Looking very uncomfortable* in suit and tie, Tyler Perry plays Wesley Deeds, who tells us in the opening voiceover* that he’s the fifth generation of Ivy League*-educated men in his family. Although he runs a successful computer software company and seems to have it all, including a beautiful fiancée (Gabrielle Union), Wesley is clearly unhappy.

    But not as unhappy as Lindsey (Thandie Newton), a night janitor* in his employ, who is struggling with raising her lovely young daughter alone while poor and homeless.

    The two meet when she parks in his reserved* spot and he almost has her car towed away*. But before long they start a friendship that would change their lives.

    As usual in Perry’s films, the characters are strictly one-sided. Wesley is so uptight* that he only knows Tupac Shakur as “that rapper guy,” until, encouraged by Lindsey, he starts riding a motorcycle and wearing a leather coat. Lindsey, perhaps the most beautiful janitor ever, is mean and bad-tempered*, until she turns out to be just a softie* inside.

    The supporting characters are equally predictable*. Wesley’s mother Wilimena (Phylicia Rashad) is a typecast strong matriarch*. And his irresponsible brother Walt (Brian White) is a sullen* black sheep who lashes out angrily at everyone, especially Wilimena, who asks him, “Why can’t you be more like your brother?”

    Just to drive home the point that the major characters are all stuck with each other, at one point they find themselves in fact trapped in an elevator*.(SD-Agencies)