Review of I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) by Chads. — 14 Sep 2009

Six, count 'em, six songs(both religious and secular) are filmed without abridgement in "I Can Do Bad All By Myself", which is unheard of in a narrative film, let alone, most documentaries with musical subjects.

For example, all the executed pieces from the Cuban exiles in Wim Wenders' "The Buena Vista Social Club" are truncated, because the preservation of an unbroken performance is normally reserved for concert films.

Although Mary J. Blige's take on the title song has the power to move even the most die-hard anglophile, her scintillating performance still doesn't cover up the fact that the narrative arrives at a standstill.

(The best of the film's six timeouts.) Even worse, story-wise, she's the wrong singer. It would have made more sense had April(Taraji J. Henson) sung the film's showstopper, since the title "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" alludes to the flaky woman's appalling lack of character, shaky life decisions, and overall bizarre behavior.

(As to why Tanya is bad, never makes it to the screen.) This filmmaker knows his audience; he knows his base won't be fazed-out by April's unfounded transformation into a generous spirit after just one visit to the Baptist church.

To Henson's credit, the secular moviegoer almost forgets that April blew cigarette smoke in the direction of an asthmatic child. She manages to make her character halfway sympathetic, in spite of her schematic character arc.

The breakout star from Craig Brewer's "Hustle and Flow" has to conceal a glaring oversight in the film, which might have been caused in due part from the time constraints brought upon by the narrative-siphoning songs.

When the children's grandmother(April's mom) goes missing, neither she nor the orphans, inexplicably, are seen talking to the cops. Nobody goes looking for the old woman.