Tyler Perry’s Duplicity Review: A Confused Police Drama Lost in Its Own Themes

Tyler Perry’s Duplicity Review: A Confused Police Drama Lost in Its Own Themes

Tyler Perry’s Duplicity is an ambitious yet muddled attempt to explore the complexities of police violence, racial injustice, and media influence. While its premise promises a compelling drama, the execution leaves much to be desired. Part mystery, part melodrama, and entirely confused in its approach, the film fails to find its footing, leaving viewers with more frustration than insight.

A Story That Struggles to Take Shape

At the heart of Duplicity are two successful Black women—lawyer Marley Wells (Kat Graham) and TV news anchor Fela Blackburn (Meagan Tandy). Their lives are thrown into turmoil when Marley’s brother and Fela’s boyfriend, Rodney (Joshua Adeyeye), is shot and killed by a rookie police officer while jogging in an upscale neighborhood. The circumstances surrounding his death raise immediate red flags, but instead of investigating the mystery with urgency, the film meanders through endless philosophical debates about whether the shooting was justified.

While Duplicity teases a deeper conspiracy—centered around a mysterious phone call that led police to Rodney—the unraveling of this plotline is frustratingly slow and unsatisfying. Rather than allowing Marley to take charge of the investigation, the film delivers major revelations through convenient off-screen sources, reducing the impact of its twists.

Characters That Serve the Plot, Not the Story

The film’s biggest weakness lies in its emotionally detached characters. For a story driven by grief and injustice, Duplicity is shockingly sanitized in its portrayal of pain. Marley, despite her personal loss, often feels more like an outsider conducting an impersonal legal probe than a grieving sister. Similarly, Fela, as a journalist, is more focused on her career than the emotional weight of losing her partner.

Even when the film tries to dig deeper, it chooses to focus on Caleb (Jimmi Stanton), the white officer who pulled the trigger, and his moral struggles. This decision sidelines the very people most affected by the tragedy, undermining the film’s potential emotional impact.

A Messy Blend of Melodrama and Mystery

Tonally, Duplicity cannot decide whether it wants to be a gripping thriller or a cautionary tale about perception and bias. It frequently stops to let characters deliver heavy-handed monologues about justice, deception, and media narratives—often spelling out its themes rather than showing them through action.

The pacing doesn’t help. For most of its runtime, the film moves at a sluggish crawl, only to unleash a rapid-fire series of twists in the final act. Instead of feeling like a payoff, these revelations come across as abrupt and artificial, making the climax feel unintentionally comedic rather than dramatic.

Visuals That Distract More Than Enhance

Beyond its narrative struggles, Duplicity is also visually disjointed. Perry’s direction lacks the subtlety needed to highlight key moments, leaving scenes feeling aimless. The film’s color palette is overwhelmingly blue—perhaps an intentional nod to law enforcement themes—but it creates a cold, detached atmosphere that fails to evoke emotion.

Worse yet, the film’s cinematography suffers from noticeable digital artifacts and awkward lighting, making it difficult to engage with even on a technical level. Instead of drawing the viewer into its world, the visual choices create an unintended barrier.

Final Verdict: A Missed Opportunity

Tyler Perry’s Duplicity aims to be a socially conscious thriller but ultimately stumbles under its own ambitions. By focusing more on surface-level debates and forced twists rather than genuine emotional depth, the film lacks the power and nuance needed to make a meaningful statement. Instead of offering new perspectives on police violence and racial injustice, Duplicity merely reiterates well-known issues without adding anything fresh or thought-provoking.

For those expecting a gripping mystery or a hard-hitting drama, Duplicity delivers neither. It’s a film that raises questions but offers little in the way of answers—except perhaps a lesson in how not to handle such sensitive material.