THANK YOU A.V. CLUB (FINALLY)
Overrated: Precious
On what planet does this horror show take place? In Lee Daniels’ fraudulent indie drama, noble intentions, two great performances, and a redemptive arc are like the sharp scent of Febreze to cover the most rancid, pernicious racial and urban stereotypes. Every cliché is as supersized as its poor, obese, brutalized teenage heroine, whose 300 pounds bear the weight of AIDS, incest, illiteracy, molestation, welfare, and the various gaps and needless bureaucracies that clog up “the system.” Not to mention the girl’s mother (played by an admittedly inspired Mo’Nique), a stampeding Jerry Springer monster given to form-fitting floral jumpsuits, endless consumption of pig’s feet and daytime television, and hurling glassware and foul epithets in equal measure. This isn’t the poetry of the everyday, in spite of Daniels’ predilection for arty shots of flapping birds and literary quotations; it’s grotesquerie masquerading as truth.
From Lydia
2 years ago