Executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, comes the story of Precious “Gabby Sidibe” an obese, illiterate teen, pregnant with her second child and living in Harlem (circa 1987). Not unusual as far as ghetto life goes, except that the daddy of her babies is her own father. Precious longs to be normal. To be pretty. To be loved. To have a meal. To be noticed. She fantasizes about her handsome white teacher. And she fantasizes to a world of stardom and showtune cabarets every time she’s being abused. Her mother (Mo’Nique) blames her daughter for the way life has turned out (which in turn means every turn Precious takes is just another brick wall.) Back in the 80s welfare was the only way to go…the more babies you had, the more money the government handed out. All our values of ‘stay in school’ were out the window. So it seems miraculous that someplace deep inside her core, Precious suspects what normal might be. School teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) and counselor, Mrs. Weiss (Mariah Carey) try to guide her on a path of education and normalcy. The male nurse, John (Lenny Kravitz) is on her team, too. Yet as we watch this story we never feel entertained as we’d probably feel guilty for wanting to experience the cost of a theater ticket. The story is disturbing, shocking and somewhat exotic because of its strange world, but in the end, it screams “I should have been a documentary.” Although Mo’Nique’s performance – when she defends her reasons behind why she allowed her daughter to be abused and the stunning look on Mariah Carey’s stoic face – are exactly the reasons an actor wins Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars. The movie will make you glad you donate clothes to the poor as Precious always appeared well-dressed for somebody whose life was falling apart. Two tiaras.
