Deliver Us Movie Analysis

15th Anniversary: 'Deliver Us from Eva's' Lead Wasn't the Real Villain

15 years ago this month, Focus Features released Deliver Us from Eva, a film about 3 guys who try to wrangle their overbearing sister-in-law (Gabrielle Union). It was funny, entertaining, and had a bomb R&B soundtrack. Union was spectacularly brilliant in the title role. Her quirky facial expressions, bodily twitches and pronounced delivery of the rapid-fire script brought the eccentric and hyper-intelligent Evangeline Dandridge to life. Eva is a no-nonsense natural born leader. She cut her teeth at this raising her younger sisters: Kareenah (Essence Atkins), Bethany (Robinne Lee) and Jacqui (Meagan Good). They all became orphans years prior. To stay afloat and start "The
They sent a snake into Eva's garden to exploit her mind and vulnerabilities, for the extortion of her love, faith and body. She was to be broken down and discarded. Once the plan fell apart, they inflicted trauma by making her think her boyfriend tragically died. It was all exceptionally cruel. The audience doesn't feel the full gravity of it though, because it was wrapped in humorous packaging. That, and we're socially conditioned to believe and accept assertive women should be stopped and punished. "We didn't say she was a bad person, we said she was an irritating person," Mike clarifies. Irritating...Irritating. They signed Eva up for heartbreak and psychological warfare because she was irritating. Let that sink in. Thou shall not be an agitator to men, or thou will have hell to pay. It's no surprise this movie was based on Shakespeare's misogynistic and sexist play, The Taming of the Shrew. In it, a woman is mentally prodded until she's happily docile. There's 411 years between Shrew and Deliver Us from Eva. Oh, the endurance of misogyny. Eva isn't necessarily 'happily docile' in the end, but she pretty much takes her taming. She earnestly apologizes to the boys and submits to their thought that she was "a distraction and a huge pain in the a**." Her sisters were going to hand her the entire Dandridge Fund to help with her work transition, but she opts to dissolve
If it does, miscreants make up half the earth's population. Besides, enmeshment isn't a solo effort. Kareenah, Bethany, Jacqui and Eva are over-involved with each other. Even after Eva's relationship with Ray takes off, her sisters use her as a defining model. Maybe they weren't independent thinkers. Maybe they truly had reservations about babies, cohabitation and academics that were simply upheld by Eva's stances. Their significant others didn't contemplate these