5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
When Madea, America's favorite pistol-packing grandma, catches sixteen-year-old Jennifer and her two younger brothers looting her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands and delivers the young delinquents to the only relative they have: their aunt April. A heavy-drinking nightclub singer who lives off of her married boyfriend Randy, April wants nothing to do with the kids. However, her attitude begins to change when Sandino, a handsome Mexican immigrant looking for work, moves into April's basement room. Making amends for his own troubled past, Sandino challenges April to open her heart. April soon realizes she must make the biggest choice of her life: between her old ways with Randy and the new possibilities of family, faith...and even true love.
Starring: Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodriguez, Brian White, Hope Olaide WilsonComedy | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Tyler Perry is one busy guy. In the past ten years, he’s written and developed 12 stage productions, adapted and produced 8 films, directed seven films, and produced two successful television series (including one that recently passed the 100-episode mark). In fact, one could easily argue that Tyler Perry has accomplished something most would deem impossible in the tough-shelled exterior of Hollywood. He’s turned his name into a brand that sells. Time and time again, his films grab hold of the number one spot during the first week of their theatrical release, despite a complete lack of marketing and a largely unfavorable reception from critics. Knowing critics are merely commenting on their own perceptions of a film, I’ve attributed Perry’s core success to his skillful writing, which must touch a nerve in his audience. Now that I’ve sat through my first Tyler Perry production (I Can Do Bad All by Myself), I’m completely at a loss for words. Perhaps there was something lost in the transition from the stage to the silver screen, but this was not the work of a skilled writer, and certainly not the introduction I was expecting. I’ll apologize in advance to any of Perry’s die-hard fans out there, but I can’t understand how a film this juvenile raked in over 23 million in its opening weekend. It’s like stealing money from a baby.
Madea is the clear highlight of the film.
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 25Mbps), I Can Do Bad All by Myself offers an average visual experience on Blu-ray. The primary reason for my lack of enthusiasm is the marginal rendering of fine object detail which plagues most scenes. The usual suspects are in place to blame the lack of precise textures on an overabundance of digital noise reduction, resulting in a loss of facial textures and the trademark "wax museum" look to most scenes. Even the appearance of tear drops trickling down faces, or the sweat beads on the face of the pastor are obscured by the blatant filtering used throughout the film. On the bright side, the color spectrum appears quite vivid, with deeply saturated hues that bring out the nuances of the neon-lit nightclub, or the crimson robes of the church choir. Likewise, black levels generate a nice level of depth, allowing contrast to easily differentiate between the lighter and darker elements in the transfer, while clearly revealing detail in the darkest of shadows. Adding to the positives, I never detected edge enhancement, digital artifacts, or compression anomalies that might otherwise downgrade what is already a slightly troublesome transfer.
In summary, fans of the film will surely appreciate the improvements over the standard definition offering, but the disappointing use of DNR prevents this from approaching the quality of the best transfers on the market.
Lionsgate is rapidly becoming one of the better studios when it comes to the performance of their audio presentations. I Can Do Bad All by Myself is no exception, delivering a lossless mix that performs well within a limited range. What I'm referring to when I say "limited range" is the predominance of dialogue and quiet moments that never call for much surround activity, but require exceptional clarity and spacing. In that regard, the mix rarely fails to perform at a high standard, allowing the audience to soak up the film without effort. What ultimately downgrades the audio experience to a slight degree is a flat characteristic to the dialogue that becomes apparent in a handful of scenes. While certainly not an egregious offense within the context of the overall mix, it will be noticeable to the most discerning audiophiles, and contributed to the loss of one point from the audio score.
To switch gears a little, most long-time fans of Tyler Perry are aware of the influence music plays in his stage productions. Based on the special features included on this release, it sounds as if he abandoned the incorporation of music in the majority of his prior film adaptations. During his completion of the screenplay for I Can Do Bad All by Myself, he decided to make the soundtrack a central focus of the film by inserting several musical numbers at key transitional points in the story. Purely from an audio standpoint, the use of music is one of the true highlights in lending the track a more robust feel. You may not have car chases and high-flying stunt work, but the vocals of Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige work their magic to turn this into more than simply a one-dimensional project.
A Soulful Ensemble (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 10:05 min): As the title implies, this featurette focuses on the main actors in the film, with everyone singing the praises of their fellow performers. If you absolutely love the film this might be a worthwhile supplement, but I found it a bit superficial.
The Power of Music (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 5:51 min): Touching on the influence of music in the film, this sequence includes interviews with various members of the cast and crew as they delve into the particulars of how music helped further the story.
Tyler's Block Party (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:41 min): The block party scene at the end of the film was a last minute add-on by Perry, who originally intended the film to end without a huge celebration. This supplement describes the efforts by the crew to create a large-scale celebration with only 24 hours to prepare.
Rounding out the extras, we have a high-definition trailer for I Can Do Bad All by Myself.
I'm hopeful I Can Do Bad All by Myself isn't the pinnacle of Tyler Perry's film career, and more of a misstep in his growing filmography. I'm guessing a production focused more on Madea would bring out the talent in Perry's writing style, but given my underwhelming impression of this first experience, I can't see the point in going back through his catalog to find something worth watching. As far as a recommendation goes, the choice is simple. If you already know you're a Tyler Perry fan, I'd assume anything I say won't sway your opinion of his latest outing, which likely found a welcomed home in your Blu-ray collection. However, if you're not a fan, or you haven't taken the time to watch one of his films, I'd recommend you avoid I Can Do Bad All by Myself, and look for a worthwhile recommendation by a long-time Tyler Perry fan.
Special Edition
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