Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls — ** — Gabrielle Union, Idris Elba, Louis Gossett Jr.; rated PG-13 (drugs, sex, vulgarity, violence, profanity).

Tyler Perry leaves Madea, his cross-dressing cliche, in the closet and almost gets out of his own way with "Daddy's Little Girls," his second film as director, third as screenwriter.

Perry shows he really can direct. The acting is better, the staging smarter. The story? A lot more of his trademark "uplift the race" sermonizing, a wish fulfillment fantasy about a good black woman finding "a good black man."

Still, "Daddy" is so much better than his heartfelt-but-amateurish "Madea's Family Reunion" and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" that you'd swear the guy took time off to do film school.

His latest is about Monty, a single dad (Idris Elba of "The Gospel" and "Buffalo Soldiers"), trying to save the cash to buy out the garage where he works, trying to gain custody of his three adorable (if mouthy) daughters from their shrewish, drug-dealing mother (Tasha Smith of "ATL," a real terror).

First, though, Monty has to do a little time as a driver for the car service that the garage owner (Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr.) runs. And he has to pass the witch-test, namely putting up with the stunning, snappish upper-crust attorney who is his client — Julia.

Here's where Perry went right. Elba is good, Gossett always has been, but casting Gabrielle Union as his female lead lifts the entire movie. Beautiful, expressive and able to play comedy, she gives Julia a vulnerable edge that lets her make Perry's weary speeches about what the culture thinks about black men (no wonder Oprah loves him) not sound shrill.

At some point, you know the attorney is going to have to help the proud single dad fight for his kids. Her "friends" are not going to approve of the class-clash that her taking up with a mechanic entails, but she'll ignore them. There's a subplot about Monty's neighborhood being overrun by crack dealers that must be addressed. The actual little girls are written with sass and attitude and not much else.

But Perry does a better job of blending the crass with the spiritual. A very sweet church scene sits comfortably between brawls and a visit to a blues bar (Monty must help Julia get in touch with her blackness, of all things).