Daddy's Little Girls

Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls
Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tyler Perry
Written by	Tyler Perry
Produced by	Tyler Perry; Reuben Cannon
Starring	Gabrielle Union; Idris Elba; Louis Gossett, Jr.; Tracee Ellis Ross; Terri J. Vaughn; Malinda Williams
Cinematography	Toyomichi Kurita
Edited by	Maysie Hoy
Music by	Brian McKnight
Production; companies	Lionsgate; Tyler Perry Studios; Reuben Cannon Productions
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date	February 14, 2007;
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$31.6 million

{{distinguish|Daddy's Little Girl

Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry and produced by Perry and Reuben Cannon. It stars Gabrielle Union and Idris Elba. The film was released on February 14, 2007 by Lions Gate Entertainment. This is one of only three films directed by Perry that he does not appear in (the other two being For Colored Girls and Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor) as well as the first of Perry's films to not be based on any of the filmmaker's stage plays.

Plot

Monty James is a mechanic who has three daughters: China, Lauryn and Sierra, who dreams of owning his own shop. His children have been cared for by their maternal grandmother, Kat, for years, but she dies of lung cancer. Before her death, Kat asks Monty to take custody of his daughters, since their mother and his ex-wife, Jennifer, is a drug addict who does not care about the girls and lives with her boyfriend, Joe, the main drug dealer in the neighborhood. Monty is reluctant to do so, but agrees. During Kat's funeral, Jennifer disrupts the service, demands her daughters live with her and sues for custody. Monty accepts help from Maya, an employment agency worker, who recommends he works as a driver for Julia Rossmore, an attorney in Atlanta.

Julia’s friends, Brenda and Cynthia, set Julia up on a blind date with Byron. She also ends up on a blind date with a guy who she thinks is perfect for her until his wife and kids expose him as an unfaithful married man. When Monty and Julia meet, she insists on having everything done on schedule. Sierra accidentally starts a fire in his home. Social Services were notified and the children were sent to live with their mother and Joe. Julia goes to the hospital to demand Monty to take her home, but sees Social Services sending his children to live with Jennifer. Monty returns to his day job as a mechanic and finds the owner Willie has been injured in a robbery. Willie offers to sell the shop to Monty for a $10,000 deposit.

Meanwhile, his daughters, now living with their mother, face constant abuse and neglect from Joe and Jennifer. Joe even gets Sierra in trouble at school after forcing her to sell drugs in the area, under the threat that he would hurt Monty if she refused. After Sierra gets caught, Monty decides to fight to get the custody of his daughters back. He goes to Julia for help, which she does during the court case.

Julia finishes Monty’s case preparation and discovering it is her 32nd birthday, takes her to his favorite jazz club, where they dance. As they are traveling home, Julia kisses Monty and asks him to spend the night. Monty is willing but Julia is too drunk and vomits in the bathroom. Julia changes her mind and tells Monty to go home. Over the next few weeks, Julia begins to feel confused. She goes to Monty's apartment to meet his daughters during his visitation right. When they're at the aquarium, Julia sees one of her friends there and gets reminded that she has to be conscious of decisions which impact her career. Monty overhears Julia’s friend and is hurt.

At the child custody hearing, Julia argues that it would be in the children's best interest for Monty to be awarded custody. Jennifer’s lawyer says that Monty is irresponsible due to an earlier conviction of statutory rape. Julia feels betrayed because she didn’t hear this information from Monty earlier; she leaves, telling Monty that he no longer needs her. At 3:00 am, Monty's daughters arrive at his house and inform him that Joe has been beating them, proving it by revealing that China's back is bruised, while Jennifer just watched and did nothing about it. While his daughters are asleep, Monty drives away and crashes into Jennifer and Joe's car, after which he physically assaults Joe and a crowd gathers. Joe's thugs arrive and begin to attack Monty. But the crowd, having had enough, defends Monty against them. Julia sees a report on the incident, in which Monty is identified as having been "falsely convicted" of rape.

Jennifer and Joe are facing drug charges in court, because cocaine and marijuana was found in Joe's car and house, while Monty is to be charged with assault. Julia represents Monty, apologizing for not hearing his side of the story. The witnesses testify against Joe but refuse to testify against Monty, so Jennifer and Joe, along with all of Joe's thugs, are jailed without bail while the case against Monty is dropped. Monty tells Julia that he loves her. Monty's daughters greet him and Julia at the auto shop that now bears his name. Monty and Julia kiss, and the neighbors celebrate Monty's success.

Cast

Gabrielle Union as Julia Rossmore, Monty's lawyer and love interest, who struggles to find a decent boyfriend
Idris Elba as Monty James, the main protagonist, a loving, hard-working mechanic with three daughters who dreams of owning his own garage
Louis Gossett, Jr. as Willie, Monty's elderly boss and best friend who sells Monty his garage
Tasha Smith as Jennifer Jackson, Monty's selfish, drug-addicted ex-wife who is bent on getting custody of their three daughters
Tracee Ellis Ross as Cynthia, Julia's colleague and friend who sets Julia up on blind dates
Malinda Williams as Maya, Monty's neighbor and Julia's personal assistant
Terri J. Vaughn as Brenda, Julia's lawyer friend who despises Monty
Gary Sturgis as Joe, the main antagonist, Jennifer's gangster boyfriend and drug dealer who has the town in fear
Cassi Davis as Rita, Jennifer's aunt and sister of Jennifer's mom, Kat
Sierra Aylina McClain as Sierra James, Monty's oldest daughter
Lauryn Alisa McClain as Lauryn James, Monty's middle daughter
China Anne McClain as China James, Monty's youngest daughter
Juanita Jennings as Kat Jackson, Jennifer's mom who died in the beginning of the film
LaVan Davis as Lester
Brian J. White as Christopher (uncredited)
Craig Robinson as Byron, a low-classed, loud-mouthed, middle-aged rapper (cameo).
Bishop Eddie Long as himself

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #5 on Valentine's Day 2007 behind Ghost Rider, Bridge to Terabithia, Norbit's second weekend, and Music and Lyrics,^[1] and has grossed $31,609,243 worldwide, making it Tyler Perry's lowest-grossing film.

Critical reaction

The film received generally negative reviews from critics, earning a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's critical consensus reads: "Daddy's Little Girls boasts fine performances and a poignant message, but is ultimately let down by amateurish filmmaking".^[2]

Soundtrack

Atlantic Records released Music inspired by the film: Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, in stores and online on January 16, 2007. Among the highlights of the album is "Family First," the first-ever recording by the Houston Family -- Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, and Cissy Houston. The song "Can't Let You Go" by Anthony Hamilton is not on the soundtrack. Also, the song "Beautiful" by Meshell Ndegeocello is featured in the movie.

Anthony Hamilton featuring Jaheim & Musiq Soulchild - "Struggle No More (The Main Event)"
R. Kelly - "Don't Let Go"
Tamika Scott of "Xscape" - "Greatest Gift"
Adrian Hood - "Brown Eyed Blues"
Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and The Family - "Family First"
Yolanda Adams - "Step Aside"
Brian McKnight - "I Believe"
Beyoncé Knowles - "Daddy"
Anthony Hamilton - "Struggle No More"
Governor - "Blood, Sweat & Tears"
Charles "Gator" Moore - "A Change Is Gonna Come"

References

External links

[1] ttp://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2007&wknd=07&p=.htmM

[2] Daddy's Little Girls at Rotten Tomatoes

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