Review of I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) by Ayanna M — 03 Apr 2010

I WANT to like the Tyler Perry movies. I respect him for tapping into a vibrant, movie-going African-American community that Hollywood constantly underestimates. I give him props for knowing how to reach his target audience and for the entrepreneurial spirit that has turned him into a success in theater and in cinema. I want to like him, I do.

But after watching this one, I'm giving up. I find that his movies, while well-meaning, are very badly made and amazingly, I think they're getting worse! I Can Do Bad All By Myself is indicative of his style. Not only does it adhere to the same formula as many of his other films (woman in difficult times and tied to a bad man finds redemption and faith through the attentions of a good man) it has no subtlety (hammering home every point with a hammer) and virtually no artistry. Every plot point, every character trait is executed with such a shocking degree of clumsiness (e.g. the bad guy has no redeeming qualities and the good guy is so saintly, he might as well be an angel), you'd think it was his first film instead of, alas, his eighth!

The musical numbers, while performed with gusto, always bring whatever momentum the story has built up to a screeching halt. While it's perfectly allowable to do this on stage in a gospel musical, which is essentially what this is, it's not a structure that works as well (at least Mr. Perry seems unable to make it work) in this medium.

And the acting! Stars Taraji P. Henson and Adam Rodriguez do the best they can, but they cannot overcome the leaden, unrealistic dialogue. It's also clear that Mr. Perry often let the cast improvise and in those cases, the less skilled actors talked all around the point and/or were mindlessly repetitive until the scenes thankfully ended.

Don't get me wrong. I get it. Tyler Perry fans like experiencing all these intense feelings - happiness, sadness, humor, righteous indignation, etc. - with no ambiguity at all. It's all about the emotion. And on that front, he delivers - to the satisfaction of his target audience and the benefit of his own pocketbook!

However, until Mr. Perry truly grasps the craft and the art of filmmaking, I'm not sure how much his pictures will ever appeal to a more mainstream audience or really anyone who enjoys a well-made film.

I give the movie a quarter-point for good intentions and three-quarters of a point total for the two leads. Otherwise, if you like a movie that shows some expertise that doesn't coast on crudely manipulating the emotions of its audience, you can skip this one.