Can Tyler Perry 'Do Bad?'

More than a decade ago, playwright, actor, director and producer Tyler Perry introduced the character Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Perry in drag) in a play titled I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Madea, whose name was derived from the convergence of “mother dear,” was a tough-talking, pistol-packing type who was also a strong Christian with a smart mix of street sense and spirituality. Madea instantly clicked with audiences, and subsequent plays and films featuring “her” provided big box office results and turned Perry into a major cultural force.

Friday, this early work becomes the latest Perry theatrical production turned into a big screen vehicle as I Can Do Bad All By Myself opens both locally and around the country. Many things have changed over the last 10 years, and Perry has emerged as Hollywood’s most powerful black male figure from the standpoint of both acting and production/thematic control.

He’s the head of the nation’s first and (so far) only black-owned studio, a 200,000-square-foot facility that opened last October in Atlanta. His films have grossed more than $400 million worldwide despite routinely garnering horrible reviews. His distribution deal with Lionsgate enables his movies to be widely available, though Perry retains principal ownership of all his properties. He also has two weekly sitcoms on cable, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet The Browns.

Perry’s movies are morality works in which flawed characters are redeemed through faith, good works and relationships with people who never stop caring about them no matter how much they get hurt or betrayed. Madea’s colorful vocabulary blends street lexicon, folklore and witticisms in a manner some find hilarious and others disturbing.

Still, Perry’s commercial clout and success have limited the amount of criticism his properties — the Madea character specifically — have received from the African-American community. Though some black observers, primarily academics and cultural commentators, have been ardent critics of both his plays and films, their response is balanced by the big crowds his productions routinely attract.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself packs a bit tougher punch than some prior Perry works. The storyline includes a sexual assault on a minor, and there’s other violent content as well as drug references. Unlike the last two movies, this one puts the Madea figure at the center of the work rather than in a supporting or complementary role.

But the overall theme will be familiar to anyone who has viewed other Perry releases. This time, the main character is a young woman named April (Taraji P. Henson), who is content to waste her life sponging off married performer Randy (Brian J. White) and ignoring her 16-year-old niece and two younger nephews, although she’s their sole living relative. When Madea catches this trio ransacking her home, she takes action.

Throughout the film, Madea continues trying to reform April. Things take a different slant when April meets Sandino (Adam Rodriguez), the first man in her life who seems genuinely interested in her, rather than just making her another sexual conquest. Now she has a chance at a real relationship with a good man. But April’s past and her general lack of self-esteem threaten this chance at happiness.

Tyler Perry doesn’t concern himself with thematic variety, visual flair or artistic surprises in his productions. I Can Do Bad All By Myself won’t appease or satisfy anyone who finds his dialog and writing predictable and stilted, or his stories pat and predictable. But the film’s performances will determine whether Perry’s popularity and that of his productions have peaked, or are still potent not just among African-Americans but with the general populace.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Written and directed by Tyler Perry
Starring Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, Brian J. White, Adam Rodriguez, Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, Hope Olaide Wilson, Mario Barrett, Kwesi Boakye, Frederick Siglar
Time: 113 minutes
Rating: PG-13