Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

Daddy’s Little Girls

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA) for thematic material, drug and sexual content, some violence and language.

Reviewed by: Kimberly Keithahn
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Adults
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Length: 1 hr. 35 min.
Year of Release: 2007
USA Release: February 14, 2007 (wide)
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Featuring Gabrielle Union, Avant, Louis Gossett Jr., Idris Elba, Tracee Ellis Ross
Director Tyler Perry
Producer Tyler Perry, Reuben Cannon
Distributor Distributor: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Trademark logo.Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)

“She needs a good man. He wants a smart woman. There are only three things standing in their way.”

Tyler Perry’s “Daddy’s Little Girls,” simply put, was disappointing. I found myself checking my cell phone several times in hopes the time had passed, and it would soon be over. The filmmaking was less than average, and the acting was fair, at best. I was looking forward to seeing this after the movie previews, however, ALL the good scenes were in the 3 minute trailer (I won’t make this difficult, there were only 3 minutes of entertainment!).

Here is the movie in a nutshell, in which it neatly fits. Monty, Idris Elba, the father is a good, hard-working man, fighting his trashy (living with her drug-dealing, gangster boyfriend) for custody of their daughters. In comes Julia, Gabrielle Union, an articulate, beautiful lawyer who falls for her client, Monty. However, her judgmental, blue collar, black-man-hating girlfriends tell her not to waste her time with this “driver”, “what would people say?”, “it’s not a matter of IF he has kids, it’s how many and do they all have the same mother?!” The movie goes down hill from there. We see the trashy ex get full custody, the boyfriend makes the oldest child deal drugs at school, and he “hits” and bruises the youngest. The father gets mad, get’s even, ends up in court with the whole neighborhood behind him, and then it ends (I won’t give that away).

As far as MORALITY, there are drugs, drug dealers, thugs, a scene where Julia takes several shots of liquor and ends up inviting Monty to bed, but then she gets sick and sends him home. There is a small handful of “bad” words: damn, pissed off and our Lord’s name was used in vain once. There is also a fair amount of cleavage “pushed up” in your face.

Overall, this movie has a weak “good wins over evil” storyline, but there is much more naughty then nice! Don’t waste your time, stay home and watch a re-run!

Violence: Mild / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: Minor

Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive
Positive—This is the best movie for Christians since “A Walk To Remember”! Yes, they use the Lord’s name, the father says, 'Lord, Help me', surprised, they use Jesus name, “Thank you Jesus,” surprised again. It has less than 1/4 the cuss words as “A Walk To Remember” and very positive church scenes! There are a few uses of the “A**” word and a few other mild ones, but that is all. It revolves around a “committed” father, trying to regain his daughters after his former wife, living with a known drug pusher, gains sole custody. This is a must see movie for Christian to send a message to Hollywood that they need to make many, many more movies like this one. You will leave feeling good and blessed by the Christian values, instead of enduring a worldly movie and leave trying to forget all the worldly and immoral scenes! My 15 year old daughter and I completely enjoyed this GREAT movie.
My Ratings: Excellent! / 4½
Dennis Hobbs, age 55
Positive—Overall, I think this is Tyler Perry’s best movie yet! He said you will laugh, cry and just experience so many different emotions. That I did! It was a very enjoyable movie. It spoke on morals that we have lost in today’s society. The movie depiceted many different situations in life. it showed the negative side of life and the positive side of life. From a world view it depicted right vs. wrong. From a Christian view it depicted good vs. bad. it showed a world without morals and values and one with. It depicted racial injustice and justice. it depicted a sense of community where everyone comes together in love helping one another which we also have lost in the world today. Hat’s off to Tyler Perry for this one!!! Very enjoyable. I will be going again with our Church to see this one again. It is rich life values. Bravo!!!…
My Ratings: Excellent! / 4½
Heather, age 38
Positive—I was very much disappointed with the moviemaking quality of only 1½ stars! I had no intention of renting this movie based on the movie making quality and the offensive moral rating along with the thumbs down review it got from this site. I have found this site very useful in selective screening. but not for 'Daddy’s Little Girls'. By chance the movie was rented and that is why I watched it.

Tyler Perry’s DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL has done a splendid job for delivering a film many Christian movies have failed to do. The Christian community can do well watching this film, see Jesus lifted up in church, find a man with problems that go unnoticed, and consider a community who is struggling with drug gangsters. Jesus Christ would have dealt with issues differently then crashing a car into a drug lord’s vehicle who poses to hold the main character’s (Monty) children in a destitute position. But how would Jesus have acted differently? Let’s be real for a moment and consider your children being abused by a drug lord. How far would you go, really?

Jesus already stated his case of being murdered for our sins. Jesus stands for Christians to be a willing martyr for following Him. I realize Monty does not demonstrate this clearly but is shown as a person trying to put his children before himself and has done that why caring for his girls when many men would fail to this calling.

Let a movie be produced where Jesus is spoken, find a person willing to live for Jesus Christ and you will find people converting to Christianity. This is where it getting interesting because no drug lord or devil wants that! Tyler Perry’s DADDY’S LITTLE GIRLS is upfront and real. Encourage Christian teens and adults to watch this! This is not another hyped up Hollywooded movie where so and so does the impossible.

Jesus is the method of changing communities and wants us to accomplish what appears impossible, by his strength, and by sharing with others of God’s love and how Jesus Christ allows you to live in a chaotic world with and still have hope for the future, have your sins forgiven, and experience a freedom where bondages break at the feet of Jesus! Give this movie for credit, Monty is trying to deal with life struggles. It is about time Christian’s get on the bandwagon and give input in this direction and try it.
My Ratings: Average / 4½
Ronnie O’Brien, age 31
Positive—This movie is NOT OFFENSIVE! It show good versus evil as another person comment extremely well on, so I will not go further. Please read these Positive comments and you will see the value of this movie and how it shows Christians in a positive light and in a battle with evil people in the world. The opening scene when the father of the girls, says “Lord, help me,” and his continued faith in God, and in the strength of Louis Gossett, Jr, a man who leads a moral community to take back their community from the drug dealers, etc., all show values Christians need. AND that is to get involved, not hide. Let’s be truthful, the Bible us filled with evil and sinful acts, should we not read it? Finally, this movie shows a battle won by Christians, faith, community, love of family AND LOVE! See it and decide for yourself.
My Ratings: Good / 4½
Dean, age 57
Positive— …This movie made me just cry because of the obvious heartache the father faced during the whole movie. I thought the church scene was very powerful as you saw the words the pastor was saying really affecting the father and giving him hope. That was awesome. I would definitely tell people to rent this movie as it shows a community coming together against evildoers.
My Ratings: Average / 3
Jackie, age 30
Positive—I thought this film was very engaging and very good… Film is a discipline that attempts to recreate real life, and explore “plausibilities”—both possible and impossible, expected and unexpected, good and bad, beautiful and ugly—and whatever falls betwixt the poles. As such, it would be unrealistic if there were no anti-Christian material as well as Christian—that’s the world we live in. It has a way of maturing you into something that glorifies God or twisting you into something grotesque.

I saw a wholesome film that encouraged righteous men (people) to look to God for hope in hopeless circumstances and situations—that encouraged faith and the reward of living a righteous life. I saw a very real illustration of some of the dilemmas of black love explored: the dilemma of how socio-economic status creates a divide among black people—not only in male/female relationships; but among family, neighborhoods, communities; and politics… but how commitment, love, patience and sacrifice can bridge the gaps where tenaciously and sacrifically applied—you can’t get more Christ-like than that. God is sacrificial, unconditional, unfailing love. The film also shined light on a few stereotypes dispelling their all-encompassing nature concerning black men and women. There are a lot of black men out there who revere God, work hard, and get a bum deal, and while imperfect want to do the right thing by their families, their communities and how a little love, understanding and assistance from others that look like them can make a difference for the better. The film chided viewers to realize—it’s OUR own (black people, all peoples) responsibility to provide and secure the remedies that ail us corporately and individually with God’s help.

This film had no overt instances of sexually explicit acts, little to no profanity, and even the violence wasn’t overt—but depicted a struggle where good and right overcame twisted and evil—God told David to go back to Ziklag and kill everyone he encountered and take back his people and all of his stuff… that’s what the community did in the brawl that resulted from Monty’s eventual determination to deal with his nemesis. The scenes that weren’t typically Godly: the selling of drugs, the club-scene with dancing and drinking, Monty and Ms. Rossmore’s near fornication, and her drunkenness provided opportunities for family discussion on how to make the right choices to avoid ungodly predicaments in the first place. I was encouraged, and warmed by this lovely depiction of black on black love (and hate) and cooperation.

I’m going to buy the DVD and watch it over and over again. I would recommend this movie to EVERYONE.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Rhonda Reed, age 44
Neutral
Neutral—Two crucial anti-biblical scenes (messages with clearly negative/damaging implications) really turned me off:
= Monty, the father (truly the good guy/hero of the story otherwise), shown untying his shoes preparing for sex with a woman he’s not married to (sin) after one sorta-date (shallowness). Since that scene followed a positive one in which he’s deeply affected in a church worshipping God and appears to be a Christian, what does that say about how faith in God impacts how we live our lives?
= Monty commits a violent act (which, though understandable given the context, is still a sin which could’ve easily killed someone) and basically he’s rewarded for it.
The movie had a lot of positives, but for me was ruined by damaging anti-Christian messages; and ones that can be so influential to how people lives their lives TODAY.
My Ratings: Average / 3
Greg, age 45
Negative
Negative—As a Christian, I like to see movies that my entire family can view. Although I have mixed views about the writer and producer of this movie, the story line was great. I think the movie would have been just a appealing to everyone if the cursing was omitted. However, there is much premarital sexual content, gang violence, drugs and alcohol use throughout the movie. It’s not a Christian movie, no matter who wrote it, produced it or who stars in it. It has one church scene and a few lines where they mention Jesus. I was disappointed as a Christian, and expected more of Christ-centered content from the writers and producers. Don’t let your children see this movie!!!…
My Ratings: Average / 2
Norman, age 32
Negative—Daddy’s little girls left me very disappointed. I was excited about this movie and wanted to like it, but it fell far short. I think that Christian movies need to be as good or better quality than secular and this wasn’t the case. The movie was poorly filmed and directed. The scene with Eddie Long as the Pastor was so obviously filmed at two different times! Who cares if Eddie Long is the Pastor, if he can’t be there to film the scene than get a no name person to do it so the scene actually looks right. The story line is so surreal as well. The scene with the principal sitting with the parents talking about the girl selling drugs is an example. The girl told the principal who gave those drugs to her, and nothing happening? Come on to reality that wouldn’t happen. The characters were to extreme. I like the dad’s character and the girlfriend, they played the parts well. Also I like the last scene where it all ends. Getting there was terrible. Lastly I am disappointed of the lack of Christian values in the movie. The dad is praying for help and one scene, and in a bar in another shortly after trying to sleep with his girlfriend. Tyler Perry needs to get his doctrine straight on things. Don’t portray these people as good Christians if they are not.
My Ratings: Offensive / 2
Aron, age 23
Comments from young people
Positive—I am going to start of by saying this was nothing like Tyler Perry’s usual works, sure there were funny in part’s but it was also tear jerking and a extremely moving. My little sister and I rented it for family night and now I know it was the right choice. I have never seen any thing like this before, and it was slightly mind blowing. I was hit across the face with a slap of reality. There was a bit of objectionable material such as the female lead coming on to the main character when she’s drunk. The children are, of course, treated badly by their mother’s boyfriend, and there is a scene were a teenage boy is beaten up in front of the girls, but altogether I recommend it to anyone who wants to see an amazing movie.
My Ratings: Average / 4
Emily, age 14