Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself

PG-13

Released Sep 11, 2009

1h 53m

Comedy

Drama

List

61%

46 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When Madea (Tyler Perry) catches three young siblings raiding her home, she takes matters into her own hands and delivers the children to their only relative: Aunt April (Taraji P. Henson). At first, April, a boozy nightclub singer who leeches off her married boyfriend, wants nothing to do with them, but when a Mexican immigrant named Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) rents a room in her basement, April begins to realize that life may hold more possibilities.

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Critics Consensus

Though somewhat formulaic and predictable, Perry succeeds in mixing broad humor with sincere sentimentality to palatable effect.

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Mikayla A

Very real and raw. Great movie

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This, flat out, is not a film. I am having trouble holding on to one single thing from it. This doesn't tell a story. This doesn't move anything forward. It is just a random collection of unrelated surface-level scenes. Things happen; people react to it; that's the entire film. We are told to care about these characters that we, truly, know nothing about. And we know nothing about them because TP doesn't bother giving any intro, context, or backstory on any of them. So, I am left wondering, who cares? I have two parting points to make: 1. What is with the title? How does this relate at all to what we were just subjected to? Does the title have any relevance at all? 2. And finally, the church reverend is possibly the sweatiest man to ever live. I was dry-heaving.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Too many musical numbers and not enough Madea.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Taraji P. Henson's leading performance is engaging and powerful, and makes this formulaically plotted comedy drama better than it would have been otherwise.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

uncle p

Story/Screenplay: (2.5/5) Tyler Perry knows how to make movies, but he has a bad tendency of creating stories with crazy wicked men as antagonists. The behavior of these men tend to be borderline evil, which doesn't work well for me in the sort of snappy comedies that Perry is capable of producing. It would help if these men would just display bad boy behavior as opposed to being truly bad. Duration/Tempo: (3.5/5) At 1 hour and 53 minutes, it's a longer than average movie that felt shorter. There was plenty of room to edit this film down to get it on the short side, but it was OK as is. Cast & Crew: (4/5) The best lines came from characters played by Tyler Perry, as well as a few lines from Kwesi Boakye. Taraji P. Henson and Hope Olaide Wilson rounded out the cast nicely. Summary: (3.5/5) The story had some good stuff but was formulaic as Tyler Perry movies go. However, the cast was good and the film didn't feel long. A thumbs up.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

THE GREATEST TYLER PERRY MOVIE OF ALL TIME AND IS HIS BEST WORK EVER!!!! IT COMBINES LOVE, HEART, FAMILY, STRUGGLE, AND CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER!!! ITS THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE AND DESERVES ALL THE RESPECT IN THE WORLD!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

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Tyler Perry

Director

Tyler Perry

Madea

Taraji P. Henson

April

Adam Rodriguez

Sandino

Brian White

Randy

Hope Olaide Wilson

Jennifer

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: B+

Feb 18, 2012

Full Review

Cliff Doerksen

Chicago Reader

Contrived, sentimental, tonally bipolar, and as predictable as clockwork, this latest from chitlin' circuit impressario Tyler Perry is just a fat slab of ecstatic entertainment.

Oct 2, 2009

Full Review

Nick Schager

Time Out

Narratively and grammatically dim redemption pap.

Rated: 1/5

Sep 16, 2009

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

A genuinely moving, funny, inspiring, and heartfelt film.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Sep 11, 2020

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Disappointing overall, I Can Do Bad All By Myself falls short in comparison to some of Perry's other films and the level of excellence both technically and from a storytelling standpoint.

Nov 8, 2019

Full Review

Micheal Compton

Bowling Green Daily News

I've never been a fan of Perry's Madea. I will concede this is probably the best use of the character, but the comic relief still takes away from some potentially powerful dramatic moments.

Rated: C

May 16, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

When Madea (Tyler Perry) catches three young siblings raiding her home, she takes matters into her own hands and delivers the children to their only relative: Aunt April (Taraji P. Henson). At first, April, a boozy nightclub singer who leeches off her married boyfriend, wants nothing to do with them, but when a Mexican immigrant named Sandino (Adam Rodriguez) rents a room in her basement, April begins to realize that life may hold more possibilities.

Director: Tyler Perry
Producer: Michael Paseornek
Screenwriter: Tyler Perry
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: Reuben Cannon, Tyler Perry Studios, Lionsgate Films
Rating: PG-13 (Sexual Assault of a Child|Mature Thematic Material|Drug References|Smoking|Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 11, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 1, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $51.7M
Runtime: 1h 53m

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