Pretty Red Dress

2023

1h 50m

IMDb RATING

5.5/10

YOUR RATING

Rate

POPULARITY

Play trailer

3 Videos

10 Images

Drama

Travis has just been released from prison and it quickly becomes apparent that much has changed while he’s been gone. While girlfriend Candice is on the up and auditioning to star in a Tina Turner musical, daughter Kenisha is struggling in school and her relationship with her mum is tense. So, when Travis buys Candice her dream dress for an audition, rather than smoothing over the family’s problems, it ends up creating even more. As secrets and desires left unsaid threaten to spill out, Travis is forced to re-examine who he is and how he wants to be perceived in the world.

Directors

Dionne Edwards

Writers

Dionne Edwards(writer by)

Stars

Natey Jones

Alexandra Burke

Temilola Olatunbosun

See production, box office & company info

Videos3

Photos10

Top cast

Travis

Candice

Kenisha

Nathan

Jim

Danny

Shaun

Divarni A. Groce-Balogun

Party Guest

Eliot Sumner

Sam

Michael Junior Onafowokan

Emeka

Constable Newman

Prison Officer

Vivian

Offender Manager

Craig

Steven

Walbury's Colleague

Fletcher

Directors

Dionne Edwards

Writers

Dionne Edwards(writer by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews1

Review

Featured review

7/10

I was really disappointed in this film. The trails suggested a cutting edge drama about a man challenging the norms of his community but what we actually get is an over-scripted, not very well acted, family melodrama. "Travis" (Natey Jones) returns home after a spell in prison to his wife "Candice" (Alexandra Burke) and teenage daughter "Kenisha" (Temilola Olatunbosun). "Candice" has an audition to play in a Tina Turner musical and has her eyes on a spangly red dress. It's expensive, but "Travis" manages to find a job with his brother and manages to buy it for her. She loves it, but, well... so does he. At this stage we begin to sense that he has some identity fluidity issues, but that is best kept under wraps for fear it will not be well received by his family, nor by their friends. It's only when "Candice" comes home unexpectedly one evening that the relationship dynamic suddenly changes for all of them. The premiss is bold - it does aim fairly and squarely at bigotry and homophobia, but the execution is slow and ponderous. Alexandra Burke is a great singer but she is not a great actress and as the ever more contrived family shenanigans mount up - including some issues for the young "Kenisha" - the thrust that made the film interesting in the first place gets rather lost. Jones is adequate, but again his character is largely undeveloped with little of a backstory to give us a sense of just how this relationship evolved, and ultimately I just think Dionne Edwards relied a little too much on the shock value of the thread and of audience assumptions rather than develop this into something more powerful. It's watchable, bit misses the goal I'd say.

Geronimo196724 Dec, 2023