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Mea Culpa

Play trailer 2:08 Poster for Mea Culpa R 2024 2h 0m Crime Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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18% Tomatometer 22 Reviews 37% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
When criminal defense attorney Mea Harper (Kelly Rowland) takes on the murder case of artist Zyair Malloy (Trevante Rhodes), the truth isn't as obvious as it seems. While she tries to determine the innocence or guilt of her cagy-yet-seductive client, it is uncovered that everyone is guilty of something. Tyler Perry's Mea Culpa explores what happens when burning desire takes hold and things get hot... and dangerous.
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Mea Culpa

Mea Culpa

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Critics Consensus

Neither campy enough to qualify as a guilty pleasure nor exciting enough to hold up as a thriller, Mea Culpa is a sorry entry in the Tyler Perry filmography.

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Audience Says

Mea Culpa might keep you guessing for a while, but the real question is who's supposed to fall for this movie's unbelievable plot.

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Critics Reviews

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Benjamin Lee Guardian While it might start out as an erotic thriller, it slows down to a damp relationship drama before meandering its way to a climax hinged on head-scratching twists that make little to zero sense. Rated: 2/5 Feb 23, 2024 Full Review Lisa Kennedy New York Times Is creating a guilty pleasure something a director can — or even should — aim for? That’s one of the questions wafting over the writer-director Tyler Perry’s willfully steamy thriller “Mea Culpa.” Feb 23, 2024 Full Review Archi Sengupta LeisureByte.com With frigid performances, terribly written characters, convenient plot twists and random storylines that come out of nowhere, Mea Culpa is not only forgettable but extremely stupid. Rated: 1.5/5 Jul 4, 2024 Full Review Tony Baker Tony Baker Comedy Ridiculous. Rated: 1.5/5 Mar 14, 2024 Full Review Dominic Griffin The Baltimore Beat No matter what new low Tyler Perry sinks to, an audience will always be willing to give it a shot for exactly the same reason we crane our necks when driving past car wrecks. Rated: 2/10 Mar 13, 2024 Full Review Nicholas Bell Fish Jelly Films (YouTube) The good news is, Tyler Perry has embraced AI as a writing tool. The bad news is his latest attempt at a schlocky erotic thriller is so offensively stupid he should be forced to issue a formal mea culpa. Rated: .5/5 Mar 12, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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MARIE S Hang up the acting towel Kelly and stick to enjoying your career’s earnings. Retirement should be in her near future. Redo with better acting. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 11/01/24 Full Review Christopher P Just when you think Tyler Perry can not possibly make a dumber movie, he works assiduously to prove you wrong! He has done it once again. Tyler Perry has been making movies for 30 years and is a Billionaire. He could clearly make better movies if he so desired. Sadly, he knows there is a certain audience that will turn out for this detritus so he does not have to improve his craft to make tons of money. Trevante Rhodes looks/sounds like he is about to fall asleep in every scene. He has been accused of murdering his girlfriend and is faced with the possibility of life in prison but, he shows exactly ZERO emotion/feeling when he is discussing his case. Kelly Rowland's character is a high-powered attorney in a white shoe firm yet, her character does some of the dumbest things in cinema history. For an affair to take place, especially one fraught with so much risk and danger, you have to feel at least a modicum of heat between the parties. Here, there is zero chemistry/heat between these two characters. And, Perry has proven he can not create characters with a modicum of nuance. The bad characters are all way over the top. The mother is completely repulsive and her boys are one-dimensional. The first 90 minutes are fairly boring with "tension" supposedly building as to whether Zyair actually murdered his girlfriend or not. But, he does not seem to really care so it's hard for the audience to get to invested in the outcome. And, then the completely insane final 25 minutes of the movie that is so far afield from everything that has proceeded it, you are like, "Is this a different movie from what I just watched??" It's like someone wrote the final 25 minutes who had only some vague awareness of the first 90 minutes. It creates a real feeling of whiplash it is so extreme, unbelievable and just incredibly stupid! Dear Tyler Perry - Please do better! You consistently turn out projects that insult your audiences. After 30 years and with an unlimited budget, you could actually make movies that make sense, have believable characters and intellectually challenge your audiences. Please, for the love of God, do better!! Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 10/13/24 Full Review Juan R I saw several reviews and yet I watched it. Huge mistake. Terrible movie with a stilted script. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 10/06/24 Full Review Margaret H The whole plot is so unbelievable. Why would a respectful lawyer allow her client to control her like that, and having an affair with him should get her disbarred. The acting was pretty bad, especially by Zyair; he hardly had any emotion in his flat tone. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/19/24 Full Review Christian K Found myself at least entertained by this trashy and over the top romantic thriller schlock. The romantic chemistry between the 2 leads is as bad as i have ever seen. The dialogue is so awful its no surprise how stiff the delivery is. I did not even realize it was Kelly Rowland until after the movie when i was trying to figure out how the actress got the role. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/04/24 Full Review Audience Member Everyone was frustrating in this movie. I couldn't relate to anyone. Between the stupid FL (and when i say stupid, shes the-first-one-to-die-in-a-horror-movie dumb), the dumb ass mama boy husband, the private investigator who does half of the job, the wacko brother- and mother-in-law. It's just so not realistic that I have nothing to say but that this movie is extremely bad. But truck-kun helped us in the end. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/25/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Mea Culpa

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis When criminal defense attorney Mea Harper (Kelly Rowland) takes on the murder case of artist Zyair Malloy (Trevante Rhodes), the truth isn't as obvious as it seems. While she tries to determine the innocence or guilt of her cagy-yet-seductive client, it is uncovered that everyone is guilty of something. Tyler Perry's Mea Culpa explores what happens when burning desire takes hold and things get hot... and dangerous.
Director
Tyler Perry
Producer
Will Areu, Angi Bones, Tyler Perry, Kelly Rowland
Screenwriter
Tyler Perry
Distributor
Netflix
Production Co
Tyler Perry Studios
Rating
R (Language|Graphic Nudity|Drug Use|Some Violence|Strong Sexual Content)
Genre
Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 23, 2024
Runtime
2h 0m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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