The other day, someone on the bus asked me what I thought about Tyler Perry’s movie adaptation of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (mercifully shortened to For Colored Girls). I replied that in all honesty, I hadn’t thought much about the movie beyond the ride home from the theatre, but I could say that it was traumatizing for a little black suburban girl such as me.

Traumatizing? Sure. The movie was rather graphic and heavy-handed, turning Ntozake Shange’s theatre piece into a bludgeon–a stark difference from the precise and surgical exposure of these women’s stories performed by the original. That’s by no means a bad thing. As a matter of fact, it was absolutely necessary for Hollywood success. Perry very intelligently understood that even though he doesn’t necessarily have to play by all of Hollywood’s rules owns his  studio and can release films under his own banner imprint (actually, in all reality, he’s still owned by Lionsgate Films), he still needs to appeal to a very mainstream, if colored, audience. I don’t think sitting in the local AMC and snapping along to poems about feminist strength is gonna sell enough tickets to cover production costs, not to mention being boooorrriiiiinnnnngggggg. Put in some striking visuals, throw in a couple of patented Kimberly Elise wails (I think they should be the Wilhelm Scream of Black tragedies), and you’ve got an exciting flick worth the $10.50 admission. Hats off to Tyler for making it both visually and carnally appealing.

Ok, now down to business. Kudos or no kudos, I think For Colored Girls is more of a graphic exposé that came a few decades too late than a revolutionary narrative. The situations described, while grisly, are almost generic Hollywood staples to the plight of the (Black) woman. Somebody’s getting beat by their man, somebody’s being cheated on, someone was touched by a man in their family, etc. etc. What may have once been a revolutionary reveal in a time where Black women and girls’ stories weren’t told, is now–I hate to say it–almost underwhelming. However, the idea changing the stories to more modern issues is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” type of situation for TP. To change them would have caused more outcry from the original’s Stans than it’s already seen. More than could be sustained for a movie that had to succeed. Keeping it much the same, while throwing on a clear coat of over-the-top theatrics was the only way to do it right, and the elements from the original stage piece that made it great are still there with TP’s writing intertwined. His dialogue and the way it flowed into and out of poetic pieces from the original play are what actually save the string of “been there, done that” plot lines and shock-value scenes from lacking any artistic merit.

The cast of lead and even some cameo appearances by females was very strong. I think Janet Jackson (Jo, the created-for-the-film Lady in Red) is actually pretty good, especially in this film, despite the automatic points against her for being a music artist and Perry’s latest muse. Kimberly Elise (Crystal, Lady in Brown) isn’t a fave of mine, but if you need someone to be the perpetually wailing mood-killer, she’s absolutely the one for the role. No one does it better. Thandie Newton (Lady in Orange) is great at playing the half-crazy twat who wasn’t quite pretty enough to really capitalize on her good hair and light skin. I don’t recall any roles where she explicitly played that character, but I tend to get that vibe from her portrayals and I definitely got it here. Anika Noni Rose (Yasmine, Lady in Yellow) is becoming a real favorite of mine. A true talent in the classical sense and a Tony Award winner (nominee?) who is probably on her way to an Oscar nod. The rest need no praise from me, let’s just say Tyler KNOWS how to pick his women! Now, the men in his movies are never chosen for talent but instead look like a Rundu calendar come to life, and For Colored Girls doesn’t change the script even a little bit. The eye candy is RIGHT. *wipes brow*

Now for what I didn’t like. In high school, I “read” the book and saw a pretty bad televised version of the stage play in my American Lit. class with a white teacher who was a bit more enthusiastic about it than my small high school mind could understand. Though I must admit to paying very little attention to what I was reading/watching back then, one character stood out: The Lady in Yellow was about sexual freedom. (Her story is touched on by the Lady in Purple played by Tessa Thompson in the movie…confusing.) This meant a lot to me. But Tyler’s heavy-handed treatment of the storyline adds a character (her mother, played by Whoopi Goldberg) who serves as the pious neutralizer of any message of positive sexuality that may have been introduced, and the whole saga ends in a back-alley abortion as the final nail in that coffin. The abortion was never a part of The Lady in Yellow’s story and…who still gets a back-alley abortion in 2010??? But whatever.

More glimpses of Tyler Perry-ism glare with the added character of the Lady in Red (there was a LiR in the original, but her story is more like the LiBr in the movie…it’s all whacky), a character whose M.O. is all but played out in the realm of black entertainment: a castrating, successful woman, who has problems with her husband. I’m not even going touch the female character of the couple, I wanna talk about the man:

Creating a completely new character to play a bisexual male whose unfaithfulness involving other men leads to his wife contracting HIV is a little hard to swallow. Not because it doesn’t happen, but because it is utterly irresponsible to the many more women who contract STDs from STRAIGHT husbands cheating. and adds fuel to a fire the LGBT community is still trying to put out; that is, that having an alternative sexuality is an automatic HIV death sentence.

Not only that, but it really should shame Tyler Perry in front of an audience who KNOWS he’s gay. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Overall, it’s a solid film. Nothing that will change the world or how I see it. And like I said, it’s nothing that I dwelt on past the ride home from the theatre until I was asked (repeatedly) what I thought. But For Colored Girls is still a very pleasant surprise coming from the man who gave us Madea, and proof that though Black movie-goers love more than our fair dose of coonery (Friday movies and Soulja Boy), we can also show up and show out at theatres all over the country to make a serious movie by us, for us, and featuring us a blockbuster. *side eye to Martin Lawrence*