Tyler Perry (MADEA'S FAMILY REUNION) delivers another of his deliciously soapy tales of loyalty, betrayal, passion, and redemption amongst African Americans, this time playing across two Atlanta families, one of whom is white. Kathy Bates co-stars as southern business clan matriarch Charlotte Cartwright, whose lifelong friendship with Alice Pratt (Alfre Woodard) has led to prosperity for both their families. But Charlotte's evil son, William (Cole Hauser), is getting mixed up with Alice's unscrupulous daughter, Andrea (Sanaa Lathan), while her husband (Rockmond Dunbar) stays willingly blind in order to get William's help with his construction business. Perry himself plays the good son-in-law struggling with good wife Pam (Taraji P. Henson) to avoid going down with the ship as resulting skeleton-packed closets explode all over Atlanta. Played out in Perry's patented blend of tearful pathos, sexy snarkiness, moral uplift, and sly humor, this feels culled straight from the pages of a juicy beach novel, in the best of ways. The acting is uniformly ripe, with Hauser brilliantly sleazy, Lathan enjoyably difficult, and lots of old-fashioned "you go girl" charm and grace from veteran thespians Bates and Woodard, who go on an old-school road trip to work things out. The neo-soul soundrack includes songs from Jill Scott and Janet Jackson.