Tyler Perry's latest crackles with electricity, thanks to heaps of boffo acting talent, high-octane musical interludes, and the most easy-to-root-for electrocution scene since Ernest Goes to Jail. True, the sparks aren't in Perry's script, a soppy hanky moistener in which callous nightclub singer April (played by the mesmerizing Taraji P. Henson) finds herself pressured to take in a Colombian handyman (Adam Rodriguez) and a litter of traumatized orphans spawned by her crackhead sister.
But Perry's incandescent cast, which also boasts Mary J. Blige, Gladys Knight, and gospel singer Marvin Winans, is more than capable of shouldering this morality play, and Perry's in-drag alter ego, Madea, adds some welcome comic relief.
Read between the lines and you can find some squirm-inducing sour notes — it seems April is forever destined to be a reflection of her man — but overall, I Can Do Bad does just fine.
