Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

callanvass Madea (Tyler Perry) catches a sixteen year old named Jennifer, and her two younger brothers trying to steal from her home. She gives them something to eat, but threatens to call the cops on them if they don't come up with some money to pay for the damages. The woman that takes care of the kids has seemingly disappeared, so Madea takes them over to their estranged Aunt April (Henson). April is a selfish drunk who works as a singer at a night club, her boyfriend provides for her, and she wants nothing to do with the kids. An enigmatic Columbian named Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) moves into her home, and begins to change April's ways for the betterEvery Tyler Perry movie seems to have a low rating. Some deserve it, but not very many. Do you guys even watch some of his movies? They are nowhere near bad enough to be in the 3.5 range, like you guys have voted this one. I often wonder if voters simply vote low, because they hate Tyler Perry. This is a very good movie. It's a really good story about redemption. I've always felt Tyler Perry's heart has been arguably as big as Mount Everest. He just doesn't know when to stop with the melodramatics at times, and it becomes overkill. He creates a dandy of a film with this one, where everything is just right. The storyline itself is genuine and realistic. Kids at Jennifer's age are often left to fend for themselves, without much help. I really enjoyed watching Taraji P. Henson's character evolve from nothingness to a winning character change in the second half. If you manage to stick with her grumpy character, you'll be rewarded by a sensational show from Henson. Tyler Perry is amusing as Madea, as per usual. I've never really gotten into his Joe persona, but Madea is always fun. If I have any complaints, I wish that he would not belt on kids in his movies. It's not very funny, and I'm quite against it. I don't see the humor in it. Adam Rodriguez annoyed me at first with his corny style, but as the film went along, he won me over. I give all the credit to Rodriguez for that. I do wish Perry gave us more background on him. He felt like a drifter who came from out of nowhere, but Rodriguez did well. Brian White plays a scumbag extremely well. He plays the abusive boyfriend, and you'll hate him. Hope Olaide Wilson is good as the teen. I felt Perry did a really good job at building up her indifferent character, before having her open up as the film goes along. Mary J. Blige plays a bartender, and is adequate. Her singing is out of this world, obviouslyI can't comprehend why people hate this movie. It's got an excellent story, it's moving, it's heartfelt, well acted, and it has an excellent message behind it. What can you possibly dislike about all that? Perry is trying to tell you that it's okay to open up to other people, and ask for help. If you live a selfish life, you should strive to be better. You can't love others, if you don't love yourself first. The human spirit is a powerful thing. Life can wear us down, but we can always overcome it. It's a really thought provoking film. If you dislike Tyler Perry, that's fine. But don't go and purposely rate his movies low, just because you don't like him. Watch the movie, and give your honest opinion about it. This might be Perry's best film. If it isn't, it's definitely in his top three. I don't get watery eyes very often from anything, but this movie seriously moved me to the point of tears. Perry doesn't always nail what he's trying to get across, but he aces it here. I'm not a professional critic. I consider myself to be an average reviewer, but one thing i'm always proud of is my open mind. And this is a damn good film. Well done, Tyler. Well done!8/10

nep983 This film wasn't the best movie ever and I don't understand why people hate Tyler Perry his films aren't bad and they aren't the worst. I watched this with a group of friends mostly black and we enjoyed the parts with Madea were hilarious. And the drama was okay too. The acting was fine I like Taraj P Henson she was good in this movie. The only thing that bugged me was the sets most of them looked really fake but that was it. Anyways this film wasn't bad and the rating shouldn't be low at 2.8 it should be 4 or 5 stars. The acting was was good and had a fine cast. I recommend renting it or getting it on DVD. If you like tyler perry and his movies then you'll like I can do bad all by myself

Jaydee OK first of all, Tyler Perry, I love your plays. A lot. More than I probably should but you have to stop naming your movies after your plays when they have nothing to do with the former aside from a character or two. In this case the only things the stage play and the movie have in common are a handy man, the title, and Madea. But Madea is in almost everything so that doesn't count. Therefore this cannot be considered an adaptation. There are a few things one needs in order to create his or her own Tyler Perry movie:* 1 messed up drunk/druggie woman/mom* 1 self-centered woman* 1 wise old woman* 1 smart mouth kid* Madea* A good looking smart/helpful/god fearing male* A good looking drunk/abusive male* DramaNow these movies, like all Perry's movies, have all or most of these. The story follows April (Taraji P. Henson) an alcoholic (who doubles as our drunk and self-centered woman) night club dancer who must take in her sister's kids (the oldest being the smart mouth kid.) An old church goer (who plays our wise old woman) begs April to keep the children since their caregiver, April's mom, is missing (more on that later.) At the same time April is sleeping with married man Randy (our good looking abusive, racist, pedophile male) and is asked by the neighborhood pastor to take in a Spanish boarder (our good looking nice guy.) Now how does Madea come into this? That's a good question. Why the hell was Madea in this movie? For familiarity and a few laughs that's why. Without her this movie would have zero laughs and leave its viewers in a constant state of sadness.The 3 kids (April's niece and 2 nephews) break into Madea's house in the middle of the night. Do they go for the DVD player, no? Do they go for the jewels, no? Do they go for Madea's purse, no? Instead, they steal Madea's VCR. Her VCR. As far I know, this movie takes place in 2009. If I was a 15 year old girl who needed to sell things for my brother's meds, the VCR would be the last thing I'd go after.So after Madea catches the kids in her house, she takes them to their Aunt and to pay off their debt they must help Madea around her house. April asks them where the grandmother is and the kid's reply that she left for work 4 days ago and never came home. Now, the grandmother is missing. The nice old lady from the church is worried and asks if anyone has seen her and no one has seen her for a week. You know why, because the grandmother died on a bus a week earlier, was taken to a morgue and couldn't be identified and wasn't claimed so she was cremated. Is it even legal to cremate someone after just a week? And no matter how old, I can't imagine this little old lady getting on the bus and going to work with no sort of ID on her. Even my senile old great-grandmother, who we found out after she died that she hadn't opened or let alone cleaned her fridge in 10 years, had an expired driver's license from the 70's stuffed into her old lady bag.So of course the married boyfriend tries to rape the young girl because someone always has to get raped (there's some of your drama) and the Spanish live-in handy man comes to the rescue. He leaves, April fixes her life and everyone lives happily ever after.There are 2 reasons why this movie is on the bottom 100 on IMDb. 1) Because much of the IMDb population sees Tyler Perry's name and automatically rate it a 1. This is why IMDb's rating often doesn't count. If people see that Paris Hilton or Miley Cyrus is in a movie they are going to rate it a one because they probably thing it is "teh sux." 2) Tyler Perry created another movie using the same plot assuming my 46 year old mother would go and start screaming her "Oh lord honey!" and her "No she didn't! I know she didn't just do that!" But somewhere people caught on and realized that Perry is spiting the same drivel over and over. This movie had a horrible story, horrible acting (aside form Ms. Henson) and unnecessary placement of Madea.Despite having a 3.6 on IMDb, the Family That Preys is my favorite Perry movie. It had some top notch actors (such as Kathey Bates and Alfre Woodard) and it has a story that was mostly different from the rest of his movies. Tyler Perry if you continue to think that black folk are going to just watch anything you write you're gonna end up broke in no time.ThatWasJunk.blogspot.com

danceability-1 For all of you bad critics.I've been looking at the comments people make on movies such as "Dough Boys" and "Never Die Alone" and all I have to say to the bad critics is a few comments. Most of you who rate these movies based on it's cinematic beauty and character, never take the time to view it for what it was meant. These movies are all great in my book, one being because they are things that I have seen since I was 8 years old and still see today, so I can relate to them. Which is what they are, stories that are told for the enjoyment of people who can relate to them and to show those who cannot, the reality that these characters lived in relation to real life situations.But since we have a lot of people who were born with silver spoons in their mouth trying to make their voices be the base of the percussion line, they can and will never see it that way. Every time they watch a movie their looking at the camera detail, the acting to be 10 stars, the story to be about white houses with picket fences and a happy ending under a rainbow, while we who relate to the story always think the movie was great because it speaks for us, it lets everyone who see's it know that these things do happen, regardless of it's budget and cinematography.So to all you bad movie critics, My advice to you is to stop watching these movies that you cannot relate to, or just stop being a critic and just keep it to yourself.This movie is getting unwarranted bad reviews. I'm disappointed to see so many judgmental reviewers who are completely overlooking the premise of this movie. While it may not be for everyone, it certainly was entertaining and in a sea of meaningless and offensive movies, this one actually spreads a positive message. I just wish people would stop watching and reviewing Tyler Perry movies if they don't like him or his previous work or believe his plots are redundant. If you're not a fan, stay away...that's a no-brainer.In one of his most satisfying films to date, Tyler Perry keeps the faith with his devoted audience, giving them his signature mash-up of heart-wrenching melodrama (there's enough material here for a dozen Lifetime movies), outrageous comic relief, and soul-stirring spiritual uplift. Adapted from his play of the same name, I Can Do Bad All by Myself stars Taraji P. Henson as April, another damaged Perry woman on the verge. She's an alcoholic nightclub singer involved with a controlling married man and estranged from her mother and her church (despite the best efforts of a congregant portrayed by Gladys Knight). When her mother dies, April is forced to take in her dead crack-addict sister's three children. She does not exactly put out the welcome mat. Perry's crowd-pleasing signature character, Madea, aka "the heavyweight champion of the world," is mostly offscreen, but she makes the most of her scant screen time, serving up her own brand of old school discipline ("I promise you gonna come up missing," she threatens one troubled teen who talks back to her) and values-added wisdom ("You get out of this life what you put into it"). Will April finally see the light, accept the Lord, and open her heart to the kids and the saintly (and handsome) Colombian immigrant handyman (Adam Rodriguez) who lives in her basement? Knight, Marvin Winans, and Mary J. Blige raise the roof with showstopping gospel and blues numbers that capture the fervor of a Perry theatrical experience. Another Perry film not screened in advance for critics, another film that was No. 1 at the box office its opening weekend, I Can Do Bad All by Myself is further testimony that, for now, Perry can seemingly do no wrong.danceability-1, Amsterdam Holland