Poster art for Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?"

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 54 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    New York Daily News |

    The problems are real; the solutions are ... well, really entertaining. Perry mixes heartfelt drama with bold-stroke, insult-slinging comedy. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis

    More than anything, a Tyler Perry movie is an interactive experience, and Why Did I Get Married? is no exception. At the screening I attended, it was often difficult to hear the dialogue between bouts of enthusiastic applause and shouts of "You go, girl!" Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Ronnie Scheib

    Though fans might miss Perry's genre-exploding daring, the excellent cast injects enough pathos and zing to keep picture percolating. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Perry is of the spell-everything-in-capital-letters and act-it-out-loudly schools. Yet his sensitivity to women is a tonic. Read full review

  • 63
    TV Guide | Ken Fox

    Perry certainly loves his divas -- the best parts are written for Scott and the wonderful Smith. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    The most disappointing thing here, besides Perry's ongoing visual impairment (he deserves better cinematography and editing) is Scott. Read full review

  • 60
    L.A. Weekly |

    The writer-director-producer-star would rather save your soul and your marriage than engage your aesthetics. That's probably why every other line was greeted at my screening with a chorus of stern "Mm-hmms" and "Exactlys!" Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    As has been previously demonstrated in the hugely successful Perry's stage, television and big-screen works, subtlety and tonal consistency are not his strong suits. Here, the mostly broadly drawn characters and situations on display quickly prove grating, with the film veering awkwardly between broad comedy and melodrama. Read full review

  • 50
    The Onion A.V. Club | Nathan Rabin

    Smith emerges as this subtlety-impaired film's most intriguingly ambiguous character, at times an acid-tongued shrew and at others a bluntly righteous truth-teller. The liveliness of her performance helps ensure that while Married is stiffly written, didactic, and whiplash-inducing in its tonal shifts, it's also very seldom dull. Read full review

  • 20
    Austin Chronicle |

    There's such an overriding sense of soap opera that I kept expecting a commercial break. Read full review

View more reviews for Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Tyler Perry's latest comedy has adult themes.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film is too grown-up for the younger members of Tyler Perry's ultra-loyal fanbase. Though there's no explicit sex, and the language is fairly mild (occasional uses of "ass" is about as strong as it gets), the movie's themes -- infidelity, deception, and vulnerability within a marriage -- are definitely meant for adults. Also expect plenty of sexual innuendoes, some characterizations bordering on stereotype (the leech-like ex-wife, the shopping-crazy mistress, etc.), and social drinking.
  • Families can talk about how this movie portrays marriage. Does it seem real, or is it Hollywood-ized? If so, how? In movies, why does marriage seem so difficult? Is it that way in real life? Families can also discuss why Tyler Perry is so popular. Have you seen his other movies? What do they have in common? Who are they targeted at, and why do they appeal to that audience? Do you like him better as his character Madea or as a "regular" actor? Why?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Overall, the relationships portrayed are fairly loving, though one couple bickers quite a bit. But two husbands cheat on their wives, and one is quite vicious and humiliating in the way he jokes about his wife's weight (he even makes her drive alone while he travels by plane so he can avoid paying for two seats for her).
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: A dinner table conversation ends up becoming a verbal free-for-all. A wife hits her husband with a wine bottle. Later, a husband hurls his wife's Blackberry at the wall.
  • sex false3 Sex: Couples kiss and cuddle (and try to figure out whether to have sex). Conversations are peppered with stories and innuendoes about venereal diseases, bedroom behavior, and more.
  • language false3 Language: Not too much swearing, but numerous uses of the words "slut," "ho," "ass," and even "mortherf-" (the person stops before saying "f--ker").
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Fancy cars (Mercedes) and designer duds signify a comfortable lifestyle for many of the couples, but it doesn't feel like a commercial.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: No smoking, but some social drinking (wine at dinner and at a reception). One character admits to drinking way too much.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

2.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… completely simple-minded but also mostly inoffensive … Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

Must Go! 10,940 fan reviews

Critics say

So-so See all critic reviews

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook