|
|
 |
Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan C. Stevenson (13th February 2010). |
|
The Film
 Tyler Perry. Some call him the black Robert Rodriquez, and by that I can only assume they are referring to the Rodriquez who gave us "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D" (2005) the "Spy Kids" films (2001-2003) and more recently the truly, stupidly, mesmerizing bad "Shorts!" (2009) and not the brilliant half who have us "Sin City" (2005) the later being something I could never see Perry even attempting. I jest, although the parallel is not entirely off base. Both Rodriquez and Mr. Perry churn out an endless supply of mediocre, genuinely low budget productions, written, directed, produced (and sometimes edited, scored, etc…) by themselves, that are, for whatever reason, decently successful. Perry’s success is particularly perplexing to me, mostly because I don’t understand the drive of his loyal fan base. What makes these people, who are mostly conservative African-American Baptists from the south, flock to the theaters to see a grown man, dressed up in a muumuu and a wig, pretending to be an aging black woman, for two hours. I don’t know why, but people love Madea, the totally politically incorrect (but mildly amusing) caricature he created years ago on stage for a series of, dare I say, creative and smart plays. Most moviegoers probably haven’t seen Perry’s original plays. In the case of "I Can Do Bad All By Myself", although it shares the same title as his 2002 play of the same name, it carries over little else, unlike some of his other plays which have been essentially remade via film, so it doesn’t matter anyway; a comparison between the two is moot. Perry’s body of work is filled with appearances by this Madea character and I admit, in small doses she’s pretty entertaining. Or, at the very least, not grating, irritating, or annoying (devote a whole movie to her and my thoughts run in the opposite direction; there actually is such a thing as too much Madea in my book). But she is also why, as he clings to the character, I become less and less interested in anything he’s ever done and will do, because he seems less interested in exploring options outside of his safe little box, and that’s unfortunate. Well, there’s that, and the fact that he’s responsible for some pretty terrible films and TV too. The seven or so minutes that I’ve seen over the course of the years of both of his TV shows – “Meet the Browns” (2009-Present) and “House of Payne” (2006-2008) – were so terrible that I quickly abandoned my frantic search for the remote (which in one case was inexplicably under the couch – not under or between the cushions, mind you, but actually under the couch) and used the buttons on the side of the television to change the channel [insert shocked emoticon]. With that long preface out of the way, I don’t think I need to tell you that when a copy of his latest production, titled "I Can Do Bad All By Myself", arrived on my doorstep my sense of happiness and joy was very suddenly replaced by a grimace of disgust and disappointment at my prospects for movie viewing that night. But, you know what, his latest picture is something else entirely, pretty far removed from some of his regular shtick. For one, it’s not a comedy in the strictest sense. It’s more of a tried and true drama. There is some light, general humor, but "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" is a little more serious, a lot less Madea-centric and altogether a much better movie than I expected it to be. For a sense of the seriousness look at Perry’s main character in the film: April’s (Taraji P. Henson) one messed up chick. She’s an alcoholic, thoroughly aware that she’s in a relationship with a married man (Brian J. White) but doesn’t care, resents her mother for abandoning her in favor of her now dead crack-whore sister, willingly lives in a house that falling apart because she doesn’t give a crap about upkeep or appearances, and only likes her job as a night club singer because it gives her free access to a whole mess of booze. All’s going to shit in April’s life, only to be come worse, figuratively being turned upside down when lovely Madea (Tyler Perry) catches April’s niece, Jennifer (Hope Olaide Wilson), and nephews (Kwesi Boakya and Frederick Siglar) breaking into her house and trying to steal momma-Madea’s VCR. After Madea verbally assaults them and threatens to physically abuse them (which, sickeningly, actually plays out in a fairly funny way, as savagely crude as that may seem), she takes the children to their auntie April, who wants nothing to do with them. Only April doesn’t really have a choice, as her mother, the kids’ legal guardian since their crack-whore Mom died a few years ago, hasn’t been seen in four days. Begrudgingly, April lets the three troublemakers stay, but only after she’s confronted by her neighborhood pastor, who asks not only that she keep the children safe, but also that she board a new member of his congregation, a Jesus-looking carpenter named Sandino (Adam Rodriquez). Together her family and that Jesus-carpenter make her realize that there’s a little more to life than how she’s living it. What makes "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" a decent enough film is that, aside from being fairly straightforward in narrative design, Perry’s script actually isn’t that bad, mixing a nice combo of both comedy and drama. The story isn’t terrible, it’s certainly not all that original, true, and the overall product is pretty basic, but being average isn’t a bad thing. And in light of what this could have been, I’m actually pretty surprised at the film’s solidity. Unfortunately a major downfall of the film lies in most of the performances, which are either dismally tepid (Hope Olaide Wilson and Adam Rodriquez) or outright awful (both of the young boys, the pastor, Gladys Knight and so many horrible others). Brian J. White, as the abusive, despicable boyfriend is decent, but his character is terribly cliché and paper thin in his depth. He’s a bad, bad, bad man, but is given no real motivation and just seems like too much of a deplorable person to even remotely have attracted April. On that note, only Taraji P. Henson, one-time rightfully Oscar-nominated actress, gives a truly satisfying and heartfelt performance. And as disappointing as it may sound, that only one actress shines in an entire film, it’s not as damaging a comment as it may seem. Henson carries the film, quite successfully, all by her lonesome because so much of the film is focused on her character. Is "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" worthy of heaps of praise? No, not really. But it’s equally not as bad as some say. The 2.3 out 10 rating the film currently sits at over on IMDB is frankly bullshit and ridiculous. There is no possible way that Perry’s most recent offering is one of the bottom 100 films of ALL TIME. No. It just isn’t, in the slightest, that bad. It’s average, sure, but watchable. Don’t believe the damning rating at some sites, "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" is certainly worth a look.
Video
Lionsgate’s single layered 1.78:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 transfer sort of sneaks up on you. It’s far from perfect, that’s true, and isn’t exactly the height of high definition home video, but there certainly is a lot to like about the image. Color reproduction is absolutely superb – particularly during the church performance and the final concert – with bold use of primaries. Even some of the darker moments, like April’s scenes at the club, are striking, bathed in an attractive blue hue. Contrast is natural looking – unmolested and clean – and daylight scenes are bright and airy. Blacks are solid and deep. I see no evidence of artificial sharpening via edge enhancement and generally speaking the picture has a pleasing amount of detail and depth. Look to the ratty interior of April’s house or the brickwork outside the church and surrounding buildings (which, even in medium and long shots hold up solidly) for some nice HD-ness. But, having said that, the transfer is not perfect. Close ups are wildly inconsistent, with mild softness creeping in at times. Shots of Pastor Bryan and Jennifer reveal rich detail in their faces – individual pores and bumps can often be seen on these two – but the camera suddenly dips its focus when it lingers on Madea, April or Wilma (Gladys Knight). Certainly intentional, but nevertheless distracting, and as the camera lingers on April for a particularly long time throughout the film, we’re left with many a shot that lacks the crackling sharpness we expect in high def close ups. Also of note, I detect a tiny bit of Digital Noise Reduction in the transfer. Not a horrid amount, but merely a passing one. The picture is strangely grain-free. Like totally without an ounce of film grain anywhere. At first the image was so smooth I thought that Perry and cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski had shot "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" on high definition video (at times it deceptively really does look like film-effected 24p HDV) but the Kodak and Panavision credits at the end of the film seem to claim otherwise. In the end, the DNR is hardly noticeable, and I think this Blu-ray looks mighty decent. It won’t knock you’re socks off, but it’s definitely a solid presentation.
Audio
I’ve grown so accustomed to Lionsgate and their favoritism of full-blown 8-channel surround mixes these days that I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised to see "I Can Do Bad All by Myself" hit Blu-ray with a more pedestrian English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit/3.2 Mbps) mix. Not that it really matters; I’ll surely take a 6-channel lossless track with open arms over something of a lesser quality. I also admit that I expected Perry’s film to have a rather subdued soundtrack like so many other dramas and comedies out there. I am more than happy to report that my assumption was wrong. Make no mistake, this isn’t a film with a whole lot of whiz-bang, wall-of-sound-total-immersion in its sound design, but it isn’t too slight either. Small moments, which populate the mix, are still smartly represented. A knock on April’s front door a floor down and off to the left sounds convincingly realistic. There’s a lot of subtlety here; if Madea says a passing remark off screen, it barely registers, but it’s still completely clear – you just half to listen closely. For the most part though people don’t want subtle nuisance in their movie soundtracks, so "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" will be a fairly unspectacular sounding film for most of it’s run, at least to those looking for room filling, super-panning, booming and echoing "Transformers" (2007) style stuff. Fear not however, if one is looking for a sense of immersion and full-bodied oomph, look no further than the more musical moments of the film. It may not be the action set piece that you’re looking for, but these moments are true-to-form and powerful. This is particularly true during the final moments of the film at the unexpected concert, or the performance number in the church – both of these sequences, which are actually quite lengthy, offer crystal clear lossless precision, with wonderful use of the full 360-degree sound field and some hearty bass. An optional Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 dub is accompanied by your choice of English and Spanish subtitles.
Extras
I’m torn here. On one hand, the fact that a modern, decently successful film with a respectable cast and crew turns up little more than 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes (and not much else) is a disgrace. But, on the other, as the film was saddled with a meager single-layered BD-25, which means space was tight, I’m a little grateful that "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" is light on the bonuses, as more extras might have begun to effect the mostly-satisfying video qualities of this release. All bonus material is presented in 1080p 24/fps high definition. Details below: "A Soulful Ensemble" (HD) runs for 10 minutes 5 seconds, this featurette (unsurprisingly) focuses on the large cast brought together for the film. Cast and crew (minus Perry) talk about their work on the set, with plenty of B-roll and interviews sprinkled throughout. "The Power of Music" (HD) featurette runs for 5 minutes 51 seconds, next the cast and crew move on to the topic of the films extended music sequences and their importance to the story and tone of the picture. Light, but somewhat interesting stuff. "Tyler Perry’s Block Party" (HD) featurette runs for 4 minutes 41 seconds, and lastly, this short piece looks at the chaos following Perry’s decision to suddenly add a party sequence to the end of the film. The crew talks about the process of creating the films final moments with less than 24-hours notice. A theatrical trailer for "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" is included, encoded in 1080p 24/fps high definition. Runs 2 minutes 25 seconds. Finally, the only Blu-ray exclusive is the ability to bookmark your favorite scenes with the push of a button.
Overall
I admit it; I expected this to be a terrible, terrible film. But, thankfully, this is one of those times were my prejudgment was pretty off base. I won’t say that Tyler Perry’s "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" is even remotely close to a masterpiece, but it is a decent picture. The Blu-ray sports solid A/V but an anemic, sorrowful supplemental package. This one definitely deserves a rental at the very least.
|
|||||
|