A successful Chicago defense attorney whose marriage is hardly ideal and whose in-laws are the epitome of condescension, gets drawn into a high-profile case when she elects to represent an enigmatic artist who's accused of murdering his girlfriend, a definite conflict for reasons not given away in the movie's trailer. Steamy but mostly silly thriller is interesting early on but believability soon goes out the window with inexplicable actions from the characters, not to mention a magnitude of nonsensical plot threads that cause it to completely fall apart by the end. Rowland has the thankless, unenviable role of playing a character who starts out by using her brain, before doing a complete 180 that ends up making her look like a moron, while Rhodes is pretty much one-note whenever he's on screen. One could probably enjoy this as escapist fare, if only it didn't try and stay rooted in some form of reality; written and directed by Tyler Perry who as audiences are well aware can do much better than this. **
Review of Mea Culpa
