TYLER PERRYS I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF (Tyler Perry). 113 minutes. Opens Friday (September 11). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NN
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself is an overlong drama of redemption that starts out promising but never recovers from a midpoint sag brought on by stopping the story while everyone tells April (Taraji P. Henson) what a jerk she is.
[rssbreak]
They’ve got a point. She’s a thor oughly self-centred drunken bar singer who’s living off her married lover. There’s no way she wants the three kids deposited on her doorstep by a stranger or the good-hearted handyman (Adam Rodriguez) sent to her by the local pastor.
Henson can act, and Perry adds some laughs as his ongoing character, Madea. But visually the film is drab, and Perry, who has a heavy hand with dialogue, wears his faith on his sleeve, so the film tends toward the plodding and predictable.
It does get a strong boost from half a dozen onscreen musical numbers by Henson, Gladys Knight as a friendly churchwoman, Mary J. Blige as April’s buddy and Marvin Winans as the pastor. The singers give it all they’re worth, and the songs get the full show-stopper treatment.
movies@nowtoronto.com
