Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Review: Peeples

The enormously appealing Craig Robinson makes the leap from second-string relief in raunchy comedies to top billing as the Ben Stiller substitute in this Tyler Perry-approved sitcom riff on Meet the Fockers.

Robinson stars as Wade Walker, an affable loser who fancies himself a musician that makes a living singing songs about piss at children's parties. The film opens with Robinson serenading a group of kids with the kidney-tapping ditty, Speak It (Don't Leak It!).

The hits don't stop there. What's most unexpected about an all-black Fockers rehash? Other than a group of immensely talented performers wasting their time and considerable talent on what amounts to little more than a TV movie of the weak, the only surprise Peeples has up its sleeve is of a musical variety. At one point Robinson, David Alan Grier, S. Epatha Merkerson, and virtually ever other major player burst into song.

Robinson arrives unannounced at his girlfriend's (Kerry Washington) affluent family reunion in the Hamptons. Every year the "chocolate Kennedys" meet in Sag Harbor for a festival celebrating Moby Dick. Peeples does have at least one thing in common with Melville's classic; most people won't be able to see it through to the end.

All Peeples hide a deep, if not single-faceted secret that Robinson is quick to discover: Dad (Grier), a dour-faced Federal Judge, loves to swim naked with whales; mom (Merkerson) was former soul queen, Lady Duke; sis (Kali Hawk) is a closeted CNN reporter; and little brother (Tyler James Williams) a budding kleptomaniac. Leave it to an unpolished outsider who, in the span of a weekend retreat (and in order to form a more perfect union), unites the Peeples.

One by one, and rather mean-spiritedly, writer and first-time director Tina Gordon Chism reduces her players to bumbling stereotypes. Merkerson's recovering alcoholic lovingly drools over a bottle of wine her future son-in-law unknowingly brought as a gift. Wade's heart takes a beating when he learns that after a year together, his main squeeze had never once breathed his name to her parents. Her breast implants and a list of former lovers/father figures also come as news to her beloved.

Having not yet seen Baz Luhrman's grated Gatsby, it's difficult to imagine this tale of an outsider who wants nothing more than to belong being any worse. If nothing else, it's almost an hour shorter.

Reader Rating: Zero Stars

Click for Showtimes.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/13/45462/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Next Article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?

The enormously appealing Craig Robinson makes the leap from second-string relief in raunchy comedies to top billing as the Ben Stiller substitute in this Tyler Perry-approved sitcom riff on Meet the Fockers.

Robinson stars as Wade Walker, an affable loser who fancies himself a musician that makes a living singing songs about piss at children's parties. The film opens with Robinson serenading a group of kids with the kidney-tapping ditty, Speak It (Don't Leak It!).

The hits don't stop there. What's most unexpected about an all-black Fockers rehash? Other than a group of immensely talented performers wasting their time and considerable talent on what amounts to little more than a TV movie of the weak, the only surprise Peeples has up its sleeve is of a musical variety. At one point Robinson, David Alan Grier, S. Epatha Merkerson, and virtually ever other major player burst into song.

Robinson arrives unannounced at his girlfriend's (Kerry Washington) affluent family reunion in the Hamptons. Every year the "chocolate Kennedys" meet in Sag Harbor for a festival celebrating Moby Dick. Peeples does have at least one thing in common with Melville's classic; most people won't be able to see it through to the end.

All Peeples hide a deep, if not single-faceted secret that Robinson is quick to discover: Dad (Grier), a dour-faced Federal Judge, loves to swim naked with whales; mom (Merkerson) was former soul queen, Lady Duke; sis (Kali Hawk) is a closeted CNN reporter; and little brother (Tyler James Williams) a budding kleptomaniac. Leave it to an unpolished outsider who, in the span of a weekend retreat (and in order to form a more perfect union), unites the Peeples.

One by one, and rather mean-spiritedly, writer and first-time director Tina Gordon Chism reduces her players to bumbling stereotypes. Merkerson's recovering alcoholic lovingly drools over a bottle of wine her future son-in-law unknowingly brought as a gift. Wade's heart takes a beating when he learns that after a year together, his main squeeze had never once breathed his name to her parents. Her breast implants and a list of former lovers/father figures also come as news to her beloved.

Having not yet seen Baz Luhrman's grated Gatsby, it's difficult to imagine this tale of an outsider who wants nothing more than to belong being any worse. If nothing else, it's almost an hour shorter.

Reader Rating: Zero Stars

Click for Showtimes.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/may/13/45462/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.