Based on the Biblical story of RUTH & BOAZ, the screenplay of this film is written by Michael Elliot and Cory Tynan and directed by Alanna Brown. Now streaming on Netflix with a runtime of 1hour 33minutes, this faith based drama is produced by DeVon Franklin & Tyler Perry alongside a host of others.

SYNOPSIS: (MAY contain spoilers) 

When Ruth (Serayah) pulls away from being a part of SY’s ‘Syrus’ record label as his signed artist to the tune of $250,000, he would come after everything she holds dear. Ruth with a traumatic past & a troubled present would follow Naomi (Phylicia Rashad) to the ends of the earth even as Naomi had just lost her husband and son. But destiny had its plan for Ruth in the person of Boaz (Tyler Lepley).

MY TAKE:
This was an interesting watch as the lead actors all embodied their characters. While there was nothing exceptional, the onscreen chemistry between Serayah & Lepley is nonetheless undeniably good. Phylicia equally took her role personally like she was telling a personal story.

Although the story with a modern twist, being both inspiring and uplifting, I just wish the organisers of this didn’t deviate too much from the original story many of us grew up listening to over and over again. I wish it had been more biblical than it turned out to be.

I guess Tyler Perry and his team adopted this approach to storytelling to make for sellability and acceptance. From the look of things, I believe this wasn’t made for just the Christian community but to appeal to a much wider audience, in my opinion.

Loved how the Church welcomed Naomi and gave her house a facelift. It gave me the old time religion vibes.

LESSON:
Love will always find a way

OBSERVATION/QUESTIONS:
1. As Churchy & Christianly as Marlon’s parents were, please make it make sense that Marlon would invite them to go watch his girlfriend Ruth perform at a club in order to meet her for the very first time. Tyler Perry just had to find a way to bring CLUB into this even though it wasn’t necessary judging from the original story. Also, I don’t see how realistic it is that a Church-grounded African-American parents would do that in the first place.

2. What did Ruth do with the $250,000 she was signed with that she could only manage to return $3,000? I mean for all we know, she had no family, didn’t even finish school and so on.

3. Now, we’re made to believe that Ruth was running from the crazy Syrus. How come she could afford to openly sing at another club in Tennessee? Also, she’s told that the video had garnered over 80thousand views on social media. Next, she’s shocked that SY had seen it and is aware where she’s hiding?

4. Tell me how SY who was passed as brutal & cruel would be subdued so easily just by the mere sight of a shot gún pointed at him and his hefty looking bodyguard. That was the most anti-climatic ending I’ve ever seen of a Tyler Perry movie.

5. The movie is somewhat shallow based on how much the writers and directors were willing to remix the story. There were no real twists and turns to make for more intrigue. Just some drama. The duration which was short helped otherwise it would have become boring.

6. Would have loved to have a more vivid picture of Ruth’s childhood backstory. It was integral to the story here, right?

7. Just curious, please forgive my ignorance on this but for how Ruth and Boaz were stepping on the grapes with their bare feet inside the big tank, is that the traditional way wines are made? I mean, we saw that Boaz had a factory and winery.

8. The cameo by BabyFace was good but didn’t do much for the plot. The song he sang with Ruth is the only one I liked in the movie.

9. While Serayah is beautiful and charming with an amazing voice, I do feel she was hitting some flat notes in some of the songs (I may be wrong). No offence.

CONCLUSION:
In the face of its many head-scratching moments & loopholes with a viewer like myself having my mind going back and forth the original story in a juxtaposition with this one, it still managed to hit a spot for me. I guess it’s the camera presence of the lead actors and how well they each interpreted their roles putting up a compelling performance.

To be brutally honest, I would have preferred it if this was a completely different story from the one many of us know. It was consequently distracting albeit entertaining, relaxing and somewhat enjoyable.

VERDICT: 5.8/10

Have you seen this? What did you think?