Movie Review: 'The Reading'

Monique Angela Hicks, known professionally as Mo'Nique, is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has not been in a movie produced by Lee Daniels in 14 years since she had a starring role in Precious which was released in 2009. She won numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for that film.

Since then, they were involved in a public feud. In 2022, they reconciled and co-produced the suspenseful film The Reading. Mo'Nique's husband Sidney Hicks is also one of the producers.

The Plot

One evening Emma Leeden, played by Mo'nique, is preparing dinner in the kitchen while her husband Matthew, her young son Kyren, and her teenage daughter Kendall are all upstairs. An intruder enters her house and goes upstairs and kills Matthew, Kyren, and Kendall. Then he goes into the kitchen, beats Emma, and cuts off one of her fingers. Emma barely escapes, but she does survive the attack. Long after the loss of her entire family, she is still filled with grief and loneliness.

To help her cope with the tragedy, Emma writes a book about the home invasion and the death of her family. In order to get publicity for her book, Home Invasion, she agrees for Sky Brown, played by Chasity Sereal, to do a psychic reading on her so she can connect with the members of her family who were killed.

Sky's team consists of her boyfriend Greg, Jessie, and Randy. They had been doing fake readings for other people just for the money. However, 19-year-old Sky just didn't feel at ease doing the reading for Emma even though the team would collect $20,000 for the reading. After Greg persuaded Sky to do it, she insisted that would be her final reading.

No Spoiler Alert

What happens when Sky did a reading for Emma is a spoiler alert. Therefore, no more news about the plot is revealed here. What is shared is that Emma's psychic reading was nothing like the other fake readings Sky had done.

You will never be able to guess what happens throughout the rest of the movie, but it is worth watching. If you decide to watch it, do not turn your television off or change the channel when you think the movie is over because there is a very important detail that a lot of viewers miss during the last few seconds of the film. Hopefully, you will see it and understand what it means.

If you do not understand the ending after you have watched The Reading, feel free to read the explanation here.

Mo'Nique's Performance

The part that Mo'Nique played seems to have been made for her. Her appearance changed throughout the film. The way she walked and talked changed. In fact, her voice was the most dramatic change of all. Viewers could have thought she was playing more than one part because of the various changes she made during her performance.

The Reading is the first Lee Daniels movie Mo'Nique has starred in since 2009 even though he has written, directed, and produced many others since then. It is a good thing that she and Lee Daniels reconciled because she also has a starring role in another one of his films.

The Deliverance is an upcoming thriller film written, directed, and produced by Daniels that will be released on Netflix sometime in 2023. The movie is based on a true story with some of the same themes as The Reading which is not based on a true story.

Where to Watch "The Reading"

The Reading premiered on BET Plus on February 2, 2023, in the United States. Amazon Prime subscribers can also watch the film on Amazon Videos, Roku Channel, Apple TV, and Sling TV.