Lee Daniels has perfected the art of the feel bad film, the modern day exploitation film if you will. He’s mastered the art of making terrible films that somehow get critical accolades because people have no idea what else to say. He convinced John Cusack to play Nixon, conned the world into thinking Mo’Nique was an Oscar caliber actress and has managed to get A-list talent to do Z-list shenanigans in the name of award chasing. It’s shockingly created an entire genre of exploitative trash that seeks to win awards by bringing unintentionally hilarious melodrama to the poverty drama.
The Inevitable Defeats of Mister & Pete is a low rent version of a Daniels film, basically, as it follows a pair of children (Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon) stuck in the ghetto to fend for themselves when both of their mothers wind up in prison. The two are left to fend for themselves in the sweltering summer heat, forced to avoid everyone who could potentially take them away from it all.
It’s a film that’s desperately trying to find its way into that well honed Lee Daniels’ territory but just doesn’t quite have that exploitation feel to it. This is someone aping Daniels’ style, nothing more, and it shows. George Tillman Jr. is a good genre director but he’s not good with this genre.
A handful of extras are included but none of them are special. Pretty ordinary, EPK stuff.
Liongate presents The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete. Directed by George Tillman, Jr. Written by Michael Starrbury. Starring Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Anthony Mackie, Jeffrey Wright, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbale, Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, Julito McCullum, Ken Maharaj. Running time: 118 minutes. Not Rated. Released: February 4, 2014.
