Stream It Or Skip It?

Tyler Perry, faith-based, Netflix: Now you know whether you’re in or out on Ruth and Boaz, a modern interpretation of the Bible-story romance about a wealthy man who falls in love with a widow working on his farm. Perry co-produced the movie with bestselling preacher/author/multihyphenate DeVon Franklin, with Alanna Brown (Trees of Peace) directing and Empire star Serayah leading a cast including Tyler Lepley (Perry-produced series The Haves and the Have Nots) and needs-no-introduction Phylicia Rashad. And the result is, well, predictable: It’s so very much a Tyler Perry faith-based Netflix movie.

The Gist: We open with a Rashad voiceover espousing wisdom like “love is the most powerful force in the universe” and “finding love is one of God’s greatest wonders.” She’ll continue to deliver hand-holding narration throughout this movie, as if it was a tangled and complex narrative and not the thematic equivalent of a children’s picture book, but hey, at least her voice is soothing. Rashad plays Naomi, the rich and snooty mother of a gentleman who’s doomed because his name isn’t Boaz. He’s the boyfriend of Ruth (Serayah), an aspiring hip-hop singer and part of a duo dubbed 404 with her friend Breana (Nijah Brenea). Naomi watches them perform and sports an expression that tells us she’d be more impressed watching a hippo dance the watusi. Naomi’s assessment of her son’s situation? “He should be dating better,” she says snobbily as she gets into her snobby bed in her snobby million-dollar house and goes to snobby sleep.

Things are looking up for 404. Their manager, a guy named Syrus but who I prefer to call Johnny Sleazohman (James Lee Thomas), says they have an “eight figure deal” on the table that somehow involves Jermaine Dupri As Himself. But Ruth walks around all day looking like she’s smelling the dumpster behind the sushi restaurant. She tells Sleazohman she wants out. Why? “I don’t know, I just feel like God is leading me somewhere else,” she says. And he’s pissed. He’s invested a lot of dough in this project, and she has a contract to fulfill. But she walks away anyway and, a couple scenes later, finds out that her boyfriend (OK, his name is Marlon (Chaundre Hall-Boomfield)) and his father/Naomi’s husband were killed during a carjacking. These two occurrences in Ruth’s life are not coincidental, it seems. Perhaps the murders have something to do with a character in this plot who’s trying to leverage Ruth to do something she doesn’t want to do. Tearful prayers ensue.

At this point, Naomi learns that her hubs was secretly financially underwater. Bye bye bank account and nice house. But she does still own the house in which she grew up, in Pegram, Tennessee. So bye bye Atlanta, too. Naomi’s so destitute, she takes a bus outta there – and Ruth hops on board. “Where you go, I go,” Ruth says, despite the fact that they really hate each other’s intestines, small and large. Ruth wants to get outta dodge because she thinks unsavory characters will put her on the next flight to the afterlife, but doesn’t mention that to Naomi. They get to Pegram and the ol’ house is a shambles. They’re gonna hafta pray real hard to get rid of that black mold.

Some notable things happen in Pegram, and yes, some of it has to do with a bro sorta almost named Boaz. But first, the grieving Naomi must experience such a shocking crisis of faith, she rips the cross off the wall: “I am done with you!” she shouts. Ruth finds a job picking grapes at a local vineyard owned by winemaster general Bo Azra (Tyler Lepley). Bo worked on Wall St. before he inherited the winery from his father. He’s built like a power forward for the Knicks. He’s so nice he lets his laborers leave work early with full pay. He’s single. He likes her singing. He knows Babyface. Yes, the Babyface. As Himself! These are all great things, but has he given himself over to the lord and savior Jesus Christ? Cue the scene: “Bless this fruit, amen,” he says over a tubful of grapes. HE’S PERFECT. He offers the hardworking Ruth a permanent job, and she hesitates, because she wonders if there’s an implied quid pro quo here, but a devout Christian wouldn’t be That Way, right? Right! Cue the swoony string section. But what if Ruth’s Atlanta problems eventually follow her to Pegram? I’m not gonna answer that. Spoilers, etc. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I guess this is sort of Sideways crossed with David and Bathsheba, if you’re a bit drunk.

Performance Worth Watching: Tyler Perry productions rarely make anyone look good, but here’s a reminder that Rashad is a second-ballot TV hall-of-famer who was in a fun stupid 2024 movie called The Beekeeper that’s far more entertaining than this slop.

Memorable Dialogue: A representative slab of this movie’s unchewable dialogue, courtesy Bo: “I should’ve listened to what you weren’t saying.”

Sex and Skin: Nope! He’s always watching. Netflix, I mean. He’s always watching Netflix.

Our Take: Welp. Even if you believe in God, you’ll likely think Ruth and Boaz is hoakier than Hallmark. As all the klutziest faith-based films do, it underscores the notion that simply being base-level Christian means things will inevitably turn out hunky dory here on Earth. All you have to do is pray, have a good reason to skip church once in a while, and not kill anyone, and you’ll get your happily ever after. Sure, sometimes people question things in the throes of grief, but the divine hand guides all good movie characters out of despair; as Naomi pulls the cross off the wall in the second act, you can bet the farm on the inevitability that she puts it back up in the third. Miracles occur, lemons become lemonade, enemies are smited by screenwriters’ contrivances, etc.

The film’s thematic simplicity is right in line with the majority of Perry productions, and his trademark slapdash minimum budget/maximum profit methodology also applies to the first-draftish screenplay and basic-cable visual sensibility. The voiceover is heavy-handed, the dialogue is stilted and character development is an afterthought to the bare-bones, stapled-together plot. There’s a karaoke scene in which Serayah sings Aloe Blacc’s “Wake Me Up,” cutesy dates in which Ruth and Boaz stomp on grapes in as sensual a manner as Jesus Up In The Sky will allow and borderline-insulting assertions that love might not exist at all without Christian faith. Ruth and Boaz will almost certainly inspire you to pray – for a better movie.

Our Call: Heresy: SKIP IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.