For Colored Girls

Let me start off by saying that I am NOT a fan of Tyler Perry's past movies, television shows, or plays. They are not funny and over the top. Just not my cup of tea. However, I thoroughly found this movie worth the $10.50 I paid to see it on opening night. Some of the other reviews were surprising. At no point did I feel the movie to be slow. In fact, I thought the movie constantly pounded on our emotions to almost a point of exhaustion. I also thought that the prose to fit fairly well with the dialog. There were times when two people were talking at the same time that made it difficult to follow, but I understood the intent and liked the effect. Tyler has made progress in his directing abilities. He still has work to do, but this was by far his best work. I look forward to seeing this movie again.

As for the acting...Rashad, Devine, Elise, Newton, and Rose were the standouts. In fact, I cannot see anyone except Loretta Devine in that role now...she owned it! Whoopie is still a superb actress. I agree with many other reviewers, Janet Jackson just does not have it. I question Tyler's judgement in picking Janet for a fairly meaty role. Clearly she patterned much of her part from Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada" and did not pull it off. She looked terrific though! Other seasoned more proved actresses could have done a much better job with that role. Halle, Vivica or even Robin Givens anyone? Bring your tissues. Pay attention. It is a good movie.

As a huge Ntozake Shange fan, I was not skeptical, but rather CURIOUS as to how her work would be translated on-screen, especially when I found out Tyler Perry was the director. I have nothing against Tyler Perry and actually find most of his movies pretty enjoyable, but they're definitely a bit cookie-cutter, stereotypical, and trite. That's why I give him kudos for this film, as it was certainly a pleasant departure from his previous work. I was pleased with his direction and the realistic portrayal of most of the characters in the film. (A couple were overdone, but I shall get to that in a moment.) There was definitely a slight fluidity issue, but nothing that overshadowed the overall success of the film. When I talk about fluidity, I mean the cohesion of scenes, but I definitely liked the way that Shange's actual poems were incorporated into the film. It didn't seemed forced or like Perry just stuck in the recitals because he knew they needed to fit in somewhere, but well thought-out and fitting with the dialogue.

The cast was pretty strong over-all. Kimberly Elise, by far, led the pack with her amazing skill. Every time she graced the screen, the emotion and sorrow in her eyes pierced through my heart. She was absolutely PHENOMENAL and I expect her to be well recognized come award season. Thandie Newton was GORGEOUS as always, and did great, but seemed slightly overdone at times, especially when she tried to speak ebonics. (But that is expected, as she has a natural foreign accent.) I've noticed a lot of people criticize Kerry Washington's character as "overdone," but I really liked Kerry in this film and believed her completely. Anika Noni Rose, Tessa Thompson, and especially Phylicia Rashad also stood out to me, though they had some of the lesser roles. All three did wonderfully with what they were given. Janet Jackson...eh. I don't know what it is about her, but I have never been impressed with her acting. I don't know if she's not digging enough or if screen just isn't her forte, but she never feels believable to me and I feel uncomfortable watching her. I would definitely call her the weakness in the film.

A controversial topic regarding this movie is its "theme" (many label it a Sisters movie) and the message it portrays. A male friend of mine who was dragged along to see this movie with his cousin found it highly offensive to black men. I'm not going to lie---it certainly does label black men as "douches." All black men, with the exception of Kerry Washington's husband in the film, are portrayed as either emotionally, verbally, sexually, or physically abusive, selfish, and heartless---which as we all know is NOT true in real-life. There are plenty of great black men in this world that are educated, good providers, loving, respectful, honest, and that know how to treat women like princesses. I don't think was a man-bashing movie, but more-so a film that highlights many issues women experience that come hand-in-hand with broken families, absent fathers, violent men, rape/sexual abuse. I would recommend this to not just all black women, but to women of all races, as we ALL know someone---whether it be ourselves, our moms, our daughter, our sisters, our aunts, our cousins, our friends---who can relate to the struggles shown For Colored Girls.

After reading the early reviews of For Colored Girls, I walked in not really expecting much but a lot of drama. I have to say that i mostly disagree with the bad reviews, but I understand the issues with the movie.

Lets start with the good: The acting was great. Loretta devine's voice was very annoying at times, but she made me laugh and knew how to play with the character. Anika Noni Rose did very well from being on top, then falling, then picking up the pieces. She has great potential for being something great. Tessa Thomas made me fall in love with her!!!! OMG!!!! With hard work, she can do something spectacular. She did very well with her emotional scenes and was very believable. Whoppi was hilarious but it wasn't Oscar worthy. She's still got it though. Kerry Washington did well with what she was given. I wish she stood out more but it was great seeing her on screen. The entertainment factor was on point. There were some scenes hard to watch and some things unexpected, but it kept you enthralled in the film

THE BAD: OMG... JANET!!!!! I had so much faith in her performance but once again, I was let down. She just doesn't have it! Her lines and acting was so frozen and she looked like a mannequin in tears. Its so frustrating because I know she can do so much better. Phlyica Rashad's character was absolutely wasted. But for what she was given, she was amazing. Tyler should have used such a great actress more extensively and I was waiting for Phlycia to steal my heart. I did love the way Phylicia recited her poem to Thandie in her apartment room. Her reading was sooo believable and well executed. The transition from the poem to the Tyler's language was so drastic and not fluid at all. You could easily tell when the actresses went from his writing to the books. It just didn't work for me but it was challenging working with great choreopoems. I love Thandie Newton to death and she did a good job acting in this movie, but in some scenes, she overdid it. It was a little too much that she was giving, but overall it was a good body of work.

Finally: OMG!!!! Please give Kimberly Elise an Oscar Nomination. She took my breath away with her performance. It was heartbreaking and spellbinding. If she doesn't get a nomination, I will be floored. She is long overdue and her acting was superb!!!!!!!

Overall, this is Tyler's best but he still has room to grow. Just go and see the movie for yourself and please have an open mind. Good job Tyler and I expect you to grow from this point forward.

I will start by saying that I am not a Tyler Perry fan. I don't generally watch or enjoy his movies. I was also hesitant to see this play turned into a movie, but my husband really wanted to see it, so I went somewhat reluctantly to see how TP would butcher this play.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the play is not something that can be easily rendered into a movie. It's more of a performance than a traditional "play". There is not a coherent plot, and even the vignettes are often incomplete stories. The men that are central actors in the womens' stories are completely voiceless and have no role in the play whatsoever. The dialog from the different characters is beautiful and elegant and haunting, so to be true to the story you have to keep the language that is used.

So, it's a difficult situation to be in, no plot really to paraphrase or "adapt" with very precise language that needs to be incorporated to keep the beauty of the piece. It is a task that a better filmmaker than TP should have tackled....but it's doubtful that anyone who had the talent AND the juice to make this movie actually would have, so TP is all that's left.

The film is choppy at parts...NOT seamlessly interweaving the added plot-driven dialog with the elegant and colorful soliloquies from the original play. Also, some of the particular poems seem oddly-placed, and out of context.

However, the performance of the pieces did give a meaning that reading the play does not. Pieces that I understood in one way when I read them took on a different and more potent meaning when I saw them being performed in the context of the film. The delivery of most (not all) of the poems and the character portrayals generally was excellent.

There is some overacting (Kerry Washington in particular stood out as overdone to me), and some of Tyler Perry's typical caricatures (if you are a light-skinned man with a high paying job....you are a bastard!), but if I evaluated this movie based on whether my understanding and experience of the text was expanded by this film, I would say it was.

Perhaps if I had seen the performance I would evaluate this film less kindly, but I think that if you come in understanding 1) it is a lofty performance piece being rendered as film, and 2) it has incorporated some of the performance aspect of the play into the film, I think you could appreciate it and enjoy it.

Tyler Perry has performed a little miracle in transferring Ntozake Shange's exquisite play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" into an opened up and expanded film. The dialogue still is deeply embedded in Shange's poetry but the narrative Perry added makes the stage experience a flowing cinematic story: the result is a powerful film that happens to be populated by some of the finest actresses of today.

The plat cannot be faithfully summarized, as it is a cluster of vignettes of ten women in crisis. Each character is given the name of a color of the rainbow, but they also have real names and the men in their off track lives actually do appear. It would be unfair to single out any one of these actresses as best because their roles are all different and make demands on the actresses in different ways. Whoopie Goldberg is the religiously inclined mother of Thandie Newton (a woman of physical needs that cannot be satisfied despite nightly change of partners) and Tessa Thompson (a high school girl with aspirations crushed by an unwanted pregnancy); Janet Jackson is a bitter, wealthy magazine editor married to the Down Low Omari Hardwick; Loretta Devine is a community service giver in a relationship with the undependable Richard Lawson; Kimberly Elise (breathtakingly magnificent!) is paired with the war-torn PTSD alcoholic and abusive Michael Ealy; Kerry Washington works for child services despite her infertility in her marriage to Hill Harper; Anika Noni Rose is a lovely innocent dance teacher brutally treated by Khalil Kain; Phylicia Rashad is the tenement house manager who is the central mother confessor to her tenants. How these women's lives are interconnected is fascinating as a story/screenplay: how these gifted actresses deliver the poetry of Shange is beyond anyone's expectations.

There are many issues this film deals with - single mother, violence against women, death, loss, partner abuse, etc - and each of the issues is poignant and keenly defined and acted. How this film slipped under the line for awards is anyone's guess. It is not to be missed.

Grady Harp