Businessman Wesley Deeds is jolted out of his scripted life when he meets Lindsey, a single mother who works on the cleaning crew in his office building.Businessman Wesley Deeds is jolted out of his scripted life when he meets Lindsey, a single mother who works on the cleaning crew in his office building.Businessman Wesley Deeds is jolted out of his scripted life when he meets Lindsey, a single mother who works on the cleaning crew in his office building.
- Awards
- 5 nominations
- Lindsey Wakefield
- (as Thandie Newton)
- Mr. Brunson
- (as Andrew Hyatt Masset)
- Teacher
- (as Nevaina)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaActresses Thandiwe Newton and Rebecca Romijn were born on the exact same day: 06. November 1972 - this is their first movie together.
- GoofsLindsay worked 80 hours, and her net check was only $112. The IRS cannot garnish wages that total less than the total of the standard deduction and personal exemptions available. Based on her earning $10 per hour, none of her wages could have been legally garnished.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Wesley Deeds: [narration] My name is Wesley Deeds the Third. I grew up fifth-generation Ivy League graduate. I can tell you my pedigree all the way back to the tribe that my greatest grandfather came from. I was born into privilege, groomed by my father to be a businessman, to take over his company, groomed by my mother to be a gentleman. I was told where to stand and how to dress, how to cut my hair, and what I would be doing for the rest of my life from the time that I was five years old. And right now, I seem to be on track - whose track I don't really know. By this time, my mother thought I should be married, and according to my life schedule, that's four months away. I'll be marrying her, Natalie. She's amazing. We're perfect together. With a life like mine, you'd think that I wake up happy every day, but I don't. My life is perfect, but I often wonder, am I living my own life or the life that I was told to live?
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #20.88 (2012)
- SoundtracksTo the Zoo
Written by Shelly Fraley and Jessica Garey
Performed by Shelly Fraley, Jessica Garey and Ian Bailey
Published by Sweet Baby Lulu Songs and Shelly Fraley
Courtesy of Firefly Music LLC and One Louder Creative
This time the story concerns wealthy businessman Wesley Deeds (Perry), who has not only inherited his father's software company but just about every convention, mannerism, and habit his father picked up in life. He has become so commonplace in his behavior and predictable in his drive and actions that his fiancée Natalie (Gabrielle Union) states she could "set her watch by Wesley." One day, Wesley abruptly meets Lindsey Wakefield (Thandie Newton), a stressed single mother who works as a janitor for the company, when she parks in Wesley's parking space in a rush to pick up her check from the company. Wesley, at the time, is accompanied by his ticking-time-bomb of a brother Walter (Brian J. White), who attempts to force Lindsey out of the space by calling a tow truck. Out of pure compassion and sympathy, Wesley lets this instance slide.
Wesley begins to become closer to Lindsey but not in the usual sense. More or less, he tries to understand her societal position and achieve something of cultural relativism or "walking in someone's shoes," so the cliché goes. He lends a hand to Lindsey and her six year old daughter, trying to keep both of them calm in a time of uncertainty. It's not just that the film does well but the way it handles complex issues and shows the bitter, unfortunate reality of a bad situation.
Take, for example, the scene when Lindsey's daughter is about to be taken away by child services when they discover that Lindsey is barely living paycheck-to-paycheck and doesn't have a stable place to live. Her daughter is in tears when she is about to be taken by the officers and despite her mother's reassurance that, for the time being, this is in her best interest, she feels abandoned and helpless. While all of this is happening, Wesley stands passively by, but clearly seems scarred and rocked by the issue. It is this scene that shows he is finally coming out of his well-to-do, corporate bubble and seeing that had his father been, for the lack of a better term, another poor black man, his childhood could've been as heartbreaking and as unforgiving as Lindsey's daughter.
Perry has grown on me overtime to say the least. I found his film Diary of a Mad Black Woman to be obnoxious and overblown and his Madea's Witness Protection to be abysmal. When Perry wears his own, distinguished wardrobe, or conducts business with characters that aren't leaning or adopting advice from a gargantuan ogre with an attitude problem, he is, for the most part, a filmmaker that achieves passable quality. Good Deeds is his strongest work next to Daddy's Little Girls. The commonality between both projects his their uninterrupted human focus and their "slice of life" depictions of realistic issues.
I find myself appreciating the way the mawkish material was handled in Good Deeds more-so than writing it off as stale, manipulative-fare which is sort of what this is. However, Perry finds the right tonality and manages to make it work for the entire one-hundred and ten minutes of the film. Perhaps it's a bit overlong, perhaps it's a bit underwritten, and perhaps Perry is giving a rendition of drama with the same kinds of plot-points he put to use before. I really couldn't notice.
Starring: Tyler Perry, Gabrielle Union, Thandie Newton, and Brian J. White. Directed by: Tyler Perry.
- StevePulaski
- May 20, 2013
- How long is Good Deeds?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Tyler Perry's Good Deeds
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $35,025,791
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,583,924
- Feb 26, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $35,579,177
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1