Say what you like about Tyler Perry's directorial output, but the man is nothing if not prolific. He just released his latest movie directly onto Amazon Prime Video, and it's good news for fans of Jeff Bezos' streaming service – it's already hit the top of its streaming charts.
However, there's a sting in the tail here. Divorce in the Black might be doing good numbers, but it's sitting on a pretty staggering Rotten Tomatoes score – a literal 0% fresh rating. That, indeed, does smell rotten, eh?
This confirms that we're in a pretty weird phase in the fight to be declared the best streaming service on the market. On the one hand, the likes of Apple, Netflix and Amazon are still duking it out to attract star names and arthouse directors in the hopes of getting major awards.
Equally, though, the movies actually doing the biggest numbers on each platform can seemingly be total dross without alienating audiences, as proved by the likes of Space Cadet on Prime Video recently, and Atlas or Trigger Warning on Netflix. All have terrible Rotten Tomatoes scores but sat atop the charts for some period of time. It's that Movies So Bad They're Good effect, perhaps?
That's only proven further by Divorce in the Black, which has a 71% score from audiences to basically dispute that shocking critics' score – meaning it might be a bit of a toss-up whether you enjoy it or not. That sort of difference between critical and audience scores is becoming more and more common, admittedly.
Divorce in the Black is a classic thriller centring on what looks like a pretty toxic marriage. Meagan Good and Cory Hardrict star opposite each other as the former tries to escape a controlling and capricious husband who doesn't deserve her. This might not be the most innovative storyline you watch this year, shockingly.
Still, it's doing something right to be sitting in the US top spot for movies on Prime Video. Now the real test begins, though – how long after the splash made by its arrival can it maintain that position for? That's the big question for any new streaming arrival, and Amazon will be hoping it can stay around for a good while.
