Straw Movie Review: Janiyah and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
This might ruffle some feathers, but Trinis not afraid to talk the truth. Anyone who knows me knows I can’t stand Tyler Perry’s movies. Nothing personal — I respect what he’s accomplished as a Black man — but his ego and refusal to grow as a storyteller? I can’t take that nah.
I grew up hearing my mom talk about how much she loved Diary of a Mad Black Woman. That was 2005. It’s 2025, and he’s still telling the same predictable stories — especially about Black women.
His latest film follows Janiyah, a single mom with a sick child, living in a rundown apartment. From the title alone, I knew exactly where it was going. Tyler might mean well, but he writes like the audience is a room full of toddlers who can’t be trusted to understand basic emotion unless it’s screamed, repeated, and color-coded. He doesn’t just underline the message — he grabs a crayon and draws you a picture.
Let’s get into it.
Listen, I’m really going to try not to get too deep into the story — but this movie, man. It’s heavy in all the wrong ways. I get that it’s trying to reflect real struggles, and I respect that, but serious subject matter shouldn’t make a film immune to criticism.
Tyler’s writing is about as subtle as a brick to the face. The main character goes through one awful thing after another, and instead of feeling real or earned, it just comes off as forced — like trauma being used to drag the plot forward. It’s lazy storytelling. And like every Tyler Perry project, it’s painfully obvious he did everything himself. The lack of collaboration shows — in the script, direction, pacing — all of it.
Tyler Perry is a billionaire. That’s a thousand million dollars. He could hire the best writers, directors, cinematographers, and actors — and still have millions left over. To be fair, some of those creatives might not want his name on their résumé, which is understandable. But he still has access to people who could seriously elevate the work. He just chooses not to use them, and it shows.
The movie looked like it was shot on a phone and color graded in the mobile version of Adobe Premiere. The set design felt like he wandered onto his land, picked a spot, and started filming. For someone with that much money, doing the bare minimum shouldn’t be the norm.
The only real standout was Taraji P. Henson. She brought emotion, intensity — everything the film lacked. But watching her pour herself into scenes surrounded by lifeless performances felt like watching her act against cardboard.
From a business standpoint, Tyler Perry is doing exceptionally well — and honestly, we can’t really blame him. He’s mastered the art of giving people what they want. Every time he drops a project, it shoots to the top of the charts and dominates conversation for a few days. So maybe the real issue is us. We keep watching these lazy projects, so why would he feel any need to improve?
The truth is, Tyler Perry will keep serving up the same low-effort content until audiences demand better — and let’s be real, that doesn’t seem likely anytime soon.
The movie is available to watch on Netflix, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
