Tyler Perry’s ‘Why Did I Get Married Again?’ takes generational trauma—and drama—to Lake Como
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Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married Again?” lands on Netflix, bringing the whole gang back together again for a destination wedding.
****SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers and plot points.****
If you don’t accept your mistakes in life, your children are doomed to repeat them, or so goes the feeling in Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married Again?”
The latest installment in the sensational, soapy “Why Did I Get Married” franchise debuted September 9 on Netflix with a jam-packed cast and plenty of fresh drama bursting at the seams.
In the third film, the entire gang — minus Janet Jackson, sadly — is brought back together for the lavish Lake Como, Italy-set wedding of Jasmine (Armani Greer), the daughter of Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White), and Wesley (Everett Osborne), the son of newly introduced Roselyn (Taraji P. Henson), who steps into the story with her toes dipped in gold — literally — and carrying a secret like a grenade with the pin pulled, of course.
Now, perhaps in some other epic, sweeping marriage or wedding franchise, this would all go off without a hitch. But this is Perry’s universe, so naturally, this trip was bound for chaos before the plane wheels were even up on the tarmac. Honestly, before that jet was even gassed, because so much of what imposes itself on this destination wedding has been happening to these characters since Perry first launched the franchise nearly 20 years ago.
Picking things back up 16 years after the second film has allowed for some growth, some midlife crises to surface, and for their children to grow up and develop their own very messy plights among one another. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. No one is surprised when a lion raises another lion. If your father cheated on your mother and then your mother cheated in retaliation, you just may very well do the same. You know how the old sayings go!
Admittedly, the story kicks off with the cast moving like they’re still blocking things out. The words are being tossed out, not spoken. Then, somewhat like magic, once the entire gang is together, the power of the ensemble takes over, and so do the immediate signs of some wild layers of incestuous friend drama.
Mike (Richard T. Jones) arrives as “Daddy Mike,” fully having a midlife crisis, with the hair plugs and a girlfriend half his age to prove it. He’s still the world’s most obnoxious uncle figure, so you don’t really feel much of anything when that young girlfriend, Regina (Sydney Winbush), starts cheating on him almost immediately with Marcus Jr. (Da’Vinchi) — who, as it turns out, is her ex-boyfriend.
Yes, Marcus and Angela gather everyone for a massive and bougie dinner in the sprawling backyard of their new home, which looks like a chateau, it’s so big and elegant. It’s at this dinner, meant to kick things off before they all flex to Europe, that Marcus Jr. starts putting the moves on Regina before Angela catches the two later doing the deed. It’s unclear why everyone’s initial advice to her is simply not to say anything. Marcus doesn’t even see the cycles repeating when she attempts to call them out.
To be clear, those cycles are apparent the moment the kids arrive. Marcus Jr. wastes zero time explaining to Wesley and Terry’s son why “one play” couldn’t serve him on the field for his entire football career, so why should one woman be able to? It’s ridiculous logic, but in Perry’s world, cheating and betrayal are some of the worst things he can seem to imagine befalling a marriage.
That theme carries on through the night before the trip, when Sheila (Jill Scott) and Diane (Sharon Leal) storm the kids’ party in search of Jasmine because of something she previously shared with Sheila. Of course, this is one of those movies where no one ever just spits it out right away. Sheila drags Diane all the way to the club alleyway before she finally reveals she’s concerned Jasmine is being abused by Wesley. Like, lead with that, my girl!
In perfect movie magic, because we’ve gotta get this plot rolling, Jasmine and Wesley are embroiled in an argument in the alleyway already when they find them. Jasmine insists she is not being abused, and the implication pisses Wesley off so much that he storms away.
Yes, all of this drama just gets packed up and checked onto that plane the next day.
Once they arrive in Italy, we meet part of Roselyn’s big secret, a young thang named Nick (Derrick A. King), who has shown up to surprise her. Wesley, already probably at an eight in terms of frustration, reaches a 10 at the sight of him. Nick is so young that he used to be Wesley’s middle-school tutor, a detail so bizarrely specific it is hilarious when Wesley yells it across this Italian hotel lobby. Perry could have gone with a friend or a classmate. But a middle-school tutor? I digress.
See what I mean about the incestuous friend drama though? It’s everywhere in this plot. Truly, stop eating where you sh—, people. If you take nothing else from this movie, let it be that!
Things really start moving after everyone settles into Lake Como. During the rehearsal dinner, the pressure cooker finally pops, and Jasmine and Wesley reveal their big secret. He cheated, so she cheated back — and got an STD, just like her mother and father. As Jasmine explains what happened, the film even flashes back to the infamous scene from the first movie, where Angela reveals essentially the same thing.
As Mike berates the younger couple and teases Terry (Tyler Perry) about how his children must be turning out, Terry, after swallowing several digs about his children being too soft, finally punches him square in the jaw. Thank God, because Mike finally sees himself out, hopefully for good, from a friend group that genuinely seems relieved to watch him leave.
Once Mike is gone, though, the adults realize they have to reckon with themselves.
Roselyn finally reveals that Wesley’s father, Harvey, struggles with drug addiction, and that keeping their lives afloat while getting him in and out of rehab meant she was often working and absent in ways Wesley came to resent without understanding why. After the kids admit they’ve spent their lives thinking their parents and their marriages were perfect, the rest of the secrets come spilling out, removing their parents from their pedestals and placing them somewhere more human.
“It’s time for us to start telling the truth, otherwise this stuff will just keep happening,” Terry tells them all at one point.
And that’s really where “Why Did I Get Married Again?” finds its point. Parents may think packing away their problems, failures, and all the other ways they have been imperfect is the decent thing to do for their children, but children have to learn how to be human, too. That includes messing it up from time to time and living to tell the tale. Sometimes, breaking a cycle means showing your children the mistakes you made and what you learned from them.
For Jasmine and Wesley, discovering that the marriages they grew up admiring were never actually perfect gives them something more useful than perfection to aspire to. Their parents have cheated, lied, divorced, grieved, fought, forgiven, and found ways forward. Maybe their own mistakes don’t have to automatically mean their relationship is doomed, either.
The next day, giving forgiveness a try, the bride and groom have their gorgeous wedding. Wesley arrives by boat with his best man in a black-and-white tuxedo, while Jasmine arrives by horse-drawn carriage in a lacy gown with a sweetheart neckline. After nearly two hours of yelling, cheating, secrets, and somebody finally punching Mike in the face, the ceremony by the water is almost shockingly tame.
By the time the credits roll, “Why Did I Get Married Again?” leaves you with the same rosy feeling as the films before it. Marriage is hard, people are messy, and neither of those facts has to be a death sentence for a love that’s real. Perry gets there with some fashion moments among Taraji, his usual mix of humor and melodrama, and plenty of jaw-dropping mess. Nearly 20 years after first asking the question, the answer remains pretty simple. Love can be enough, but you have to be honest about all the very human mess that comes with it.