Mea Culpathe latest film by US comedy magnate Tyler Perry, was heavily criticized by audiences.
The film, a legal thriller, is about a criminal defense attorney (Kelly Rowland) who agrees to represent an artist (Trevante Rhodes) who is accused of murdering his girlfriend.
Perry wrote, directed and produced the film, which began streaming on Netflix earlier this week. Alongside Rowland and Rhodes Mea Culpa also stars Nick Sagar, Sean Sagar, RonReaco Lee, Shannon Thornton and Kerry O’Malley.
The reviews were devastating. Mea Culpa At the time of writing, the film holds a lowly “Rotten” score of just 17 percent on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, meaning less than a fifth of critics who have seen it gave it a positive review.
In a two-star review for The GuardianCritic Benjamin Lee wrote, “As you might have guessed from the plot description, the story is hopelessly overstuffed. Perry’s poor actors stumble over absurdly cheesy dialogue, needlessly overloading something that requires far more concentration to make it work.
“Although it begins as an erotic thriller, it slows down to a soggy relationship drama before building its way to a climax that hinges on puzzling twists that make little to no sense.”
The reactions on social media were no more positive: many viewers called the film the worst thing Perry had ever done.
Perry’s previous films include Diary of a crazy black woman and the Madea series, in which Perry plays an older woman.
“Mea Culpa (2024) … from start to finish, this is quite simply the worst Tyler Perry movie ever,” wrote one person on X/Twitter. “I would even go so far as to say it’s probably one of the worst movies I’ve ever had to watch. Not a single spark of emotion, not a single tear or laugh. 120 minutes of nothing.”
“Mea Culpa was one of the worst films of the 21st century,” commented another, while a third stated that the film was “perhaps the worst film I have ever seen in my entire life.”
“Tyler Perry’s Mea Culpa is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen,” noted another. “This movie is awful. Tubi originals are better. If you’re planning on watching this movie, watch another one. Tyler Perry has all the resources at his disposal and is producing garbage.”
The film is now available to stream on Netflix.
