I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Tyler Perry

Directed by: Tyler Perry

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 11, 2009
DVD: January 12, 2010

Running Time: minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic material involving a sexual assault on a minor, violence, drug references and smoking

Starring Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, Brian White, Hope Olaide Wilson, Adam Rodriguez, Kwesi Nii-Lante Boakye, and Frederick Siglar

When Madea, America’s favorite pistol-packing grandma, catches sixteen-year-old Jennifer and her two younger brothers looting her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands and delivers the young delinquents to the only relative they have: their aunt April. A heavy-drinking nightclub singer who lives off of her married boyfriend Randy, April wants nothing to do with the kids. But her attitude begins to change when Sandino, a handsome Mexican immigrant looking for work, moves into April’s basement room. Making amends for his own troubled past, Sandino challenges April to open her heart. And April soon realizes she must make the biggest choice of her life: between her old ways with Randy and the new possibilities of family, faith…and even true love. (Lionsgate)

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What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Evelyn gave it a9:
I really enjoyed this movie.....I loved the religious aspect in which Tyler demonstrates that even a woman that's an adulterer can have a change of heart.

Luis G gave it a7:
The message is clear and simple ... laugh, cry and learn another wonderful addition to the perry catalog.

kg m gave it a5:
Give credit to Tyler Perry for not glamorizing drug dealing, criminal activities, selfish actions and the like. Tyler Perry advocates practical Christian and family values. Sure, his positive characters are a little too good, too clean, too upstanding but ya got to find your heroes somewhere.

Natalie C gave it a10:
You know, we just have to appreciate how Tyler Perry continuously drives the messages to us. He used celebrity, song, drama, and The Word to deliver the message. I know that everyone that i have talked to personally that has seen the movie has not stopped talking about it. It is truly his best to date. Keep it real Tyler, keep it real!

Neil B gave it a3:
Its tough for me to overlook some glaring issues with the movie. While I try to support Tyler, its clear that he needs to evolve as a director. The movie quite frankly looks low-budget (with the one predictable set shown of the street over and over again) When the child says "my bed, my bed" it became laughable, when Tyler intermingles the high melodrama the product becomes a sad, predictable overreach dramatic breakdown of Black Lives and Family's. And Now it seems he's leveraging this formula to go all the bank, at our expense.

Anne G gave it a10:
First off, I love Madea...secondly, I believe that Mr. Perry takes everyday situations, flaws that everyone, no matter what color, & spotlights them...he could have had nobodys playing these parts & the message would have still shone through. Great movie!

Chad S. gave it a3:
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.

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