The Family That Preys

Plot

Socialite Charlotte Cartwright hosts the wedding of Andrea—the daughter of her best friend, Alice Evans—and construction worker Chris Bennett. Charlotte's son, William, and his wife, Jillian, have eloped rather than let Charlotte plan an elaborate reception.

Four years later, Andrea's sister, Pam, is married to Ben and looks after Andrea's three-year-old son for extra income while working at Alice's diner. Andrea does not help their mother financially, but has designer clothes and a new Mercedes. She is in an extramarital affair with William.

Andrea ridicules Chris's dream of opening a construction firm with Ben. Chris is rejected for a bank loan, but discovers Andrea deposited $300,000 in a secret account. She tells Chris the money is bonuses she gets from William, and refuses to finance his business.

William believes his recently-closed $500-million deal will allow him to wrest the family business from Charlotte. Charlotte hires Abby Dexter as COO, and determines the company must front $25 million to make William's deal viable. Charlotte faces selling 10% of her shares to raise the money, leaving her with a minority vote. William tells Abby that his and Charlotte's vote combined will retain Cartwright control; Abby advises Charlotte to sell.

Charlotte takes Alice on a road trip in her vintage convertible, without a set route or schedule. Charlotte introduces Alice to honky-tonks and male strip clubs. Alice takes Charlotte to a communal baptism. Charlotte reveals she has early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

At the company gala, Jillian and Abby discover Andrea and William's affair. William fires Chris and Ben after Chris asks for money to start a new construction business. Abby warns Andrea the affair will likely result in her dismissal; Andrea believes William will protect her. Chris takes the money from the hidden account as marital assets, and pays deposits for a construction firm with Ben.

Charlotte and Alice return. Andrea confronts Chris for taking her $300,000, and admits it was from William, her lover. Chris slaps her. Andrea tells him to keep the money and move out. She says that William is the father of their son.

Charlotte, asked by Jillian for advice, reminds her that she is a woman scorned without a prenuptial agreement, so can divorce or reconcile and be okay either way. Jillian warns Charlotte that William plans to have the board vote her out.

Chris punches William on a job site. Jillian warns Andrea to stay away from her family and says William will not be seeing her again.

Charlotte fires William with the support of the Calvary Company, a silent investor revealed to be Alice. She has been guided financially for years by Nick Blanchett, a former stockbroker who, when fired without cause by William, had lost his wife and custody of their children. Alice fed him at her diner, and he repaid her with investment advice.

Andrea expects William to leave Jillian for her. Instead, he rejects her and drives away, ignoring her claim that he is her son's father. Charlotte takes pills and dies by suicide.

Chris and Ben's firm is a success, while Andrea is guilt-ridden, heartbroken, and unemployed. She lives in a low-rent apartment and relies on voluntary financial support from Chris. Nick buys a house and is revealed to have always been wealthy, he just moved around a lot. William and Jillian reconcile. Alice sells the diner and drives off in the convertible that Charlotte left her, with a photo of her and Charlotte taped to the dashboard.

Cast

Alfre Woodard as Alice Reynolds-Evans

Sanaa Lathan as Andrea Evans-Bennett

KaDee Strickland as Jillian Cartwright

Cole Hauser as William Cartwright

Rockmond Dunbar as Chris Bennett

Taraji P. Henson as Pam Evans

Robin Givens as Abigail "Abby" Dexter

Tyler Perry as Ben

Kathy Bates as Charlotte Cartwright

Sebastian Siegel as Nicholas "Nick" Blanchett

Release

The film opened in 2,070 theaters in North America on September 12, 2008 and grossed $17.4 million in its opening weekend, ranking #2 at the box office behind Burn After Reading. It eventually earned $37.1 million domestically, making it the second-least successful of Tyler Perry's films ahead of Daddy's Little Girls.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 54% based on 41 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys treads the filmmaker's established terrain of family loyalty and moral uprightness, though the occasionally predictable plot slides forward, aided by an excess of soapy melodrama." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Stephen Holden of The New York Times said: The suds that cascade through [the film] more than equal the cubic footage from nighttime soaps like Dallas, Dynasty and their offspring. As the movie proceeds, the flow quickens into a surging flood tide of recriminations and reversals in which blows are exchanged, claws bared and tears shed . . . The Family That Preys doesn’t worry about how it gets from A to Z. There is no problem that a miraculous (and preposterous) plot development can’t resolve in two minutes.

The New York Daily News rated the film three out of five stars and commented: Perry's notoriously overstuffed plots have sometimes been top-heavy, but this movie, like Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, hangs on an elegant structure that doesn't feel forced. Perry's skills as a director have improved as his casts have gotten better, and he gives the lovely Woodard one of her most satisfying roles . . . By melding the pleasures of 1950s-style melodrama . . . with equal-gender, African-American-aimed plots, Perry has found success in a niche only he now occupies. And by adding Christian tenets and modern issues . . . Perry shows he knows what his audience wants. First and foremost, that's a smart, satisfying movie experience, which Family is.

Claudia Puig of USA Today said the best thing about the film is the opportunity it affords to watch a pair of veteran actresses still at the top of their game. Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates play best pals in this soap opera-style story, and the moments each are on-screen are undeniably the movie's best. One senses a rapport and chemistry between the women that transcends the formulaic plot.

Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter observed: Although this interracial Dynasty isn't always believable—it's a stretch to accept the lifelong friendship of the two matriarchs as well as the last-minute business coup that they engineer—there's plenty of action to keep us engrossed. Perry wears his religious faith lightly . . . and is shrewd enough to balance piety with raucous humor and lots of sinful shenanigans. Perry's filmmaking skills have improved to the level of competence, and he has assembled a dream cast.

Awards

At the Black Reel Awards, both Alfre Woodard and Sanaa Lathan were nominated for Best Actress. Also Tyler Perry was nominated for Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted.

Taraji P. Henson won Best Actress at the BET Awards for her role in the film combined with two other performances in Not Easily Broken, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on January 13, 2009. It is in anamorphic widescreen format, with audio tracks and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include deleted scenes, Two Families, Two Legends, which spotlights stars Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates; Preying in the Big Easy, about filming in New Orleans; Casting the Family, with interviews with the director and cast, and Delving into the Diner, in which production designer Ina Mayhew discusses her concept for the set.