The Reviews Are In: Precious

I attended the pre screening of the new movie Precious which is based on the book Push by Sapphire. The film stars 26 year old newcomer, Gabourey Sidibe, as the title character along side comedienne Monique as her abusive mother, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz round out the ensemble. I wasn't sure how they were going to let some parts of the book be portrayed on screen as the material is far past an R rating. This girl is subjected to physical abuse, mental abuse, rape, incest and bullying its almost too much for anyone to take, but she is deals with it all. I was surprised and almost relieved a little that Lee Daniels (director) broke up the harsh bitterness of Precious' experiences with fade outs and scenes of comedy from the supporting cast. The film takes you on this young girls lenghty and difficult journey; there are moments where you feel like these things are happening to you. One of the most heart wrenching moments comes when her mother comes to visit her in a halfway house and she delivers some news about Precious' father.

The breakout performance here has to be Monique's as she sheds her comedic side for this dark, twisted, complicated and unloving woman. I saw that Monique actually stepped up and had true acting ability and dare I say range from the usual loud, brassy, ghetto chic that she is type casted by. I hope that this departure from her comedic roots is an indication of things to come from her. Its completely fine to be a comedienne but there comes a time when you want to throw caution to the wind and show your audience there is more to you than being a one trick pony.

As a not so important side note: Sheree Whitfield from the Real Housewives of Atlanta also attended the screening with her publicist B.J. Coleman in tow (oh how the mighty have fallen, BJ). I wanted to pull her aside and say that not only was her NY debut of She by Sheree seen as a joke, no one here in this city knows who you are and if they do don't care. Atlanta is worlds away from New York there are way more people here with way more money than you who are nameless so you may want to fall in line with them at the back of the line.