''Daddy's Little Girls'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969) is an American actor, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of Madea, Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a tough elderly woman, and also portrays her brother Joe Simmons and her ...

, produced by Perry and

Reuben Cannon Reuben Cannon (born February 11, 1946 ) is an American film producer and casting director. Cannon was the first black casting director in Hollywood; he was the head of television casting for Warner Brothers from 1977 to 1978, and started his own ...

, and starring

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films '' She's All That ...

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba Order of the British Empire, OBE ( ; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor and musician. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and six Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards. He w ...

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (May 27, 1936 – March 29, 2024) was an American actor. He made his stage debut at the age of 17. Shortly thereafter, he successfully auditioned for the Broadway theatre, Broadway play ''Take a Giant Step.'' Gossett co ...

, and

Tracee Ellis Ross Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series '' Girlfriends'' (2000–2008) and '' Black-ish'' (2014–2022) receivin ...

. It tells the story of a lawyer who helps a mechanic in a custody battle against his mean-spirited ex-wife over who will get custody of their daughters. ''Daddy's Little Girls'' was released on February 14, 2007 by

Lions Gate Entertainment Starz Entertainment Corp, formerly known officially as Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation and commonly as Lions Gate and/or Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment industry, entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica ...

. This is the first of six films directed by Perry that he does not appear in (the other five being ''

Acrimony Acrimony may refer to: * a feeling of hatred * Acrimony (band), a rock band * ''Acrimony'' (film), a 2018 film See also * Agrimony ''Agrimonia'' (from the Greek ), commonly known as agrimony, is a genus of 12–15 species of perennial pla ...

'', ''

For Colored Girls ''For Colored Girls'' is a 2010 American drama film adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem '' for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf''. Written, directed and co-produced by Tyler Perry, the film ...

'', '' Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor'', '' Nobody's Fool'' and ''

A Jazzman's Blues ''A Jazzman's Blues'' is a 2022 American drama film written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry. The film stars Joshua Boone, Amirah Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Austin Scott, Brent Antonello, and Ryan Eggold. ''A Jazzman's Blues'' premiered at the ...

'') as well as the first of Perry's films to not be based on any of the filmmaker's stage plays.

Plot

In Edgewood, Atlanta, Monty James is a well-liked

mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

working for Willie, who dreams of owning his own shop. His three daughters, Sierra, Lauryn, and China, live with their maternal grandmother, Kat, but Monty visits regularly and provides financial support. Before her death, Kat asks Monty to take custody of them since her disowned daughter/Monty's ex-wife Jennifer, barely has any interest in the girls, caring more about her live-in drug dealer boyfriend Joe, because of the divorce, that caused the day of the deception, and decides to take revenge on Monty. Following Kat's funeral, Jennifer arrives with Joe and his thugs. She tries to physically take the girls from Monty, but her aunt Rita steps in. She leaves, telling Monty she intends to seek full custody of the girls. Monty accepts a job as a driver for attorney Julia Rossmore at the recommendation of his next-door neighbor Maya to earn extra money. One night, after Julia’s friends, Brenda and Cynthia set her up on a blind date with Byron, Monty has to work later than expected. While driving her home, Monty receives a call that his children were involved in a house fire. So he immediately heads to the hospital without telling Julia, who fires him. When Monty arrives at the hospital, it is revealed that Sierra accidentally started a fire and that the girls were home alone with no adult supervision until Maya rescued them. Social Services representative, Laurie Bell grants immediate temporary custody to Jennifer. Meanwhile, the girls face constant abuse and neglect from Joe and Jennifer. Monty is called to Sierra's school after she is caught with drugs. Sierra explains that Joe and Jennifer are forcing her to sell drugs, threatening to hurt Monty if she refuses. Aware that Joe can afford a high-power attorney for the custody hearing, Monty goes to Julia for help, but she turns him away, assuming he only wants the girls to get government assistance. On Monty’s custody hearing day, Julia leaves for a different courtroom and overhears his failing attempt to represent himself. After listening to Monty try to inform the judge that the girls are living with a drug dealer. Julia agrees to represent him. Monty takes her to the jazz club in his neighborhood for her birthday, where they drink and dance with his friends. Over the next few weeks, Monty and Julia develop romantic feelings for each other. Julia runs into Brenda, who had met Monty before, and discovers they are now a couple. Brenda pulls Julia to the side and berates her, stating that he is beneath her status. After being injured in a robbery, Willie decides to retire and offers to sell the shop to Monty and he accepts his offer. At the child custody hearing, Julia argues that it would be in the children's best interest for Monty to be awarded custody and provides the court with a written statement from Kat. Jennifer's lawyer counters by claiming that Monty is not suitable to raise the girls due to a conviction of statutory rape that occurred 16 years prior. Julia feels betrayed, stops representing him, and leaves. Monty's daughters arrive at his house and inform him that Joe has been beating them. While his daughters are asleep, a livid Monty drives off and crashes into Jennifer and Joe's car, dragging Joe out of his car and brutally beating him. As Joe's thugs attack Monty, Aunt Rita, Willie, and the other neighbors rush to his defense and fight Joe's thugs as the police arrive. Julia sees a news report about the near-riot and rushes to help Monty after she learns from the report that he’d been wrongfully convicted of the rape charges. Jennifer and Joe face drug charges and the neighbors testify against Jennifer, Joe, and his thugs. The judge has them taken into custody with no bond. Monty is charged with assaulting Joe. Julia walks in to represent him while apologizing for not hearing his side of the story. The witnesses refuse to testify against Monty, so the judge dismisses the case. After Jennifer and Joe were arrested, Monty's daughters greet him and Julia at the auto shop which Monty now owns. As he, Julia, and his daughters enter the auto shop, the rest of the neighborhood celebrates Monty's release.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #5 on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

2007 behind ''

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple superheroes or antiheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

'', '' Bridge to Terabithia'', ''

Norbit In electronics, the NORBIT family of modules is a very early form (since 1960) of Digital electronics, digital logic developed by Philips (and also provided through and Mullard) that uses modules containing discrete components to build logic fu ...

''s second weekend, and ''

Music and Lyrics ''Music and Lyrics'' is a 2007 American Musical film, musical romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Marc Lawrence (filmmaker), Marc Lawrence. It focuses on the relationship that evolves between a former pop music ido ...

'', and has grossed $31,609,243 worldwide, making it Tyler Perry's lowest-grossing film.

Critical reaction

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film holds an approval rating of 25% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "''Daddy's Little Girls'' boasts fine performances and a poignant message, but is ultimately let down by amateurish filmmaking."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.Metacritic.com
/ref> Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Soundtrack

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

released ''Music inspired by the film: Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls,'' in stores and online on January 16, 2007. Among the highlights of the album is "Family First," the first-ever recording by the Houston Family --

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

, and

Cissy Houston Emily Drinkard (September 30, 1933 – October 7, 2024), known professionally as Cissy Houston, was an American soul and gospel singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Houston began singing with three of her siblings in the family gospel group, T ...

. The song "Can't Let You Go" by Anthony Hamilton is not on the soundtrack. Also, the song "Beautiful" by

Meshell Ndegeocello Meshell Ndegeocello ( ; born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her mid-career work. ...

is featured in the movie. # Anthony Hamilton featuring

Jaheim Jaheim H. Hoagland (born May 26, 1978), known mononymously as Jaheim, is an American R&B singer. He was signed by Naughty by Nature's Kaygee to Divine Mill Records in 2000 and released his debut album '' Ghetto Love'' in 2001. His second effo ...

and

Musiq Soulchild Taalib Hassan Johnson (born September 16, 1977), better known by his stage name Musiq Soulchild (or simply Musiq; pronounced "music") is an American singer-songwriter. His music blends Rhythm and blues, R&B, funk, blues, jazz, and Gospel music, ...

- " Struggle No More (The Main Event)" # R. Kelly - "Don't Let Go" # Tamika Scott of "Xscape" - "Greatest Gift" # Adrian Hood - "Brown Eyed Blues" #

and The Family - "Family First" #

Yolanda Adams Yolanda Yvette Adams (born August 27, 1961) is an American gospel singer, actress, and host of her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show. She is one of the best-selling gospel artists of all time, having sold over 10 million albu ...

- "Step Aside" #

Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...

- "I Believe" #

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

- " Daddy" # Anthony Hamilton - "Struggle No More" #

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

- "Blood, Sweat & Tears" # Charles "Gator" Moore - "A Change Is Gonna Come" ;Wallmart exclusive 12.

3McClainGirls Thriii (pronounced "three") is an American girl group that was formed in 2005 by the sisters China Anne McClain, Sierra McClain, and Lauryn McClain. The group was also known as 3mcclaingirls in 2005–2009, McClain Sisters in 2010–2014 and just ...

- "Daddy's Girl"

References

External links

* * * * {{Tyler Perry 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2007 films 2007 independent films 2007 romantic drama films African-American romantic drama films African-American films American independent films English-language independent films English-language romantic drama films Films directed by Tyler Perry Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Films with screenplays by Tyler Perry Lionsgate films