A Fall from Grace is a 2020 American thriller film produced, written, and directed by Tyler Perry. The film follows a woman who finds a dangerous new love and the novice attorney who defends her in a sensational court case. This marks the first Tyler Perry film to be released by Netflix.
Plot
Jasmine Bryant is a public defender who constantly takes plea deals in small town Virginia. Her husband Jordan is a police officer who is feeling down after one of his recent victims jumps off a roof to her death. Jasmine is given a new case by her boss Rory to defend Grace Waters the woman accused of murdering her husband Shannon. Grace insists that she's guilty and will agree to a plea deal if she goes to a prison close by her son Malcolm. Jasmine is troubled by the details of the case, including the fact that Shannon's body was never found. Rory is not pleased that Jasmine wants to try the case because the department doesn’t have the budget for a trial, in addition to the media frenzy. Grace’s best friend Sarah tells Jasmine that Grace was feeling sad after her divorce and she pushed her to get out and meet someone new, which led her to Shannon. After researching the case some more, Jasmine and her colleagues Tilsa and Donnie believe Grace is innocent. Grace tells Jasmine how she met Shannon, and the story unfolds in flashback. At Sarah's persuading, Grace goes to an art gallery show where she meets Shannon, the exhibition artist. He sends her one of his photographs with a rose. They begin to date and he charms Grace with nice words and wine. After three months, Shannon and Grace are married. Slowly Shannon's niceness turns into cruelty and he keeps secrets from her. Eventually, Grace is fired from her job at the bank when it is discovered that money is missing from her accounts. Thinking someone has stolen her identity, Grace discovers that Shannon has stolen from her accounts using her passwords, and has also mortgaged her house with forged documents. Finally, Grace walks in on Shannon in their bed with another woman, and he forces Grace out of the room asking for privacy. That evening, in anger, Grace beats Shannon with a baseball bat multiple times and throws him down the stairs to her basement. Grace then drives to the middle of nowhere to call her friend Sarah and tells her she killed her husband. Sarah explains that she went to Grace's house and witnessed her son Malcolm leaving the house. Because Shannon's body is missing, Sarah believes that Malcolm helped Grace dispose of it. At the trial, Jasmine miserably fails at proving Grace's innocence. Calling Sarah as a witness backfires because phone records show numerous phone calls between the women on the night of the murder, and Sarah finally admits on the stand that Grace confessed to killing Shannon to her. Grace is found guilty by the jury. Feeling defeated, Jasmine stops by Sarah's house and notices that an elderly woman named Alice is trying to escape from the house. Alice wants to leave the house and reveals that other women have died there, including Shane Fieldman. When Jasmine discovers there are numerous elderly women locked up in the basement, she is kidnapped. Jordan discovers Sarah's criminal history and he goes to look for his wife Jasmine. Shannon turns out to be alive and is revealed to be Sarah's son. For the pasttwenty years, the two have been conning older women out of their money and social security. Jordan bursts into the house, tussles with Sarah, handcuff her, and then looks for Jasmine as Sarah escapes. Jordan and Shannon fight as Jasmine tries to break free. Shannon is shot and is presumably killed. The police arrive and the elderly ladies are freed. Grace is released from jail and reunited with her son Malcolm. Jasmine's work on the case is applauded by her colleagues, her boss Rory, and the media. Sarah and Shannon’s real names are revealed to be Betty and Maurice Mills. In the film ends, Sarah is seen as being hired by an unsuspecting daughter to care for her elderly mother.
A Fall from Grace was released in the United States by Netflix on January 17, 2020. The film was watched by 26 million during its first week.
Reception
, the film holds an approval rating of 17% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews with an average rating of 3.36/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Drama for drama's sake does not a great movie make, but boy is it fun to watch A Fall From Grace unravel". On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 34 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Many on social media have criticized the glaring errors in the film in the forms of seeing boom microphones, continuity errors, and extras staring directly into the camera and "miming" actions, possibly attributed to the very limited production schedule. The line "Ashtray, bitch!", has become something of an internet meme due to its forceful, yet unintentionally funny delivery. Tyler Perry claimed that the line was not in the script and something he had added on the spot stating, "that was my father doing stupid stuff".
