m here for it.

A Fall From Grace elevates half-assedness to the level of art. It was reportedly filmed in just five days. It’s shot with cinematography borrowed from a Brinks Home Security commercial on sets that look like an IKEA showroom using wigs and costumes borrowed from the drama department of a local high school and extras who seem like they filled in between stops on a hop-on/hop-off sightseeing tour (Perry’s frequent clashes with unions are well known). It has a plot that manages to be frequently nonsensical even as it is head-slappingly straightforward. When a muttering old woman in a dirty bathrobe (played by Cicely fucking Tyson, no less) wanders through the background of Phylicia Rashad’s house in the first act, you can bet that yes, Phylicia Rashad’s character will turn out to be the villain in the third.

One thing A Fall From Grace never is is boring. Even when the story gets dull you have to keep your eyes peeled for magnificent continuity errors, like an extra eating invisible food in the background of a restaurant scene: