Toure Muhammad

It’s a wonderful thing to see us celebrating us. That’s what I was able to witness at the fifth annual "Dangerous Curves Ahead" Charity Fashion Show & Women's Expo that focused on empowering women of all shapes and giving back to women in need. While there were moments when I was blushing, the fashions were mostly designed to combine dignity, grace, fashion and utility all in one.

Created by Tamika Maria Price and hosted by comedian Brian Self, this year featured lots of fashion, five designers and five boutiques.

Congratulations to Nicole - This year's DCA Makeover Mom

Shots of Nicole after the makeover

Nicole is a single mother of 4, whom she works very hard to provide for. During the summer of 2012, Nicole lost her son Kristian to a tragic drowning. Despite the struggle and the deep hole that was left in her heart, she manages to continue to be the best mother to her other 3 children and inspire others through her testimony. She celebrates the life of her son Kristian and is dedicated to starting a non-profit in his honor to ensure no mother has to experience what she has been through. The artist below produced this painting during the event and presented it to Nicole. 

Rebecca and Raquel representing Borinqua Chicks

Anika International Cosmetics

Cynthia Boykin of What U Need Is

After dating for over a year, Wade Walker (Craig Robinson) is head-over-heels in love with his girlfriend, Grace (Kerry Washington). He’s ready to pop the question, and has even purchased a ring, but there’s a slight problem: he still hasn’t met her parents yet.

            Because of her background, Grace is a little ashamed of her beau’s modest background. After all, she’s a high-powered Manhattan attorney with a proven pedigree, while he hails from the ‘hood and makes a living by performing at children’s birthday parties.   

            Concern about their class differences has Grace taking off alone to the tip of Long Island for a weekend getaway at her family’s waterfront mansion. Rather than sit at home licking his wounds, Wade decides to force the issue by crashing the gathering.

            His unexplained presence gets under the skin of Grace’s father, Judge Virgil Peebles (David Alan Grier), an overbearing patriarch with a need to control. Furthermore, Grace is afraid to tell him the truth about the nature of her relationship with Wade, which serves to establish the familiar, sitcom scenario revolving around a big lie that must be kept hidden at all costs.

            Written and directed by Tyler Perry protégé Tina Gordon Chism, Peeples is a fish-out-of-water comedy whose stock-in-trade is making fun of the contrast between po’ and bourgie black folks. Ala popular Perry TV programs like House of Payne and Meet the Browns, the production is littered with colorful, two-dimensional characters bordering on caricatures.  

1. Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington, left), Wade Walker (Craig Robinson, center) and Virgil Peeples (David Alan Grier, right) in PEEPLES. Photo credit: Nicole Rivelli

There’s Wade’s embarrassingly-ghetto brother (Malcolm Barrett) who also shows up unannounced. He’s an oaf who puts his foot in his own mouth by suggesting that Grace’s lipstick lesbian sister (Kali Kawk) “looks too good to be gay.” Wade conveniently loses his wallet upon arriving which means he looks like a total loser when he can’t pay for anything.

            You get the idea. Is it funny? I suppose, provided you’re in the target demo and haven’t seen Jumping the Broom, another comedy set at a beachfront estate (on Martha’s Vineyard in that case) and pitting crass blacks from the wrong side of the tracks against the others with their noses in the air. From shoplifting to lip-synching to skinny-dipping to a sweat lodge to skeletons-in-the-closet, Peeples throws everything at the screen but the kitchen sink, and just enough sticks.

            An amusing, if not exactly original, African-American-oriented variation on Meet the Parents.

3. From left to right: Virgil Peeples (David Alan Grier), Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington), Simon Peeples (Tyler Williams), Gloria Peeples (Kali Hawk) and Meg (Kimrie Lewis-Davis) in PEEPLES. Photo credit: Nicole Rivelli

Good (2 stars)

Rated PG-13 for profanity, sexuality and drug use)

Running time: 95 minutes

Distributor: Lionsgate Films