Now In Theaters - Precious

I had a lot of excitement going in to see this one. From hearing about Mo'Nique's performance all the way to seeing the couple trailers almost a year ago... I was convinced that her performance would be memorable. I was also a bit anxious to see what Mariah Carey was going to bring to her role. I have never been impressed by her acting, and also somewhat put off by her snobby attitude in general. The director, Lee Daniels, is relatively new to the scene, so I didn't know what to expect from him.

The story 'Precious' is about a 16 year old girl that has had to endure just about every hardship you could imagine. Our lead heroine is played by newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe. And unless good ol' IMDB.com has failed me (which it NEVER has), this is her very first role. I for one was amazed by her ability to capture the pain and the anguish of Precious, who in this role... was the mother of two children. Her lack of on screen experience did not show one bit. i can assume that being born in Bedford-Stuyvensant and being raised in Harlem was a huge asset for her in this role since the movie itself was based on an inner city New York family. Mo'Nique plays the role of her mother... and I use the word "mother" very, VERY loosely. I tell you, this woman would have made Faye Dunaway shudder in fear. (In case you don't know who Faye Dunaway is, just make sure you don't hang your closthes up on any "wire hangers" LOL.) I have been hearing a lot of Oscar talk for her in this role and I don't disagree one bit.

Paula Patton ('Idlewild' and 'Deja Vu') plays the role of her teacher and is one of the driving forces in worlking toward some change in Precious' life. Another person who shows concern for Precious is a social worker by the name of Mrs. Weiss. This is the role that Mariah Carey was cast for. Now as I said before, I have never been impressed by her acting career. So it was quite a shock to see the emotion and the feelings that she put into this role. She was instructed that she would not be allowed any make up artists or hair stylist to accompany her on set. Everything that she was going to give us on screen was going to be 100% her... and I was impressed with her performance. The supporting cast as a whole was very well put together.

It's hard to talk too much about the storyline without giving away key plot points. All I can say that this was definitely very well put together. The direction, the acting, the writing... all very well done. I will tell you, this is not a movie for the faint of heart. You will be SHOCKED at some of the things young Precious has to endure. Correction, you will be shocked at MOST of the things she has to endure. It is a very sad and compelling story. At times I fear that the writer and director almost may have went too far to remain believable to the movie going audience. Although I know that situations like this are really out there in the world, there is a LOT of America that is blind to this side of the tracks. So even though I do think they went a tad bit too far, I am happy they did so. People need to see this kind of thing. I will caution you before going in... it's not "easy" to watch. You may want to judge for yourself before taking a child to see it. The language is extremely rough and the violence and abuse is plain off the hook.

Overall, I was very impressed with this movie as a whole. I am going to give this one a very solid 9 out 0f 10. I do think that this is the type of movie that rush out to go see. Just keep in mind, this is not the typical movie that you are used to. There is not much "feel good" going on in this one. It is a bonafide tearjerker. But if you are a fan of good acting, and compelling story lines, then it's a must see.