Daddy’s Little Girls Film Review

Reviewed By Reyna Gaar

Lionsgate & Tyler Perry Studios

I am, and always have been, a film aficionado. That means I love movies! Unfortunately, I don’t see people who look like me upon the silver screen often enough. Not to say, that Blacks don’t get screen time (Dreamgirls, Constellation, even Norbit counts) but how many ways to be a thug, hoodlum, thief, drug dealer, gangbanger, pimp, streetwalker, police snitch can there be? Evidently, for people of color there are plenty of ways. Tyler Perry, however, wanted to change some of those perspectives.

The appealing trailers for the Perry-helmed film Daddy’s Little Girls had me, rightly, hoping that it would live up to the hype. And it does. The world can never have enough comedy-romances, especially featuring African American leads. (NOTE: There is spoiler info ahead so if you don’t want to know any plot details, then skip to the last three paragraphs).

Monte James (Idris Elba) is an enterprising mechanic tryin’ to make it in the hood. He works for the feisty yet aging Willie (Louis Gossett) and has focused aspirations to eventually buy the garage business from his long-time employer. Monte is also a loving parent to his three precocious daughters - Sierra, Lauryn and China - (the McClain sisters: Sierra Aylina, Lauryn Alisa and China Anne) who live with his ex-mother-in-law. He is a father who is integrally involved in the many facets of his kids’ lives.

But a number of plot twists land the girls with their neglectful mother Jennifer (Tasha Smith) who happens to live with the neighborhood hoodlum/drug dealer. In the middle of all this madness enters no-nonsense, corporate attorney Julia Rossmoor (Gabrielle Union) who is not impressed by Monte or the drama that surrounds him.

Yet eventually Monte swallows his pride and seeks legal assistance from Julia so he can secure custody of his girls. Reluctantly, and against her better judgment, Julia allows herself to reconsider this man and his motives. A parallel storyline lets us in on the fact that although a partner at her firm, the prim Julia is having some difficulty finding a man (her dates account for some of the best laughs in the film). Her gal pals Cynthia and Brenda (Tracee Ellis Ross and Terri J. Vaughn) are heavy on Julia’s heels to loosen up her high standards. Yet they also make no bones about the fact that the flawed, blue-collar Monte is beneath her.