In a spot-on essay called "Tyler Perry's Gender Problem," critic Courtney Young maps out the plot of pretty much every film from the Atlanta-based auteur:
“Perry’s films typically follow the same timeworn narrative: a woman experiences abandonment and/or abuse at the hands of a ‘bad’ man; she takes umbrage, lashing out at those closest to her, most notably a ‘good’ man in her life; she experiences a revelatory moment of change; and she ends the film settled down with the good man who promises her a better life.”
Let it be no surprise, then, that “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” follows the Perry playbook to a T. Taraji P. Henson (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) stars as April, a hard-drinking lounge singer shacking up with an abusive married man. When her mother goes missing, she becomes the unwilling guardians of the three children of her dead sister, who had been a drug addict.
No comments:
Post a Comment