I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009) Reviews

• Why are people so against this movie?

  Smells_Like_Cheese2009-09-21

  Tyler Perry, what people have against this guy, I don't know. I just started watching his movies last year and found myself oddly enjoying them. Yeah, it's weird that Perry is constantly dressing in drag for Madea, which I'm starting to wonder if he enjoys it on a daily basis, but I think Perry is a good story teller. His stories always represent good morals and being a deceent human being, the hope of that what goes around does come around wither it's good or bad. Taraji P. Henson is a very strong lead actress, I think she has a very good career ahead of her and she held the movie well. This film had the perfect amount of drama and comedy that made the movie able to let you breath and be on the edge of your seat. While not Perry's strongest film, I still think it was worth the watch. Madea and her brother Joe catch three kids breaking into their home. Madea feels bad for the kids and feeds them. The kids are: Jennifer, the oldest girl and her two little brothers, Manny and Byron. Manny is a diabetic and Byron never speaks. Madea asks where their parents are. Jennifer tells her that they have no parents and their grandmother has been missing four days. Madea then asks if they have any other relatives, they tell her that they have an aunt. But their Aunt April is a selfish, grouchy, alcoholic who lives with her shady boyfriend Randy who is married with children. Madea drops the kids off at April's house but April doesn't want to be bothered with the kids and she is very mean to them. Meanwhile, April's pastor sends a immigrant named Sandino to her house for work and a place to stay. April puts Sandino in her basement. But she locks him down there because she doesn't know him that well. Sandino does good work around the house. The pastor and a member of the church named Wilma who is good friends with April's mother comes by to inform her that her mother died on a bus because of a brain aneurysm and that was why she was missing for so long. Now stuck with the kids, April must learn how to love herself in order to give these kids the lives they should have had since birth. Now there are problems with the movie, I'm not denying that. The film did seem a little over preachy at times. Editing could've been better as well, we have a church scene that literally goes on for, I'm not kidding, a good 10 minutes and is over the top. It could have been trimmed, I don't want to feel like I'm attending church while going to a movie. But over all I still enjoyed this movie, it had it's happy ending and the characters seemed to work very well together. I don't recommend this film for people who are overly critical, I just take a movie for what it is. Tyler Perry isn't the new Alfred Hitchcock by any stretch of the imagination, but his movies are good for a laugh and a smile. Give the movie a break. 6/10

  More

• You're joking right???

  TheRaven83862014-10-24

  The fact that this movie has 3.8 out of ten stars is laughable. That would indicate that many people gave this 1 star meaning it is the worst they have ever seen. I mean Slasher films with 9 sequels have higher ratings than this! I guess people hate moralistic stories. People say that it is too "Preachy?" This wasn't Tyler Perry's first movie and anyone who watched it knew what they were getting into. I think people purposely watch movies they KNOW they will hate in order to bash them. Very good movie, it gets your emotions going and has a great message. Madea is as hilarious as ever. Worth the watch. Maybe not the greatest movie you will ever see, but that can be said of a lot of movies.

  More

• Whoa....where is the love?!

  MartinHafer2010-01-15

  I am a masochist. That is why I am trying to see all the movies from Harry Medved's book "The 50 Worst Films of All Time" as well as all of the Bottom 100 from IMDb. Masochism is the only thing that would explain it. However, in my strange quest to see the best of the worst, I have occasionally run across some films that seem to have been included in the lists and you can't understand why. This is the case with I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF. Why is this film so hated that it made this IMDb list? To quote Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, "Where is the love?". Now I am NOT saying that this is a perfect film--there are two major problems that negatively impact this film. But, the film has so many wonderful moments--so much good acting and excellent writing that I am just baffled at the negative reviews. Let's talk about the two main problems. Tyler Perry apparently plays the comedic Madea character in all his films. However here, this character seems amazingly out of place in this ultra-serious drama. A little less Madea would have helped the film maintain a tighter focus. The second problem is that while the singing was all very high quality, there just seemed to be too much. Less singing and less Madea would have left more time for character development. What I really liked, though was the great story--at least once you got to it. Three kids are caught stealing in Madea's home. You soon learn that they are doing this because they are hungry. Their grandmother (who they live with) has disappeared and they chose a stupid way to deal with this. Madea takes pity on them--feeding them and taking them to their Aunt's house. The problem, however, is that the Aunt is a total mess--and one of the most selfish characters you've ever seen. Can all this work out successfully? Of course--that's a given. However, it's all handled very well and this one will most likely get you shedding some tears--so have some Kleenex handy. The acting was superb and the story very involving. Overall, a wonderful film that could have been more wonderful. Still, it's well worth seeing and is a good film for older kids--even if the language is sometimes rough and there is a brief (but appropriate) nude scene. This is because the message is awfully good--though I could imagine some finding it all a bit heavy-handed (I know I didn't). By the way, I am a middle-aged White guy. Tyler Perry movies are apparently NOT just for African-American audiences!

  More

• Tyler Perrys films are greatly under-rated.

  zactac2010-04-22

  I don't have any idea why so many people don't like his movies. After seeing how much of a success they are in the box office I don't understand how they can get so low after that. Well now I'm giving it my review and in a word the movie is great. In this new installment of Tyler Perry's film making career we see how Madea meets these kids who breaks into her house and now must take them to their aunt April who is an alcoholic singer at a night club (I know, there's a problem with that alone). So when Madea takes these kids over to their aunts place things start changing. The pastor at the church in April's neighborhood sends an immigrant to live with her in exchange for fixing up her place. Thanks to all of these people who surround themselves around her, April starts to realize that there is more to life than sleeping and drinking. She might even realize that her life is worth living. This is probably one Tyler Perry's best films. It has great music, nice comedy, and entertaining drama. Definitely a great film to watch anytime and anywhere.

  More

• Fantastic Movie - Excellently done

  danceability-12009-12-04

  For all of you bad critics. I've been looking at the comments people make on movies such as "Dough Boys" and "Never Die Alone" and all I have to say to the bad critics is a few comments. Most of you who rate these movies based on it's cinematic beauty and character, never take the time to view it for what it was meant. These movies are all great in my book, one being because they are things that I have seen since I was 8 years old and still see today, so I can relate to them. Which is what they are, stories that are told for the enjoyment of people who can relate to them and to show those who cannot, the reality that these characters lived in relation to real life situations. But since we have a lot of people who were born with silver spoons in their mouth trying to make their voices be the base of the percussion line, they can and will never see it that way. Every time they watch a movie their looking at the camera detail, the acting to be 10 stars, the story to be about white houses with picket fences and a happy ending under a rainbow, while we who relate to the story always think the movie was great because it speaks for us, it lets everyone who see's it know that these things do happen, regardless of it's budget and cinematography. So to all you bad movie critics, My advice to you is to stop watching these movies that you cannot relate to, or just stop being a critic and just keep it to yourself. This movie is getting unwarranted bad reviews. I'm disappointed to see so many judgmental reviewers who are completely overlooking the premise of this movie. While it may not be for everyone, it certainly was entertaining and in a sea of meaningless and offensive movies, this one actually spreads a positive message. I just wish people would stop watching and reviewing Tyler Perry movies if they don't like him or his previous work or believe his plots are redundant. If you're not a fan, stay away...that's a no-brainer. In one of his most satisfying films to date, Tyler Perry keeps the faith with his devoted audience, giving them his signature mash-up of heart-wrenching melodrama (there's enough material here for a dozen Lifetime movies), outrageous comic relief, and soul-stirring spiritual uplift. Adapted from his play of the same name, I Can Do Bad All by Myself stars Taraji P. Henson as April, another damaged Perry woman on the verge. She's an alcoholic nightclub singer involved with a controlling married man and estranged from her mother and her church (despite the best efforts of a congregant portrayed by Gladys Knight). When her mother dies, April is forced to take in her dead crack-addict sister's three children. She does not exactly put out the welcome mat. Perry's crowd-pleasing signature character, Madea, aka "the heavyweight champion of the world," is mostly offscreen, but she makes the most of her scant screen time, serving up her own brand of old school discipline ("I promise you gonna come up missing," she threatens one troubled teen who talks back to her) and values-added wisdom ("You get out of this life what you put into it"). Will April finally see the light, accept the Lord, and open her heart to the kids and the saintly (and handsome) Colombian immigrant handyman (Adam Rodriguez) who lives in her basement? Knight, Marvin Winans, and Mary J. Blige raise the roof with showstopping gospel and blues numbers that capture the fervor of a Perry theatrical experience. Another Perry film not screened in advance for critics, another film that was No. 1 at the box office its opening weekend, I Can Do Bad All by Myself is further testimony that, for now, Perry can seemingly do no wrong. danceability-1, Amsterdam Holland

  More