In Gen Z tongue, “the movie is so goated that it rearranged your mental health, in a good way though.”

Made by Tyler Perry, the film follows Henson’s character, who faces a series of unfortunate events that lead her down an unexpected path. Struggling against circumstances beyond her control, she becomes entangled in a situation she never imagined, and as us audiences, we could not either.

Fuelled by desperation, she finds herself at the centre of suspicion in a world that seems indifferent to her existence.

This movie is particularly striking for a nerve-wrenching situation, where a slow build will tear the viewer’s heart, but again it tries to put the pieces back together. While watching it, every scene was keeping my attention quite deep into the characters’ dilemma and her final “straw” moments.

Taraji… Ahh! What more can I say about her performance? In my books, she is a legend, an icon. She has an aura that can make you fall into the rabbit hole surrounded by her persona, which she successfully carries the burden of with her superb acting. Any other compliment is not enough to praise her; her acting is just that good.

The movie has an easy-to-understand plot that has been curved beautifully.

In the trailer, Henson’s character visits a bank with a dire need to cash her cheque. However, something escalates, leading her to rob the bank.

“I did not mean to do this; something inside of me broke,” she says in the trailer clearly, while suffering a personal crisis. “I told them I need that money to get my daughter’s medicines. She is sick,” she added.

At the time of her visit to the bank, customers were waiting for their turn to complete their transactions; they are now her hostages. Taylor is a hostage negotiator trying to keep things calm while working on a swift and safe resolution for all involved.

To add to her problems, Henson’s character and her family are also being evicted from their home. Are such dire straits a reason to do the unthinkable?

A single Black mother who has a sick daughter who dies a day before she faces back-to-back bad events, which expectedly makes her snap. But, yes, there is a BUT here, spoiler alert: she gets herself up carefully at the end. The incidents happen which might have made her commit the crimes, but being a good human, she does understand everything at last and surrenders herself to the law.

Other characters were there to break her or help her and they were good too. Dialogue delivery was emotionally catchy; it made me tear up. And again, kudos to the scriptwriter and the casting director for choosing Taraji for the lead.

Why Hollywood does not produce this kind of great art these days is my question to the concerned… Why? Only twists and complexity cannot always be watchable. We need comforting content like this that can be rewatched again and again because of how good the concept simply is.

Taraji is known for her all-rounder personality. Honestly speaking, she is a treat to the ladies choosing movies with the best plots in my opinion. I have watched her other work and I must say, she is perfect.

“Straw” is just another instance of her amazing talent. Her expression and performance delivery felt so real, like I was there with her, feeling every bad and the good that her character has signed up for us to feel.

Last but not least, I really give Tyler Perry credit for his down-to-earth relatable entertainment and depictions of us in his plays, TV shows and movies. His finger is always on the pulse of what is really going on, as he usually never misses.