For Colored Girls...not for me [R E V I E W]

So a few days ago I decided to watch Tyler Perry’s new movie “For Colored Girls”, I had been excited to watch it for a while, I’ve heard mixed reviews about it so I wanted to see for myself.

A little brief synopsis of the movie:  For coloured girls is a movie that takes you on a journey through the lives of 8 black women all being represented by a specific colour. The women go through some hard hitting stuff; I don’t want to say too much just in case you haven’t seen it.

In knowing that this movie was based on a 1975 theatrical piece by Ntozake Shange called 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf' (an acclaimed work of prose poetry that examined what it means to be a black woman), my excitement turned to anxiety, I was anxious to see how Tyler’s portrayal of this play would transcend cinematically.
Sad to say I was quite disappointed but yet not too surprised, Tyler Perry managed to over dramatize a beautiful piece by making it “his own” and doing what he does best, turn the whole thing into a huge soap opera with melodrama’s and obvious black cliché’s.  If I could say anything positive about the film it was that he managed to just about capture the essence of the original poetry by incorporating it within the dialogue, for it to sound like highly theatrical and evocative poetry rather than just....dialogue.

Personally I didn’t feel “empowered” by the movie, and what I actually took away from it (and what I tend to gain from most of Tyler Perry films) is that I should steer clear from all men, they’re dangerous, troublesome and bad for me. When in hindsight the moral of the play was the idea that to love a man, especially sexually, means giving up part of yourself, relinquishing some of your power. Also that to be a woman is difficult enough without having to contend with other women scrutinizing you, and as women we should be able to look out for each other. In my humble opinion For Colored Girls is basically Waiting To Exhale pissed on by Tyler Perry...harsh?

All in all I’d give the film 5/10, solely on dramatic purposes and the fact that he used an amazing cast of great black actresses, who in my opinion were the glue that held the train wreck together. The whole movie lacked class, substance, and raw emotion. A CHEAP portrayal of the original play.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:28-31