*The Secret Between Us* is a static, bombastic, and largely inconsequential tale about lives upended by "secrets"—in the plural—every single one of which has been milked to death in daytime soap operas for decades.
White plays Jack Frazier, an Atlanta-based airline pilot who has a daughter (Lisa Arrindell) who is finishing her medical residency—and who assumes that tonight will be the night her longtime boyfriend (Denzell Dandridge) proposes marriage—and a devoted wife (also Lisa Arrindell) who has orchestrated everything so that this happens on the very day of her husband Jack’s birthday.
Director: Tamera Hill
Writer: Tamera Hill
Stars: Karen Abercrombie, Lisa Arrindell, Reggie Currelley
But their simultaneous celebrations are interrupted by a knock at the door. A stranger stands before them. He (Tre Ryan) is 28 years old. And he is the son the aviator Jack never knew he had. Apparently.
Nothing deserves to be taken at face value, for screenwriter and director Tamera Hill hurls secrets within secrets at us in a cascade of coincidences that oscillate between the implausible and the utterly ridiculous. That is to say, the situation becomes so absurd that the wife, Lisa, is compelled to blurt out her profession.
"The worst part of all is that I’m a clinical psychologist!"
The plot starts slowly and unravels as health crises, hidden family secrets, and lies within lies come to light; amidst such chaos, the phrase "God’s will be done" seems to be the best response anyone—including the editor—manages to articulate.
The script feels clumsy, and screenwriter-director Hill—who still has a few projects to go before she graduates from the "she’ll learn how to do this sooner or later" category—serves up one static scene after another, in which barely anything happens beyond the occasional heated conversation. It lacks rhythm; The editing retains takes that should have been discarded before anyone even shouted "Action!", and scenes drag on long past the moment when "Cut!" should have been called.
There was no need for us to watch Torrance Frazier—the "son Jack never (quite) knew he had"—hire a "private investigator" to identify a man whose NAME AND PROFESSION his own mother had already revealed to him before she died. The kid even bears the man's surname. Hey, kid... do you not know how to use Google? Dead weight of this sort abounds, as characters are introduced who serve no dramatic function, and a pause for a Stokley Williams concert—which highlights the silky, romantic R&B permeating the soundtrack (Keith Sweat was one of the producers)—delays the revelation of new "secrets," which remain under wraps when Torrance, who suffers from health issues, meets a nurse (Destinee Monét) following an incident during his morning run.
"Fate is in absolute control; I’m just here to enjoy the ride" is merely a line of dialogue, not an editing strategy. For starters, this amorphous blob would have benefited from some serious shaping during the writing and script-workshop stages. The final cut (IMDb suggests that, at one point, it was even longer) feels sluggish and lifeless.
White may remain steadfast and unperturbed amidst all this chaos. However, with every new "secret" Jack drops on Lisa—well into the third act—and given that each one is dispensed with without yielding any dramatic consequences, one can almost sense the gestures of exasperation that the situation deserved, even if the actor was too polite to display them during filming.
Comments
Post a Comment