Mary J. Blige in I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)

Tanya — Mary J. Blige in I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)

Film: I Can Do Bad All by Myself | Director: Tyler Perry | Year: 2009 |  Co-Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Adam Rodriguez

Tyler Perry called Mary J. Blige. And Mary J. Blige answered. I Can Do Bad All By Myself is a beautiful film with a powerful cast and when Mary walked on screen as Tanya the bartender I remember thinking this woman belongs in movies. Like really belongs. Not as a celebrity guest. As an actress.

About the Film

I Can Do Bad All By Myself is a Tyler Perry drama-comedy based on his stage play of the same name. It stars Taraji P. Henson as April, a woman who drinks too much and makes poor choices in love. When her niece and nephews end up in her care after her mother's death, her life gets turned upside down. The film also stars Adam Rodriguez and features several musical performances.

Mary as Tanya

Mary plays Tanya, the singing bartender at the nightclub where April spends her nights. Tanya is a woman with a voice and a story, someone who has seen things and survived them and keeps singing anyway. That description could apply to Mary herself in about seventeen different ways.

What makes her performance in this film so compelling is that she is not playing a star. She is playing a working woman. Someone in the background of other people's stories who has her own whole life happening. And Mary brings that wholeness to every scene she is in.

Alongside Taraji P. Henson

The energy between Mary and Taraji is electric. Two powerhouses sharing a screen, both fully committed to the material, both bringing everything they have. Billboard noted that this was Mary's first appearance in a big-budget film production where her role went beyond playing a parallel version of herself. They were right. Tanya was a character. And Mary inhabited her completely.

This was a turning point. After I Can Do Bad All By Myself the film offers started getting bigger and the roles started getting more complex. Hollywood was paying attention.

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