Taraji P. Henson plays a single mother struggling to care for her sick daughter in ‘Straw’.
Tyler Perry’s new Netflix film, Straw, has debuted with a strong audience score on Rotten Tomatoes despite failing to convince the critics.
Straw is the latest project from Perry and Netflix’s film creative partnership that has the filmmaker writing, directing, and producing features under a multi-year, first-look deal.
It stars Taraji P. Henson as a single mother struggling to care for her sick daughter alongside Sherri Shepherd and Teyana Taylor.
“She’s just trying to survive, just trying to be a great mother to her daughter, and then the circumstances in her life cause her to be in this situation,” Perry told Netflix’s Tudum publication about the storyline. “I think that a lot of people around the world, no matter if you’re a Black woman or not, will be able to relate to that feeling of, ‘I’m at my last straw.’”
Straw landed on the streamer on Friday and currently has an audience “Popcornmeter” rating of 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It does not yet have an average critic score on the review aggregator.
“Currently watching Straw on Netflix, and it's been a long time since a movie touched me this hard,” one viewer raved on X. “I know it's just a movie, but it hits close to home thinking about people who are actually going through so much in life and are close to hitting their last straw.”
“I don’t care what anyone says about Tyler Perry, STRAW was phenomenal!!” wrote another.
Others specifically praised Henson’s performance in the movie.
“If Taraji P Henson don’t get a damn Oscar for this I will raise HELL!” one fan pledged. “This girl acted her ass off in this movie.I cried so much watching this. Her ethic,ambition,poise,&resilience shown in this movie she needs the credit she doesn’t get!”
“Every scene in this movie just traumatized me. Taraji P Henson is truly one of the greatest actresses of her generation,” added another.
Image: Teyana Taylor as Officer Kay Raymond in ‘Straw’(Chip Bergmann/Perry Well Films 2/Courtesy Netflix)
Film critics were less convinced by the project.
The Guardian’s Andrew Lawrence argued that Henson’s acting deserved more in his two-star review.
“Yet again it’s Henson who delivers the powerhouse performance while edging from distress to anger to winsome compassion. It’s just a shame that after hiring her for four films now, Perry is still treating her like a speed bag,” Lawrence wrote.
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter’s Lovia Gyarkye described the film as “reliably overwrought.”
“Fans of the [Perry] will recognize the mélange of caricatures and predictable plotting that propel Straw to its charged conclusion,” writes Gyarkye.
The Washington Post’s Ty Burr offered a withering take: “Few filmmakers portray the Black American experience with so much heart and so little finesse as Tyler Perry.”
