By this point in the growth of his wildly successful brand, Tyler Perry aspires to reach beyond the African-American audiences that have shown him such loyalty, incorporating prominent white characters into his stories as well. The Family That Preys seems to have attained that idealized racial balance, following the personal and professional commingling of two families with varying stakes in an Atlanta construction business, one white and one black, each far from perfect. But the film's failure to make a hearty mainstream box office, the type that might indicate a true crossover, may have had less to do with the actors' skin colors than with Perry's career-long religious agenda. As Alice (Alfre Woodard) and fellow matriarch Charlotte (Kathy Bates) drive across the country -- that's one of several subplots that comfortably share the screen time -- Perry obsessively trumpets his belief that embracing God and blowing off steam are incompatible pursuits. Drinking is repeatedly frowned upon, and when Charlotte insists on visiting a strip club, Alice douses one of the buxom studs with holy water. That's supposed to be funny, sort of, but easing up on the absolutism might have delivered Perry's message more effectively. The rest of what's here is quite effective, particularly Perry's trademark success delving into why marriages work, or fail to work -- soap operatic as some of it may be. And though he paints in generally broad strokes, his righteous characters do have their flaws; one gentle husband strikes his two-timing wife in a moment of excess frustration. As usual, Perry gets good performances from his actors, the two matriarchs and a no-nonsense Robin Givens in particular. Saving only a single role for himself, Perry earns additional points by leaving his Madea character on the sidelines, refusing to depend on her broad comic appeal as a narrative crutch.