Peeples

Cast of Characters:

Wade Walker - Craig Robinson

Grace Peeples - Kerry Washington

Virgil Peeples - David Alan Grier

Daphne Peeples - S. Epetha Merkerson

Simon Peeples - Tyler James Williams

Melvin Van Peebles - Grandpa Peeples

Nana Peeples - Diahann Carroll

Director - Tina Gordon Chism

Screenplay - Tina Gordon Chism

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug material and language

      Craig Robinson has been a consistently dependable comic actor in supporting roles such as Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and is probably best known for his role as Darryl Philbin in the great American version of The Office on television. In 2013, he finally gets his own starring vehicle in Peeples.

      Wade Walker (Craig Robinson) is a "Kounselor" (the K was his idea) for kids that are struggling with childhood problems. He manages to hit a bit of success with a kids motivational song he wrote, "Speak It (Don't Leak It!)". His girlfriend, Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington) is a lawyer who comes from a successful Kennedy-esque type family (Wade refers to them as the Chocolate Kennedy's). Wade has been trying to muster the courage to finally propose to her, but just hasn't been given the right opportunity to do so.

      Over at Sag Harbor in the Hamptons, Grace's family plans on celebrating their annual reunion for Moby Dick Day. Grace, being particularly intimidated at the thought of introducing Wade to her family, decides to attend the reunion without him. After a year of dating Grace, Wade decides it's the right time to meet her family in person, so he heads out to Sag Harbor to surprise Grace and maybe even eventually "pop the question" to her. Upon arriving at her family's house, he meets Grace's father, a Federal Judge named Virgil Peeples (David Alan Grier) who's instantly not too thrilled with the fact that the man courting his daughter is one who has achieved success from "singing songs about urine to minors".

      Here's the problem with this film - outside the fact that Tyler Perry's name is attached to it. Tweak the story a bit with the surprise element of meeting the family and switch the characters from White to Black. You still have Meet the Parents - a much better film. Everything about this movie - the demanding father, the boyfriend in a line of work the dad isn't keen on, the slacker teenage brother causing trouble that everyone assumes is Wade, the "little secret" the dad's trying to keep from the family - it's all a mirror image of the Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller comedy from 2000. You could maybe get away with it if you advertised it as say, "the Black version of Meet the Parents". While not a good film, 2005's Guess Who, starring Ashton Kutcher and the late Bernie Mac at least gets credit for blatantly being advertised as a remake of the classic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with the race roles switched. Honestly, I don't know how they could advertise it any other way.

      Craig Robinson is obviously a terrific comic actor and the lovely Kerry Washington is always a screen presence. The two of them do have their moments and there is some shared chemistry together. Plus, it's great to see David Alan Grier back onscreen. That being said, Peeples is too much of a Meet the Parents ripoff ending in a predictably lackluster conclusion for me to give it even a mild recommendation. While not as overly preachy as other Tyler Perry films (he produced this film), Peeples is still overall just a mediocre effort. I give Peeples a C- (★★).