The Stream: Because it’s 30 minutes too long, it takes too long to get to anything thrilling.

The Big Screen: If you like yelling back at the screen, then you’ll have some fun here.

The Final Bill: This Tyler Perry erotic thriller is a guilty pleasure that’s more guilt than pleasure.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Tyler Perry
Writers: Tyler Perry
Stars: Kelly Rowland, Trevante Rhodes, Sean Sagar, RonReaco Lee
Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller
Rating: R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language, some violence and drug use
Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes
Production Companies: Tyler Perry Studios
Platform: Netflix on February 23, 2024

Hey, Streamers! Extremely prolific director, writer, producer, Tyler Perry has an ongoing partnership with Netflix, which has released the last few of his movies.  Tyler Perry seems to like the R-rated thriller nowadays since he’s semi-retired the popular Madea franchise.  In this weekend’s new release on Netflix, Mea Culpa, Tyler Perry makes an explicit attempt at bringing the erotic thriller into his universe.  In this movie, Mea Harper (Kelly Rowland) is a high-powered defense attorney in Chicago, who is dealing with a myriad of issues in her troubled marriage including a wicked mother-in-law and an out-of-work husband (Sean Sagar). When Mea gets approached to represent a sexy artist, Zyair Malloy (Trevante Rhodes), who has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Mea has grapple with defending the enigmatic painter and the illicit desire that comes with her seductive client.  Unethical attorney-client relationships and terrible familial hijinks ensue.

If you’ve seen a Tyler Perry thriller, then you know what you’re going to get here. The story is thin.  The dialogue is questionable to bad.  The performances are decent to bad.  Everything in the production looks fake and cheap.  It is what it is.  I’m not sure where all of Tyler Perry’s money is going if this is constantly his output.

Nevertheless, I will say that Mea Culpa eventually delivers on the eroticism in an erotic thriller and also the thrills.  The problem is that they both come very late in the movie.  There’s too much talking and build-up that doesn’t serve much entertainment value to this film.  Cut out 30 minutes of this movie, and you’d have a tighter more immediate thriller.  There are OMG-moments and there are very random things that occur that will make it a good watch for those who just want to talk back to the screen.  Overall, it is not a good movie, but it may be an entertaining watch.

Ultimately, Mea Culpa is a guilty pleasure in the same way most of Tyler Perry’s movies are. It is trying to be an updated version of the erotic thriller, but it takes too long to get to anything erotic or thrilling.  Of course, the writing is bad and the acting is spotty; but, what do you expect?!? Grab a bowl of popcorn and group of friends to talk back to the screen.