Oscar-winner Kathy Bates (“Misery”) and Oscar-nominee Alfre Woodard (“Cross Creek”) star as the matriarchs of two very different families being torn apart by greed and scandal in the contemporary drama “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys.” The sixth feature film by Perry chronicles the inner workings of two familiesone upper-crust and the other working classthat become inextricably linked by scandal.
Bates plays wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright, and Alfre Woodard her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of high ideals. The two women have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout many years. Suddenly, their lives become mired in turmoil as their adult childrens extramarital affairs, unethical business practices and a dark paternity secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Alices self-centered newlywed daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan) is betraying her trusting husband Chris (Rockmond Dunbar) by engaging in a torrid affair with her boss and mothers best friends son William (Cole Hauser).
While cheating on his wife Jillian (KaDee Strickland) with a string of ongoing dalliances with his mistress Andrea, Williams true focus is to replace the COO of his mothers lucrative construction corporation. Meanwhile, Alices other daughter Pam (Taraji P. Henson), a kind but no nonsense woman married to a hard working construction worker (Tyler Perry), tries to steer the family in a more positive direction.
Paternity secrets, marital infidelity, greed and unsavory business dealings threaten to derail both families, but Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.
The movie opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, September 12, 2008
Rating: PG-13