Mea Culpa is a steamy crime thriller film released on Netflix on February 23, 2024. It is written and directed by Tyler Perry and co-produced by Kelly Rowland, Angi Bones and Will Areu. The film has a runtime of about 2 hours.
The ensemble cast of the film includes Kelly Rowland as Mea Harper, Trevante Rhodes as Zyair Malloy, Sean Sagar as Kal Hawthorne, Nick Sagar as Ray Hawthorne, RonReaco Lee as Jimmy, Shannon Thornton as Charlise Hawthorne, Angela Robinson as Renee, Kerry O’Malley as Azalia Hawthorne and Connor Weil as Bobby.
In Tyler Perry’s Mea Culpa, an artist facing accusations of murdering his girlfriend enlists the services of a criminal defence attorney. As their professional relationship deepens, their escalating passion adds complexity to the already risky and complicated situation.
Mea Culpa Review
The film starts with Mea Harper getting couples counselling with her husband Kal. There seems to be a lack of trust between them, as she accuses him of cheating on her with some childhood friend named Jenny. However, infidelity is not the only problem, it’s his extreme devotion towards his mother and the fact that he’s a recovering addict with no income of his own. Before we could judge that being a cancer-stricken ‘mommy’s boy’ shouldn’t be much of a deal, we find ourselves on Mea’s side after meeting her in-laws.
Her mother-in-law seems to have complete control over her two adopted sons, who dote on her completely. Her contempt towards Mea is quite evident as she often pokes Kal to get together with Jenny instead. But why is she so against Mea, isn’t clear apart from the fact that she’s an accomplished woman, whose life they are not able to control. While going through a rough patch in her marriage, Mea is appointed by Zyair Malloy, an artist who is accused of killing his girlfriend.
At first, she isn’t sure about taking the case since all the evidence points to him being guilty of the crime and it would be tricky to prove otherwise. But when her prosecutor brother-in-law, Ray takes up the case and warns her not to defend him, she goes the other way. Her contempt might have gotten into this but little did Mea know that she was walking into an unknown treacherous trap filled with lust.
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In terms of thriller, the story building is engrossing to watch. The case of a rumoured playboy artist accused of killing his girlfriend, right in his studio instantly makes one curious. Observing Zyair and his smooth behaviour with Mea creates an air of suspicion around him, where we hope he is actually innocent. At the same time, everything seems too good to be true, making us think that maybe Mea is making a big mistake. Adding to the thrilling deception are her in-laws and husband. We can never gauge what their real personality even is. Everyone looks suspicious as if hiding a big secret that only Mea is unaware of.
Up until the one-hour mark, Mea Culpa feels like the next big deserving hit but as we tiptoe around the building chemistry between Mea and Zyair, the graph starts to go downwards. Knowing that it’s a steamy flick, we anticipate that their underlying passion will get the best of them but it comes up so abruptly, breaking the complete flow. In my opinion, their getting intimate needed some more chemistry building because Mea doesn’t look interested for the most part and suddenly she starts snogging him, which just looks awkward.
The film picks up again when her marital life comes spiralling down and secrets are revealed. However, the second half isn’t as enticing, in fact, the story becomes confusing and ends without proper answers. As interestingly the creator had laid down the mystery, solving it doesn’t feel as satisfying. It would have been a better choice to extend the runtime if it meant exploring intricate details and presenting a complete picture of the puzzle.
One thing that the film has succeeded in portraying is the best and worst of humanity through the genre of an exotic thriller. Each character has a good and bad side to them and this dichotomy helps in creating a suspecting mystery, where you can’t trust anybody and have to hold on till the end to realise the reality. Also, the character of RonReaco Lee as private investigator Jimmy was a personal favourite. He is somewhat of a grey character that you would expect to be on the wrong side.
Shown as Mea’s honest colleague, friend and confidante but you often doubt if he is truly helping her or has some ulterior motives. But it was a delight to see him stay true to what he portrayed. Overall, it’s a good thriller that’s reminiscent of similar genre films from the 80s or 90s, albeit with some disappointing parts.
Rating: 3.5/5
Mea Culpa is available for streaming on Netflix.
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