The Family That Preys 2008

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The suds that cascade through Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys more than equal the cubic footage from nighttime soaps like Dallas, Dynasty and their offspring. Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: While it's wonderful to see actresses as shamefully underemployed as Woodard and Bates on the big screen, even they can't make sense of [these] incoherent characters. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The movie plays almost exactly like four daily soap episodes stitched together. Read more

Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly: As usual, the villains are very bad, and the good guys are very noble -- until they get mad and clock their wives. Read more

Bob Baker, Los Angeles Times: The film takes off when Woodard's and Bates' characters go on a Thelma & Louise-style road trip. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: This snail-paced film might as well take place in the 1950s, since it seems to have been inspired by one those Hollywood melodramas in which one company employs the entire town, and the only places free of corruption are the church and the local diner. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: This mix of lovingly-written characters and terribly hokey plots makes for an uneven but occasionally engaging drama. Read more

New York Daily News: A smart, satisfying movie experience. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The Family that Preys shows grand advances in the filmmaking education of playwright-turned-filmmaker Tyler Perry. It's also his soapiest film yet, an overwrought melodrama of sibling rivalry, infidelity, family business power plays and terminal illness. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Defiantly old-school, undeniably entertaining, Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys is a shiny, two-timing throwback to 1950s melodramas like Giant, those wellsprings of such prime-time soaps as Dallas and Dynasty. Read more

Monika Fabian, Time Out: Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: As usual, morality prevails: Faith and family are key virtues, while lust and greed are duly punished, though Perry is getting better at disguising his manipulation. Read more

Neely Tucker, Washington Post: By far the best thing about the enterprise is Woodard. If she's not in this thing, I think it goes kaput. Read more