Tyler Perry’s version of “For Colored Girls” which is an adaptation of the “choreopoem” For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf accomplishes a lot but could also accomplish so much more. Le Sigh.
Fist there is the shortening of the name. Yes ,the play was and
primarily is directed at colored women. Ntozake Shange wrote this book for herself and for the women she knew but it’s not just for colored girls. It is for damaged, whole, complicated, difficult, warm, wise, rebuilding, wretched, and divine girls. We say girls because even if we are biologically mature there are parts of us that remain fragile innocence. When that part is severely damaged it is at that moment when women look inward and see nothing good left and decide that death is preferable to image in the mirror that this book is most needed. The title needs to be complete. The rainbow must be included. Suicide must be included.
In the end it is that rainbow of women and feelings and conquering of life that proves enough to beat back self destruction and that must be the call sign for any woman looking to find strength in this work.
I bought this book before I knew I needed book. It had colored girls in the title and I figured one day I’d get around to reading it. This book is not for the light-hearted. It is impossible to truly comprehend and ingest if life has given you no chance to gain the experience of emotional trauma. I bought this book and then life offered me the opportunity to truly appreciate the words betweens it’s covers. Wisdom fell into my lap with a huff and puff and it blew away my naivitee. Lupus, heartbreak, disappointment, despair, failure, hurt, anger, abuse, desire, unrequited love, hatred, apathy, and unfulfilled needs all came together wrapped around each other to pull me into a big teepee of adulthood that I wasn’t quite ready for. All of these things churned inside of me and I had no idea what to do with them until I picked up this book. This book says things a mother can’t, a friend shouldn’t, a sister won’t, and a brother wouldn’t even begin to know how to articulate. This book tells the story of other women who might be you but aren’t so they are safe to view and learn from. They are colors
that are abstract and accessible and they find love and joy and pain and heartache and horror but in the end they find each other and freedom and self and most importantly GOD and she redeems them.
Tyler Perry turns this dramatic yet triumphant story into something of an overwrought soap opera. He doesn’t have the women stick to the dialogue attached to their colors. So if you have read the book before seeing the movie you might be a bit confused. The characters aren’t so much justifiable and reactionary in their unique responses to their environments so much as they are “crazy” or “cold” or just plan “off”. Luckily he has a cast of first rate phenomenal actresses to keep the spirit of the book alive.
First: Janet Jackson was HORRIBLY directed. She’s like a black Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada without the depth (or talent sorry Janet I still think your sexy).
She is recipient of my favorite monologue in the book. After her husband has betrayed her and said he’s sorry (after saying sorry a million times before she’s finally over all of his sorrys). She gives him a piece of her mind and the flow of words that come from her are words that I feel a million a day should say to their men and vice versa. They are the words of an independent person who is finally over being with someone who is not worthy of their company. The words of a person who would rather be alone that with someone who makes them feel lonely. I call it the "I can do bad all by my damn self so go fuck up some other bitch's life" rant.
“One thing I don’t need
is any more apologies
I got sorry greeting me at my front door
You can keep yrs
I don’t know what do wit em
They don’t open doors
Or bring the sun back
They make me happy
Or get a morning paper
Didn’t nobody stop using my tears
To wash cars
Cuz a sorry
I am simply tired of collectin
“I didn’t know I was so important to you”
. . .I can’t get to the clothes in my closet
for alla the sorries
I’m gonna tack a sign to my door
Leave a message by the phone
If you called to say yr sorry
Call somebody else. . .
You were always inconsistent
Doing something & then being sorry
Beating my heart to death
Talking bout you sorry
Well
I will not call
I’m not going to be nice
I will raise my voice
& scream
& holler
& break things & race the engine
& tell all yr secrets about yrself to yr face . . .
I loved you on purpose
I was open on purpose
I still crave vulnerability and close talk
& I’m not even sorry bout you being sorry
you can carry all the guilt & grime ya wanna
just don’t give it to me
I can’t use another sorry
Next time
You should admit
You’re mean/low down/ trifling/ & no count straight out
Steada being sorry alla the time
Enjoy being yrself”
* three snaps and a neck twist fo yo ass*
I love LOVE love this monologue. If I had a dollar for every sorry a lover ever gave me I would be Warren fucking Buffet. And it’s my fault really because I knew they were sorry.
Maya Angelou says, “When someone shows you who they are. . .believe them”.
So I would see that a person was a sorry, low down, no good, trifling, piece of shit and I would think “it’s ok . . .they’ll change or I can save them. . .or their problems aren’t that big of a deal.” BULLOCKS. It’s a two way street. That’s what the lady in Blue realized. So I now say to people be a fucking piece of shit. Own your fuckery. Wear it proudly like a badge. And find someone who would like to participate just leave me out of it. I’m over the sorry’s I’m over giving myself to people who I know don’t deserve it. There is an esteem issue wrapped up in the lady in blues character one that she remedies after her husband has betrayed her for the last time. There is also a sense of ownership. She yells and is shockingly passionate in this dialogue because she knows she is partly to blame. She saw the sorry’s and the signs and she let it go on MUCH longer than it should have. She is not just raising her voice at her husband. She is raising her voice at herself and to God. She is making a promise to herself and to GOD and she is saying never again will I let the GOD in me be trampled like that. Tyler has Janet deliver these lines with all the emotional ferocity of a corpse. This monologue is the Lady in Blues' FREEDOM SCENE, her emotional emancipation. She has spent the entire play/movie being confined to formality and protocol. NOW she is taking off her heels and putting her man’s bullshit on 21 jump street and she says IN THE MONOLOGUE I’m going to yell, I’m going to scream, I going to lay our shit bare because we have both been living wrong. That is Ntazake TELLING YOU Mr. PERRY HOW THE SCENE SHOULD GO. Janet needs to be standing up, she needs to be over her husband (physically, metaphorically, and emotionally) and she needs to be proclaiming that she is taking back her body, her pride, her esteem, her mind, and her place, from this no good low down trifling piece of shit negro she’s been giving herself over to. However Mr. Perry decides to have her sitting on a bed, speaking softly, looking like Michael in a wig , with tears running down her eyes. Ugh. Dis- A- Point- Meant. I blame him for it. It's because of him the terrorists are winning damnit! Janet might be an actress but she still needs a LOT of direction. She is not seasoned like Whoopi, Loretta, or Phylicia, or Thandie, or Kimberly or Anika Noni Rose. Tyler led her astray and ruined one of the most powerful monologues. And I mean powerful in deliverance and effect. Bullocks. Shitballs.
Second: Thandie Newton
should have brought subtly to a character who in the book wore her sexuality and her vulnerability like a fine cashmere sweater. Sexual promniscuity is complicated and delicate despite the energy that fuels the act. When Thandie is left to herself she is quiet and reflective. The sex finds her and she has it because she is complelled to. That type of behavior should be deliverd and studied like a fine spanish waltz not thrown onto the screen like paint splashed on a wall. It is a dance between filling up one's emptyness with physical pleasure or emotional healing.
She delivers one half of my favorite lines from the Lady in Yellow saying to her little sister Nyla (played by Tessa Thompson) “Being colored is a metaphysical dilemma I haven’t conquered yet”. The rest of the line is saved for later in the movie. But that breaks up the beauty of the moment. She is supposed to continue and say that she is a spirit that is too ancient to separate soul from gender. And her love is too delicate to have it thrown back on her face. The ladies all say what their love is at the end of the movie but it doesn’t follow the book. Tyler doesn’t have the women follow the lines assigned to their colors because it would ruin the continuity of the character connections he has established. He simply divides the dialogue up as it fits and places it in the mouths of the characters in the scenes as he determines appropriate. He has Thandie play this weird shrill sex harpie and Thandie does her best to tone it down. Her relationship with Whoopi is played up well. I do think that their scenes together are some of the best and I give him some credit for that direction. Some I say not a ton.
Third: Tessa Thompson is a relative newcomer and she does a beautiful job of playing Nyla. In her opening scene she speaks about losing her virginity in the backseat of a car. This is supposed to be recounted as a positive experience. In the book she’s exited and happy to have reached her womanhood. She wanted to loose her virginity and she enjoyed the experience. Tyler needed to catch that youthful new sexual energy he grasped the tip of it but couldn’t capture the whole thing. I will say that her scene with Macy Gray was brilliant and I think and Macy is actually a seriously untapped acting talent. Macy portrays a beautiful woman broken by the ugliness that usually finds beautiful women in a poor neighborhood.
Fourth: The other seasoned characters make the film more than worthwhile and an excellent experience. Kimberly Elise did a marvelous job as an abused woman and I think Michael Ealy played the part of her PTSD soldier boyfriend just perfect. Plus their kids are hella cute. When you see the movie go ahead and know that’s what J.R. and my kids will look like one day. Yes it’s a vision.
Phylicia Rashad could get my panties any day of the week (twice on Sundays) I don't care how old she is. Her acting is less like reciting and more like breathing life into a character who was lying dormant in her body. She is a persona who was patiently sitting back until the day Phylicia just allowed her to take control of her body. She is flawless, effortless, stone-cold precise, perfect, and ever brilliant. That has nothing to do with Tyler and more to do with her just being an exceptional screen presence.
Whoopi Goldberg (praise Jesus hallelujah) back on the big screen is an absolutely stunning religious zealot (read: nutjob). She’s one sip away from offering us ALL kool-aid on the street. 
I believe her and El-Noaim are gonna make it one day. Tyler doesn’t need to direct her. He should have hired a director to help him with Janet. I’m sure he tried to give Whoopi some pointers and she looked at him over her glasses and was like “negro please I’ve been acting since before you knew you had a penis”. She’ll captivate you end of story.
Anika Noni Rose (a.k.a princess Tiana) has a smile so wide I think you can see her molars. Tyler makes a mistake during one of her scenes that I won’t give away let’s just say he should have rethought the Opera music. Also she recites every lines the way I always envisioned it. Kudos and props.
Loretta Devine lives up to her God given name. . She delivers her lines with a breathless fervor that has the audience leaning forward trying to catch her words as they flutter through the scenes like a butterfly with 3 foot wings. She is a robber. She hijacks every scene she is in. Every one. Hands down. My favorite scene is when she talks about how her man almost walked away with her “stuff”. Stuff in this context is “dignity, esteem, sense of self, humanity, pride, and joy” . She’s speaking to a group of women at a health center and that is an excellent adaptation on Perry’s part.
Lastly: The movie runs relatively smoothly. I’m sure that every line you find memorable from the movie was directly pulled from the book. I’m also sure that everything you find obnoxious about the movie will be a direct addition by Tyler Perry. I am however bothered by the ending. Tyler has all the women come together for a group scene that includes a laying on of the hands.
It’s a scene where all the women (minus Whoopi) realize there is GOD in them and she is beautiful and filling. However Tyler has them somberly gather around one woman who has had a particularly tragic ending to her tale and just hold her like Waiting to Exhale without the wine. . .WOMP. The end of the book is a CELEBRATION. There is dancing. Singing. Joy. Exhaling. These women have come into themselves and in their godliness. 
The women are all in their colors and they circle the stage creating a rainbow of hope and possibility TYLER. That’s the point of the play. The idea is that yes life throws us tragedy and heartache and pain and sometimes we can’t see through the blood and tears but there is always GOD in us and GOD in friends and help in self and belief in one’s own ability to survive and that is something worth celebrating.
The movie ended like a lifetime movie. 
I looked around and was surprised I wasn’t at home in my PJs.I give it an overall B. And that’s only because he was able to incorporate so much of Ntazake’s work into it. I needed Tyler to tune down his Divo and get some help. But alas it’s hard to do with the sound of your own greatness is ringing in your ears.
