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You may need some time alone after viewing “For Colored Girls.” Whatever you may think of the fact that it was Tyler Perry who finally brought the award-winning 1974 Ntozake Shange stage production to the big screen, it will move you. The collective of brilliant black actresses, who have had little opportunity before now to showcase their true acting chops, are what make ‘For Colored Girls’ a must-see.

Whoopi Goldberg  – an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy winner – Thandie Newton, Kerry Washington, Tony winners Phylicia Rashad and Anika Noni Rose, Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, Grammy-winner Janet Jackson, Tessa Thompson and Macy Gray are all capable of great work, as their various accolades would indicate. But never before has such a talented ensemble of black actresses been allowed the kind of nuanced, gut-wrenching and beautifully written material that Shange’s source work, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” provides them. Newton and Rose, in particular, leap upon the words and characters like a hungry lion leaps on a cheetah in the wild. The two actresses truly shine amidst an outstanding cast.

To adapt the story to the screen, Perry had to construct a narrative around the women that allowed it to become reasonable for a film version. “For Colored Girls” is set in New York City in more or less the present day, and a “Women Of Brewster Place” affectation allows four of the film’s nine-member ensemble cast to live in one apartment building. This works more or less, although, given that it’s New York City, you have to question the level of involvement these women have in each other’s lives, not to mention that they seem to be the only people who live in this particular building.

In Shange’s stage version, a different color represented each woman (the Lady In Red, the Lady In Blue, etc.), and the men referred to in the play didn’t actually take part in the production. In Perry’s version, following the narrative constructed to foster the transition from one medium to another, the men are in the film, played by Khalil Kain, Hill Harper, Richard Lawson, Michael Ealy and Omari Hardwick. 

Yes, the men in both versions of “For Colored Girls” range from duplicitous to horrendous, with the exception of Harper’s character. Hardwick’s character does not exist in the stage version, but Perry cleverly adapts Shange’s famed “I’m Sorry” poem to allow for a more contemporary update. When the inevitable “male-bashing” criticisms are made, it’s important to remember that Shange wrote the original play in 1974, when she was in her 20s, and it probably reflected her experiences and mindset at the time. What is perhaps even more disturbing than the overwhelmingly negative male characters is the fact that over 30 years later, women are still dealing with the issues the film deftly details.

While neither Madea nor her sensibilities infuse the Perry version of “For Colored Girls,” some of his weaknesses as a writer are evident. As other reviewers have mentioned, Jackson’s uptight fashion editor seems to be directly borrowed from “The Devil Wears Prada” (Are all NY fashion editors really that venal?), and while the apartment building allows disparate characters to interact, the plot device lacks authenticity. Washington is given little to do, and her character seems to have been recreated by Perry solely to move the plot along.

The least gifted actress, not surprisingly, is Jackson, who is given one of the theater version’s most memorable poems to do. While she pulls it off – and it is the best acting that we’ve seen from her thus far – Jackson’s …..

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