Daddy's Little Girls

A mechanic (Idris Elba: Thor, The Wire) enlists the help of a successful-but-lonely attorney (Gabrielle Union: Bad Boys II) while trying to gain custody of his three daughters from his treacherous ex-wife and her larcenous boy friend. Along the way, the working relationship between the blue collar dad and his uptown attorney grows into something more. This is a simple, touching story of two people trying to overcome their different backgrounds to find love, a down-on-his-luck man struggling to protect his children from abuse and neglect, and a community looking to purge itself from the criminals terrorising their neighbourhood. African-American gospel auteur Tyler Perry leaves behind his over-the-top Madea persona (the driving force of his previous movies Diary of Mad Black Woman and Madea's Family Reunion) to craft a more subdued--yet more emotionally compelling--story. Monty (Idris Elba, The Wire) has been the sole support of his three daughters, but when his ex returns to try to claim them, he can't afford the legal counsel to fight her--until he crosses paths with Julia (Gabrielle Union, Bring It On, Deliver Us from Eva), a lawyer whose successful career hasn't helped her be successful in love. The story of Daddy's Little Girls doesn't hold a lot of surprises; the romance between these two will be bumpy while implausible but necessary-to-the-plot factors keep them from resolving their conflicts until the last moment. But what is surprising--after the grandstanding histrionics of the Madea movies--is how Perry has guided his topnotch actors to rock-solid performances that quietly draw you in. Though the plot twists smack of melodrama, the actors make each scene seem real. The strong supporting cast includes Louis Gosset Jr. ( An Officer and a Gentleman) and Tasha Smith, who gives an unflinching and unsettling performance as Monty's ex, who decides to teach her daughters the harshest lessons life has to offer. --Bret Fetzer