# For Colored Girls

For Colored Girls is a 2010 American drama film adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. Written, directed and co-produced by Tyler Perry, the film features an ensemble cast which includes Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Thandiwe Newton, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Tessa Thompson, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, and Macy Gray.
The film's ensemble consists of ten women of color, seven of whom are based on the play's seven characters, only known by colour (e.g. "lady in red", "lady in brown", and "lady in yellow"), and explores their lives and struggles as women of color. Like its source material, each character deals with a different personal conflict, such as love, abandonment, rape, infidelity, and abortion. It was the first film to be produced by 34th Street Films, an imprint of Tyler Perry Studios, and the first R-rated film directed by Perry. With a budget of $21 million, For Colored Girls was released on November 5, 2010, by Lionsgate Films, and made $38 million.

## Plot

Kelly, a social worker, visits Tangie’s brownstone to check on Crystal’s children but is kicked out by Crystal’s alcoholic boyfriend, Beau Willie. Meanwhile, Juanita ends her affair with Frank, and Alice, Tangie’s mother, asks Tangie for money but is refused. Gilda, the nosy neighbor, informs Kelly about Crystal’s situation and admits to calling her.
Alice encounters Yasmine, who is boasting to the girls in her dance class about Bill, a man she met. A dance student, Nyla, talks with the girls about her graduation night and later begins to vomit.
Juanita waits in Jo’s office to seek funding for a women’s health non-profit but is dismissed. Kelly learns from her gynecologist that she cannot have children due to an untreated STD. Juanita, rejects Frank’s plea for forgiveness.
Crystal urges Beau Willie to stop drinking, but he only wants to marry her for welfare benefits. Jo leaves a voicemail asking her husband, Carl, to call her back.
Yasmine and Bill enjoy a date, reminiscing about her love for Latin dance. At home, Alice gives Nyla a small amount of money, thinking it’s for college. Nyla visits Tangie for more money but is confronted about being pregnant, which she denies. Tangie taunts her and directs Nyla to an abortionist.
Jo waits for Carl, who was arrested earlier. Donald returns home, and Kelly reveals that she contracted an STD from a man she and two friends had dated.
Carl apologizes to Jo by getting opera tickets, though he dislikes the opera, and is clearly attracted to other men. Tangie tries to pay for Nyla’s college fees, but Yasmine reveals the dance class is free. Tangie realizes Nyla visited a drunken abortionist. Meanwhile, Yasmine invites Bill to dinner, but he rapes her.
At the opera, Jo watches as her husband cruises another man. Crystal, on her way home with Jo, is beaten by Beau Willie, who accuses her of infidelity. He then dangles their children from a window, dropping them to their deaths. Gilda screams for help, while Jo, Juanita, and others witness the tragedy.
At the hospital, Donald informs Yasmine that pressing rape charges will be difficult. At the same hospital, Alice comes in search of Nyla, who is being interrogated by Renee and Kelly. After being informed of the situation and recognizing Crystal, Kelly becomes visibly upset.
Alice confronts Tangie in her apartment, they reveal to each other that Tangie was assaulted by her grandfather, Alice's father, causing Alice to take her to the abortionist. Alice reveals that her father took her virginity and that she was given to a white man at fifteen to have children. After kicking Alice out of her apartment, Gilda comes into her house and gives her a detailed account of Tangie's exploits. Tangie believes that Gilda has been snooping again through the wall, but Gilda reveals that she was once like Tangie.
Carl returns home to find Jo distraught and reveals what happened with Crystal. Alice and Nyla return home, Alice insists Nyla pray for forgiveness and tries to perform an exorcism, causing Nyla to flee. Nyla goes to Yasmine’s apartment, but Yasmine does not answer the door.
Kelly is waiting outside the brownstone as Crystal is scrubbing away her children’s blood from the sidewalk. Nyla passes by and Kelly takes her into Crystal's apartment to wash her up. Hearing Tangie bring in yet another suitor to her apartment, Nyla confronts her. Tangie kicks her suitor out after he asks her to invite Nyla for a threesome. Tangie and Nyla hash out their problems.
Yasmine is practicing an interpretive dance as Kelly discovers that Crystal has swallowed an entire bottle of pills. Crystal is taken to the hospital as Yasmine is visited by Donald, who has informed her that Bill has been murdered after attempting to rape another woman. She goes into the morgue to look at his body one last time, before slapping him and then leaving.

## Cast

* Janet Jackson as Joanna "Jo" Bradmore ("Lady in Red")
* Thandiwe Newton as Tangie Adrose ("Lady in Orange") (as Thandie Newton)
* Anika Noni Rose as Yasmine ("Lady in Yellow")
* Loretta Devine as Juanita Sims ("Lady in Green")
* Kerry Washington as Kelly Watkins ("Lady in Blue")
* Tessa Thompson as Nyla Adrose ("Lady in Purple")
* Kimberly Elise as Crystal Wallace ("Lady in Brown")
* Whoopi Goldberg as Alice Adrose ("Lady in White")
* Phylicia Rashad as Gilda ("Lady in Black")
* Macy Gray as Rose ("Lady in Pink")
* Michael Ealy as Beau Willie Brown
* Omari Hardwick as Carl Bradmore
* Hill Harper as Donald Watkins
* Khalil Kain as Bill
* Richard Lawson as Frank

## Production

On September 3, 2009, Lionsgate announced it had acquired the distribution rights to Tyler Perry's 34th Street Films adaptation of the play, with principal photography originally scheduled to take place in Atlanta, Georgia in November and December 2009, with a planned 2010 release. The film was written, directed, and produced by Perry. The cast includes Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Thandiwe Newton, and Tessa Thompson. Mariah Carey had also been cast, but pulled out in May 2010, citing medical reasons (later revealed to be her pregnancy); Thandiwe Newton was cast to replace her. Macy Gray was also cast.
Originally using the play's full title, the film's title was shortened to For Colored Girls in September 2010. In an October 2010 press conference with the cast, Perry credited his full body of work for being able to make the film, stating, "It took everything—Madea, House of Payne and all of that—for me to be able to do For Colored Girls. Had none of that happened I wouldn't have been able to say, 'Listen, this is what I want to do next,' so I’m very proud of it all."
When asked if she held reservations about Perry's adaptation of her work, Shange responded: "I had a lot of qualms. I worried about his characterizations of women as plastic." In reference to the film post-production, she stated, "I think he did a very fine job, although I'm not sure I would call it a finished film."

## Soundtrack

For Colored Girls: Music From and Inspired by the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on November 2, 2010. It features music from the cast, as well as Leona Lewis and Nina Simone.

## Release

The film was originally planned for a 2010 release, but was later delayed until January 14, 2011. However, the studio chose to move the release date forward to November 5, 2010; Tyler Perry commented it was "a serious film that really lends itself to the Fall period." Grossing $20.1 million in its opening weekend, For Colored Girls debuted at the box office at #3, behind Megamind ($47.7 million) and Due Date ($33.5 million).

### Critical reception

On Metacritic the film received a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". On Rotten Tomatoes 32% of 109 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's consensus is that "Tyler Perry has assembled a fine cast for this adaptation of the 1975 play, and his heart is obviously in the right place, but his fondness for melodrama cheapens a meaningful story". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a grade "A" on a scale from A+ to F.
Early reviews from a private screening by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter were negative. Peter DeBruge of Variety stated that "[i]n adapting Ntozake Shange's Tony-nominated play—a cycle of poetic monologues about abuse, abortion and other issues facing modern black women, rather than a traditional narrative—the do-it-all auteur demonstrates an ambition beyond any of his previous work. And yet the result falls squarely in familiar territory, better acted and better lit, perhaps, but more inauthentically melodramatic than ever." Despite an overall negative view of the film's plot and direction, DeBruge gives praise to the acting of its principal cast.
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter highlighted the difficulty in translating Shange's poetic play to film. He commented: "No, it never was going to be easy, but someone needed to put creative sweat into this one, to reach for cinematic solutions to the theatrical challenge. All Perry does is force conventional plots and characters—utter cliches without lives or souls—into the fabric of Shange's literary work. The hackneyed melodramas get him from one poem to the next but run roughshod over the collective sense of who these women are." Honeycutt acknowledged the talents of the film's actresses, highlighting performances by Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, and Kimberly Elise.
Critic Marshall Fine gave a negative review in The Huffington Post. He asserts Perry's screenplay is inadequate for its source material, stating that each character "gets the opportunity to suddenly burst into Shange's poetic arias. But the connective tissue that links the various stories ... amounts to a college course in black social pathology—or perhaps just human pathology." Acknowledging the acting talent of the ensemble cast, he states: "Don't get me wrong. The women of this film all shine, hitting strong emotional notes that ring true even when Perry's adaptation feels false ... So let's just say that For Colored Girls is a barely competent film (which is a big step up for Perry), illuminated by luminous performances."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly comments: "The female cast is great, with especially fierce performances from Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Phylicia Rashad, and Anika Noni Rose. But stuck in a flailing production that might just as well invite Perry's signature drag creation Madea to the block party, the actors' earnest work isn't enuf."
Claudia Puig of USA Today called the film a "strained soap opera" which "has wrung the beauty and truth out of the original in almost every way possible." Mary Pols of Time magazine states that despite the caliber of the cast, "Elise's performance is the only restrained one in the film and her Crystal is For Colored Girls' most compelling character." She concludes that "For Colored Girls feels like the cinematic equivalent to putting a garish reproduction of the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of your McMansion and calling it art."
In contrast, a review by Shadow and Act was favorable, calling For Colored Girls "the best thing Perry has done to date." Perry is complimented on his cinematography, and use of "subtlety and nuance", although his screenwriting is still considered to be the weakest aspect of the film. Like previous reviews, praise is given to the acting quality of the cast, especially regarding performances given by Thandiwe Newton, Janet Jackson, and Kimberly Elise. The Huffington Post journalist Jenee Darden gave a mixed review. She comments that Perry's modern plot conflicts with the narrative of Shange's poetry which was written during the 1970s, explaining: "The film is set in the present and black people don't use the word 'colored' anymore. Watching a character type on a laptop then hearing someone describe themselves as 'colored' a few scenes later doesn't feel realistic."
She commends the acting of the cast, stating "Kimberly Elise stirs you as always. Loretta Devine is funny and vivid. Thandie Newton delivers as a troubled, selfish sex addict. She and Whoopi were matched perfectly as a mother and daughter with serious tensions. Singer Macy Gray's eerie portrayal of a back-alley abortionist will make you rethink ever having unsafe sex." Roger Ebert comments that "Shange's award-winning play is justly respected, but I'm not sure it’s filmmable, and I’m pretty sure it wasn't a wise choice for Perry ... That’s not to say 'For Colored Girls' doesn't have its virtues. Seeing these actresses together is a poignant reminder of their gifts, and of the absence of interesting roles for actresses in general and African-American ones in particular."
Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave a positive review, stating that "[w]ith a surgical precision, the writer-director cut [Shange's poetry] apart and reassembled it, using various pieces to create characters and storylines, keeping much of the poetry, writing the connective tissue himself so that it finds a new life, a somewhat different life on screen," and said it is his most "mature" film to-date. Commenting on the acting of the ensemble cast, she states: "Newton's Tangie swings too wildly; Goldberg's Alice, clad in white and rage, never finds traction; and Rashad, as the apartment manager Gilda, the central link between many of the characters, never quite connects, so it often feels as if she's walked onto the wrong stage" but adds that "[w]hatever stumbles there may be, they are offset by moments when 'For Colored Girls' soars," ultimately describing the film as "unforgettable."
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called For Colored Girls "a serious achievement." He compliments Perry's work, stating "this new film shows a mastery of tone, a capacity to elicit strong performances and also to bring out different colors within those performances so that, when it all comes together, it's not the same note sounding over and over. This is smart, lovely work." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film "a thunderous storm of a movie." Dargis states that "working with fine performers like Ms. Elise, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad and Kerry Washington, he sings the song the way he likes it—with force, feeling and tremendous sincerity."
Matt Zoller Seitz of Salon.com calls For Colored Girls Perry's "most problematic work. It's also his most ambitious." He adds that "Perry never solves the stage-to-screen translation problem. But the path he has chosen is as intriguing as it is irksome, and it works better than you might expect." In terms of acting, he praises Jackson's performance, stating: "[s]he outdoes herself here ... It's not just Jackson's short haircut and traumatized eyes that might remind viewers of Jane Wyman or Joan Crawford; Perry gets at the mix of masculine hyper-competitiveness and feminine vulnerability that has always defined Jackson, and links it to the wily, lonely coldness often captured in Wyman and Crawford performances, a directorial gambit of tremendous perceptiveness." In addition, he says Perry "is just as sharp directing Jackson's costars—especially Elise, Rashad and Devine."

## Accolades

For Colored Girls has received accolades primarily from African American film and critic associations, in multiple categories including acting, writing, directing and overall production. Kimberly Elise has received the most acting nomination among the cast, followed by Anika Noni Rose and Phylicia Rashad.
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| African-American Film Critics Association | December 13, 2010 | Best Picture | For Colored Girls | Nominated |
| African-American Film Critics Association | December 13, 2010 | Best Song | Nina Simone | Won |
| African-American Film Critics Association | December 13, 2010 | Best Supporting Actor | Michael Ealy | Won |
| African-American Film Critics Association | December 13, 2010 | Best Supporting Actress | Kimberly Elise | Won |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Actress | Kimberly Elise | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Actress | Thandiwe Newton | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Actress | Anika Noni Rose | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Breakthrough Performance | Omari Hardwick | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Breakthrough Performance | Tessa Thompson | Won |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Director | Tyler Perry | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Film | For Colored Girls | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Ensemble | For Colored Girls | Won |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Original Score | Aaron Zigman | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Original Song | Leona Lewis | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Screenplay, Original or Adapted | Tyler Perry | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress | Janet Jackson | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress | Phylicia Rashad | Won |
| Black Reel Awards | February 13, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress | Kerry Washington | Nominated |
| Heartland Truly Moving Pictures | 2010 | Truly Moving Film | For Colored Girls | Won |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Directing for a Motion Picture/Television Movie | Tyler Perry | Won |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Motion Picture | For Colored Girls | Won |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture | Michael Ealy | Nominated |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Kimberly Elise | Won |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Whoopi Goldberg | Nominated |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Phylicia Rashad | Nominated |
| NAACP Image Awards | March 4, 2011 | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Anika Noni Rose | Nominated |