By Randy Myers - YOU'VE GOT to admire Tyler Perry's gumption. The popular but critically lambasted king of such melodramas as "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" deserves credit for stepping out of his success zone.
If only his filmmaking talent matched his well-intentioned ambition.
Perry confronts a daunting challenge with "For Colored Girls," an update of the 1977 Tony Award-nominated theatrical drama "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf."
No question, Perry's "Girls" is compelling and powerful. But it's also a missed opportunity, one that fails to fully capitalize on mostly terrific performances and the story's timeless message about the resiliency of black sisterhood.
Stirring narratives
Perry's version of Ntozake Shange's landmark play interweaves nine stirring narratives of New Yorkers facing devastating personal crises including rape, murder, abortion, infidelity and betrayal.
The characters are portrayed by a who's who of African-American actresses. There's sassy Loretta Devine entertainingly hamming it up as big-hearted Juanita, a health-clinic do-gooder addicted to a fickle guy. Mercurial Thandie Newton is explosive as sexaholic bartender Tangie, while captivating Tessa Thompson plays her kinder, younger sister, who undergoes a horrifying medical procedure.
Kimberly Elise, so sensational in Perry's "Diary
of a Mad Black Woman," is electrifying as Crystal, a closed-off mom who unwisely stays in an abusive relationship with an alcoholic war veteran (Michael Ealy, overplaying the role). Hers is an honest and perfectly pitched performance, especially when she burrows deep into the soul of her final soliloquy.
Vivacious Anika Noni Rose is heartbreaking as dance instructor Yasmine, who gets cruelly robbed of her passion, and regal Phylicia Rashad nails the part of Gilda, the nosy but knowing building manager. Kerry Washington is radiant and convincing as Kelly, a social worker with a good man and the inability to conceive children, and trippy singer Macy Gray is frightening in the small supporting role of Rose, a drunken abortionist.
Unfortunately, two of the most recognizable stars come off as distractions. Janet Jackson channels Meryl Streep from "The Devil Wears Prada" too liberally for her icy Jo, an unhappy magazine fashion editor whose emotions are tightly boxed in because of a dishonest marriage. Jackson finally punches out of caricature in a bedroom confrontation scene that Perry makes too theatrical. Then there's Whoopi Goldberg, who never comes up with a satisfying tone for Alice, a disturbed religious zealot with questionable motives. Goldberg treads too lightly at the start, making Alice humorously eccentric.
It's places like this where we see Perry's weakness as a director. In telling their stories, Perry shoots more for soap opera than drama, an approach that denies "Girls" its full measure of grit, a crucial element given the circumstances facing the characters.
Explicit scenes
In a departure from his previous films, Perry also gives "Girls" a more serrated edge -- including an explicit, overly long rape scene and a sequence in which children's lives are imperiled. But these are choppily executed; the violent sexual violation is ineffectively intercut with an opera.
So instead of making us weep -- which we should -- we become distracted by the overly symbolic wardrobe, the cold color scheme in Jackson's character's apartment and the Adonis physiques of shirt-challenged male actors. The stagy sets don't help much, either, making us feel emotionally disconnected from it.
Provocative art like this requires tremendous finesse, someone who can mix subtlety with the toughness. Watching these characters survive tragic events, you can't help but wonder what a more visceral and polished director such as Lee Daniels ("Precious") might have accomplished.
'FOR COLORED GIRLS'
GRADE: B-
RATING: R (for some disturbing violence including a rape, sexual content and language)
CAST: Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Whoopi Goldberg
DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours
