Two steps forward, three steps back? That's the first though that went through this pundit's mind after watching Tyler Perry's messy melodrama last spring. Perry had come off  the back to back successes of 2010's underrated "For Colored Girls" (his best dramatic directing effort to date) and 2011's hilarious comedy "Madea's Big Happy Family" (his best comedic effort to date).  "Good Deeds" was neither compelling or funny. Perry overreached with this snoozefest about a rich San Francisco businessman who falls for his building's former cleaning woman played by Thandie Newton (perhaps the most gorgeous custodial work in cinematic history). Newton has her "Crash" tears running in full effect, but we're guessing they started flowing once she realized nothing on set could make Perry's by the numbers screenplay come alive on screen.

- Gregory Ellwood