I Can Do Bad All By Myself (Review)

Madea Goes to Jail failed to get me interested in seeing anymore Tyler Perry movies, so I didn’t have any intentions on seeing this one until I was dragged to it anyway by friends. Well, I figured it couldn’t be too much of a waste of time. The film has some kids breaking into Madea’s house, who proceeds to call their aunt, April to look after the brats. Naturally, April has her own problems like her abuse of alcohol and her dirt bag married boyfriend. A handyman named Sandino moves in with her to repair her home and bonds with the kids. April faces the usual conflicts associated with every Tyler Perry film before coming to a proper decision before the credits roll.

I must admit I was surprised by this movie. Maybe it was because I wasn‘t expecting much, but I enjoyed it. Sure, the melodrama is uninspired and sees April having to make choices that any sane person would solve instantly like having to choose to be with a disgusting, degrading, and just plain evil married man or a friendly sexy Mexican guy who likes to help others, but it’s mostly pulled off effectively thanks to decent casting. Taraji Henson in particular is a wonderful lead actress as she knows what to do to convey her character’s emotions and as a result they feel natural, while Adam Rodriguez is likable as the required knight in shining armor. The kids are played well, though their main job is to act cute and sympathetic. Their backstory and current dilemma is ridiculously cliche, only missing physical abuse to complete their sob story. There are also some outstanding R&B performances in a nightclub by some big name artists like Mary J. Blige and Gladys Knight that resonate with the themes of the story

Madea Goes to Jail was a schizophrenic film, flipping randomly between comedy and cheap hard-hitting melodrama; this outing is way more consistent. Madea is still the highlight as far as spitting rapid fire jokes and one liners are concerns and the film does a good job of letting the humor bounce off of the emotionally charged moments without feeling abrupt. The downside is that the comedic moments are more prominent in first half of the movie and almost nonexistent at the latter end, but luckily it doesn’t affect the overall tone as badly as in Madea Goes to Jail. Although the movie doesn’t change my opinion of Tyler Perry films, at least there’s a chance that his talents are starting to improve.