I Saw That!

One woman's opinions about popular entertainment.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Amateur boxing coach, Christian (but not so heavenly-minded that I'm no earthly good) singer, writer, self-defense advocate, childfree. feminist www.smartwomenboxingtraining.org

Monday, September 14, 2009

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)


I haven't seen the play version of this story in awhile, but I believe the theater production is vastly different from the movie version.  Mr. Perry also made changes to his plays "Diary of a Mad Black Woman", "Madea Goes To Jail", "Madea's Family Reunion", and "Why Did I Get Married?" before they went to the screen.

In this version, April (Taraji P. Henson) is a boozy nightclub singer in a dead-end relationship with a married man/sugar daddy (Brian J. White).  Her late sister's kids -- Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson), Manny (Kwesi Boakye), and Byron (Frederick Siglar) -- break into Madea's (Tyler Perry) house.  The old woman catches them, and she forces April to take responsibility for them.  All April wants to do is send them packing back to their grandmother.  In addition to her niece and nephews, April opens her house to Sandino (Adam Rodriguez), an immigrant who becomes a handyman at a church run by Pastor Brian (Marvin Winans).  When an unexpected tragedy strikes, the people around April, including family friend Wilma (Gladys Knight) and co-worker Tanya (Mary J. Blige), attempt to get April to take a hard look at her life. 

Madea, along with her pot-smoking brother Joe (also played by Perry), serve as observers who appear from time to time to offer up comic relief.  The other characters are responsible for providing the drama.  This is better than Tyler's last effort, the scatter-shot "Madea Goes To Jail".  However, the plot points are predictable, except for a revelation from April that seems to come out of nowhere during the last act.  The reveal is plausible, but there were no clear hints leading up to it.  Perry continues to rely on the old "all a downtrodden woman needs is a good man" storyline, which is a constant theme throughout his works.

The musical performances are good.  Although I was a little miffed that audience members in the showing I went to applauded Mary J. Blige's singing, but were quiet about Marvin Winans and Gladys Knight's performances. I chalked that up to a younger audience who is more familiar with Ms. Blige's chart-topping hip-hop soul hits than with music legends Mr. Winans (who is a pastor in real life) and Ms. Knight. 

Ms. Henson is an Oscar-nominated actress, for her role in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2009).  Marvin Winans is part of the gospel-singing Winans family, which includes his siblings, BeBe and CeCe.  This is the first film he's appeared in.  Ms. Knight not only is a Motown singing legend, but she has acting credits including a sitcom "Charlie and Co." (1985-1986).  Mr. White was a detective on the cable series "The Shield" (2003-2008).

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home