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I Can Do Bad All by Myself (film)

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I Can Do Bad All by Myself is a 2009 American romantic musical comedy-drama film which was released on September 11, 2009. The film was directed, produced, and written by Tyler Perry,[3] who also makes an appearance in the film as his signature character Madea.[4] The rest of the cast consists of Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodriguez, Brian White, Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, and Marvin L. Winans. Although the film and play share the same title, the film is not an adaptation of Perry's play of the same name; the two works have different storylines as this film tells the story of an alcoholic lounge singer who is persuaded to take the custody of her niece and nephews by Madea after she catches them breaking into her house and their grandmother has gone missing. Both are named for a lyric in the Changing Faces song "G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T.". It is the fifth film in the Madea franchise.

I Can Do Bad All by Myself
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTyler Perry
Screenplay byTyler Perry
Based onI Can Do Bad All By Myself
by Tyler Perry
Produced byTyler Perry
Reuben Cannon
Starring
CinematographyAlexander Gruszynski
Edited byMaysie Hoy
Music byAaron Zigman
Production
company
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • September 11, 2009 (2009-09-11)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$19 million[1]
Box office$51.7 million[2]

I Can Do Bad All by Myself received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

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Madea and Joe Simmons catch Jennifer, Manny, and Byron breaking into their house. The children, whose mother is deceased, are living with their grandmother Rose but have not seen her in four days.

Meanwhile, their aunt April, an alcoholic singer, lives with her abusive boyfriend Randy, who is married with children. Madea brings the kids to April, who does not want to be bothered. Meanwhile, Pastor Brian sends Sandino, a Colombian immigrant, to her house for work and a place to stay. April puts Sandino in her basement, instantly disliking him. While working around the house, Sandino surprises April by cleaning himself up. Randy eventually sees April with the kids and heckles Sandino while making advances at Jennifer.

Meanwhile, April learns that Rose is actually deceased, having died from a brain aneurysm on a city bus. Since there was no way to contact any relatives, the city ordered for her remains to be cremated in the event someone claimed her. Devastated, April seeks comfort from Randy, who is sleeping and shrugs her off. Later, Sandino comforts April, who tells him about the last time she spoke with her mother.

Depressed, Jennifer goes to Madea wanting to know how to pray. Inexperienced with prayer, Madea attempts to instruct her.

Sandino and April eventually become good friends. Sandino fixes a ruined bedroom in her house. This makes Manny and Byron happy, but upsets Jennifer, who feels April does not want them there. While on a date, Sandino tells April he does not understand why she is with Randy. One Sunday morning, Sandino knocks on April's bedroom door to get her ready for church, but Randy threatens to kill him if he continues to spend time with April.

The next night, Manny needs his insulin shot and Jennifer goes to the kitchen to get it. As she prepares the shot, Randy attempts to rape her, but Sandino fights him off. April walks in on the fight, and Randy claims Jennifer offered him sex for money. April pretends to believe him and sends Randy to take a bath. When he is in the tub, April threatens to electrocute him with a plugged-in radio. Sandino tries to stop her, but April is enraged, revealing that she was sexually abused by her stepfather Lee, who then lied about it to her mother. This caused April to lose her faith in the people that cared about her. April became an alcoholic due to Lee lying to her mother for years over the abuse. It is also revealed why April chose not to have any children because of Lee’s lies and manipulation and April’s mother not seeing the signs of April's behaviour and choosing to believe her husband Lee instead of April. She drops the radio into the water, giving Randy an electric shock. Randy jumps out just in time, and Sandino orders him to leave.

April goes to the nightclub for a drink and blames herself for not seeing the signs, just like her mother did not see them with her. Sandino tries to stop her from drinking while mentioning that Randy has moved out, but she pushes him away. She then asks Sandino if he is a child molester because of all the attention he gives the children. Sandino talks about his childhood as a child laborer and explains that he loves the children because he sees himself in them. Feeling hurt at her accusations, Sandino says farewell to the children and leaves.

April tells Jennifer about her bad experience as a child, and the two begin to connect. Jennifer says that April should recognize Sandino as a good man. Eventually, Sandino returns. April apologizes to him and admits that she loves him like a friend. Sandino says that April cannot love anyone until she learns to love herself. He is in love with April, but wants her to love him back the same way he loves her. He then kisses her.

Eventually, April and Sandino get married. April and Sandino then hold a block party for their reception.

Cast

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  • Taraji P. Henson as April, an alcoholic nightclub singer at Club Indigo
  • Adam Rodriguez as Sandino Ramirez, a Colombian immigrant that moves in with April
  • Brian White as Randy, April's abusive boyfriend
  • Mary J. Blige as Tanya, a bartender at Club Indigo
  • Gladys Knight as Wilma, a member of the church in April's neighborhood
  • Marvin L. Winans as Pastor Brian, the pastor of a church in April's neighborhood
  • Tyler Perry as:
  • Hope Olaidé Wilson as Jennifer, the niece of April
  • Freddy Siglar as Byron, the nephew of April
  • Kwesi Boakye as Manny, the nephew of April who has a medical condition that requires him to take insulin
  • Eric Mendenhall as Man #1
  • David Paulus as Miller
  • Randall Taylor as Mr. Bradley
  • Tess Malis Kincaid as Ms. Sullivan
  • Joseph Taylor as Announcer
  • Cheryl B. Pratt as 911 Dispatcher

Music

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The film features 13 songs,[5] including two new songs by Blige. Perry was not able to produce a soundtrack album for the film due to the various record companies involved.

Reception

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Critical response

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I Can Do Bad All by Myself received generally positive reviews from critics, becoming his most acclaimed film, until 2021's A Jazzman's Blues.[6] Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 61% approval rating based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's consensus states: "Though somewhat formulaic and predictable, Perry succeeds in mixing broad humor with sincere sentimentality to palatable effect."[7] Metacritic reported that the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[8]

Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the movie an "A−" grade, saying, "After a summer of phony, pasty rom-coms, do this: See a movie where old-fashioned notions of love, faith, strength, and the possibility of redemption are taken seriously."[9] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe called the film "overlong but well-shaped and involving", praising Perry for finding a balanced mix of "earnest soap opera moralism with [his] comic instincts", calling it his "most confident and competent mixture of uplifting black middle-class melodrama and low-down comedy."[10] Cliff Doerksen of the Chicago Reader said about the film: "Contrived, sentimental, tonally bipolar, and as predictable as clockwork, this latest from chitlin' circuit impresario Tyler Perry is just a fat slab of ecstatic entertainment."[11]

Rob Humanick of Slant Magazine felt the film was a great gateway for people not familiar with the "scabrous antics and homegrown moralizing" delivered by the Madea character, saying that Perry lends his creation a more "greater level[s] of tonal consistency" than his previously contradictory Madea Goes to Jail, writing that "I Can Do Bad acknowledges Madea's flaws with loving scrutiny, and doesn't require approval of her more selfish attributes."[12]

Randy Cordova of The Arizona Republic was critical of Perry's filmmaking for delivering lengthy musical numbers and overlooked story elements but gave praise to the performances of Henson and Wilson for showcasing his ability to "create meaty roles for women."[13] The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin gave the film a "B−" grade, praising Henson's performance and the "riveting musical numbers" by Knight and Blige for emitting more "feverish emotions" to the film than Perry's "characteristically ham-fisted screenplay", concluding that "His oeuvre has always been shameless and over the top, but Bad might just be the first of Perry’s films to border on operatic."[14] Kimberley Jones of The Austin Chronicle criticized Perry for prolonging the film's conclusion but gave him credit for bringing "increasingly mature moviemaking" to his production, highlighting the Madea scenes as being "pretty damn funny" and the performances of Wilson and Henson for being "nuanced and quite moving" and having a "likable screen presence" respectively.[15]

References

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  1. ^ "I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) - Summary". The Numbers. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  2. ^ "I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
  3. ^ "I Can Do Bad All By Myself". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  4. ^ Perry, Tyler. "Meet the Browns starts March 21st". Archived from the original on March 4, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
  5. ^ Internet Movie Database, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385912/soundtrack
  6. ^ a b "I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  7. ^ "I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  8. ^ Young, John (September 13, 2009). "Box Office Report: Tyler Perry's 'I Can Do Bad All By Myself' is No. 1 with $24 mil". Entertainment Weekly. Dotdash Meredith. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  9. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (September 15, 2009). "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Burr, Ty (September 12, 2009). "'Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself'". The Boston Globe. Boston.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2019.     
  11. ^ Doerksen, Cliff (October 2, 2009). "I Can Do Bad All by Myself". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Humanick, Rob (September 12, 2009). "Review: I Can Do Bad All by Myself". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.     
  13. ^ Cordova, Randy (September 15, 2009). "I Can Do Bad All by Myself". The Arizona Republic. Gannett. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2019.      
  14. ^ Rabin, Nathan (September 11, 2009). "I Can Do Bad All By Myself". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  15. ^ Jones, Kimberley (September 18, 2009). "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.      
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