While not always finding the most success when it comes to critical reception, Tyler Perry has crafted some characters and stories that have made some impact amongst moviegoers. He has offered more stories for African-American audiences than anyone else in the industry and garnered quite a name for himself. Now, I’ve always found his writing to be a little lackluster and his comedy to not resonate with me, so going into his new film, Nobody’s Fool, I had very low expectations.

Coming out, however, I actually found myself enjoying Nobody’s Fool much more than I expected to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from a perfect film, but it present some comedic moments and has some story moments that felt unexpected and surprising. This is mostly due to some of the solid performances from Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter, and Amber Riley. The more sexual humor works in Haddish’s favor and she brings a fun sense of sass with her character, Tanya. She is never overused and the film never heavily relies on her to entertain audiences.

However, it maybe should have just a little bit as the main storyline with Sumpter’s character as Tanya’s sister, Danica, becomes a little tiring from time to time. It starts off simple with the two trying to figure out who Danica has been talking to online for the past year, but then, of course, has to become something more complicated. It feels like everything is said and done at one point, but then the story just keeps dragging on and ultimately feels less special as it goes on.

There are moments that are actually well-done, though, and feel like story points that are well-built and carry some kind of emotional weight to them. There’s also some solid dynamics between Riley and Sumpter’s characters that add some humor to the film.

Frankly, I just wish the film and Perry would give his film a little more care and not have it feel like it’s cashing in on a trend. It has a cameo of Nev Schulman and Max Joseph from MTV’s Catfish that, while kind of funny, feels so odd and kind of like bait for the film because nothing else is happening.  Not to mention, there are extremely long and awkward sex scenes, a love plot that is incredibly predictable, and a work subplot that literally no one will care about. It even ends on something just for laughs and that adds literally nothing to the plot whatsoever.

So, Tyler Perry’s Nobody’s Fool isn’t exactly the most impactful film, nor does it add anything new to themes of Catfishing, but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. It has some funny moments, decent character development, interesting ideas, and is a nice watch as a whole. However, it’s more of a film you watch on the couch when you don’t really know what else to watch rather than something that’s worth going to the theater for.

Check Out the Trailer Here: