Parents' Guide to Nobody's Fool

The Year of Tiffany Haddish is capped with this outrageous farce, which showcases her off-the-charts comedic confidence and unique ability to make every word hilarious. She plays a woman recently released from prison, and it's easy to see Tanya getting out of jail as a metaphor for the limitations that have been put on Haddish by some scripts and supporting roles. With Nobody's Fool, Perry gives her the material -- and the freedom -- to deliver a no-holds-barred performance, and she embraces it with zeal. (Though it's possible that her co-star from Night School seems to have rubbed off on her: She seems to be channeling Kevin Hart in her delivery and some of her mannerisms.)

Haddish's outlandish behavior is a welcome distraction from the actual plot about Danica's inability to lock down love. The film is like a wet bar of soap on a shower floor: Every time the story takes hold, it slides in another direction. While Danica inevitably falls for a guy who doesn't meet her criteria, she lacks the self-awareness to realize just how awful she is; it's hard not to feel bad for the guy in her happy ending. Female characters treat men like sex objects, but there's never a consequence, so it just feels creepy. Mixed messages include addressing addiction and recovery with warmth and forgiveness but in the same breath encouraging marijuana abuse to the extent it feels like a commercial for cannabis. The moral is about accepting those who've worked to reform their lives, but Tanya violates probation several times by the movie's end. Foolish fun flows in Nobody's Fool, but the point is that nobody's perfect, especially this film.