For Colored Girls (2010)

Tyler Perry’s poetic opus For Colored Girls (2010), based on the 1975 play For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuff (try saying that three times fast), touches on some heavy issues-- violent sex, down-low homosexuality, illegal abortion, hoarding-- with the soap opera aplomb we’ve come to expect from the director of Madea Goes to Jail. Luckily, this time Perry remains behind the camera and lets the sisters do it for themselves.

The play and film are centered on 20 poems, each representing a different social problem. Each poem is read as a dramatic monologue by one of the cast’s accomplished thespians. The all-star ensemble is stacked with some racktastic actresses, like Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Tessa Thompson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Phylicia Rashad as the nosy landlady. The girls of For Colored Girls are too busy dealing with their problems to give us the full triple-B treatment, but there are some tasty nuggets of Janet, Thandie, and Kimberly looking grown and sexy in silky lingerie.