I “C” A Romantic Comedy, I “C” Another

These reviews are somewhat overdue, I don’t know why I didn’t put up the grades earlier. Anyhow, here they are.

      

I Can Do Bad All Myself

It’s generally agreed that Tyler Perry’s brand of madness is more suited for the stage from where he originated. His outlandish plots and dialogue are legitimately funny there, not so much onscreen. I’ve never been overly fond of his stage to screen adaptations. I Can Do Bad All By Myself centres on Taraji P. Henson’s character, April. She is a nightclub singer who is having an affair with a married man. When her niece and two nephews become homeless she starts to tentatively forge a relationship with them and a Colombian boarder. I Can Do Bad All By Myself is a here and there film wrapped around an eclectic performance by Ms. Henson. Nick said it, James said it and I’ll say it too – the woman’s quite good here. It’s a pity the film is tripping all over its heels. That’s not to say that the film has nothing more to offer than Taraji. There are a number of musical scenes speckled throughout and I must say that Tyler Perry’s direction in these scenes were effective and inspired. In fact, I don’t really have anything overtly negative to say about his direction on the whole. The film’s crutch is its script, through and through. It gets more and more convoluted and at the end almost sinks Taraji’s good performance. Still, it’s a spottily enjoyable if predictable thing.

C

      

The Proposal

It’s actually just as predictable as The Proposal. What can I say about this? Sandra Bullock has always excelled at playing the good girl; I suppose this is why persons have stressed on that ridiculous comparison to Julia Roberts. It is this good girl character of her that fits like a glove that makes her excursions in The Proposal underwhelming. Say what you want about Julia, but she can play mean when she must. Sandra is not so convincing. The Proposal is fine of course. Nathaniel accurately points out the gender duplicity, and it’s obvious. Of course, it’s become rote in romantic comedies. It’s sad that The Proposal [and The Blind Side] have made me dislike Sandra. I never wanted to be that guy who begins to hate something because everyone loves it. I previously liked Sandra when she stayed in her niche, I even forgave her for Crash. Kind of. It wasn’t until I was bemoaning the injustice of her nominations that I realised I used to like her. Actually I still do. I can’t speak for The Blind Side which I’m yet to see, but this isn’t a performance worthy of a Globe nod. In a tale of two Cs Taraji wipes the floor with Sandra – and that’s just getting started in a year of Michelle Pfeiffer, Zoey Daschnell, Evan Rachel Wood, Maya Rudolph and on and on and on. But that’s awards for you.

C