Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls’

I wanted to like ‘For Colored Girls’, Tyler Perry’s big foray into making emotionally invested films not just straight-to-dvd-movies. I enjoyed reading the play, Ntozake Shange’s 1975 “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf’. In fact, I loved the play. However I was worried after reading just the first few pages of monologue how Perry could turn these lengthy narratives into an entertaining Hollywood blockbuster. The answer is…he didn’t. Everyone woman in this film did her best, this is guaranteed. Anika Noni Rose, Loretta Devine, and Kimberly Elise keep the film real. They help the audience invest, emotionally, to the character. But, then there’s Janet Jackson. Perhaps this is because I can’t look at the screen without knowing I’m watching Jackson be anything expect the pop icon/mad woman she is. In any event, she’s by far the weakest link. I will give Tyler Perry this, it was the best film I’ve seen from him. But with the Medea enterprise being the mainstay of his career, that isn’t saying much.