Straw – Movie Breakdown: Taraji Deserved Better Than Tyler Perry’s Netflix Disaster

A Stunning Performance in a Film That Falls Apart

Netflix’s Straw, directed by Tyler Perry, wants to be a hard-hitting social drama. It wants to comment on economic despair, racial injustice, and mental health. But despite its ambitions, it collapses under the weight of melodrama, uneven pacing, and shallow character work.

At the center of this mess is Taraji P. Henson, delivering a performance far more compelling than the film around her. She’s magnetic. She’s raw. She’s everything the story needed—but everything else fails to match her caliber.

Taraji P. Henson’s Powerhouse Performance

Henson plays Janiyah, a single mother trying to stay afloat amid rising bills, an unstable job, a sick child, and the ever-present threat of eviction. Her portrayal is emotionally devastating, with a level of vulnerability that makes even the film’s most implausible moments feel grounded.

She communicates despair through silence, fear through her posture, and resolve through the fire in her eyes. Critics across outlets like The Guardian, Decider, and EW agree: she elevates every scene she’s in. Unfortunately, she's not just carrying the film—she's carrying the weight of a broken script.

A Plot That Shifts From Realism to Ridiculous

The first act is believable, even promising. We watch a mother pushed to her limits:

• Laid off unexpectedly

• Her daughter suffers from severe medical issues

• Evicted from her home

• Facing constant systemic pressure with no safety net

This setup feels familiar and sadly real for many viewers. But Perry doesn’t trust that reality to speak for itself.

Instead, the movie spirals into implausibility. A student science project is mistaken for a bomb, triggering a full-scale police standoff at a bank. The final 45 minutes turn into a chaotic mishmash of SWAT teams, viral media coverage, hostage negotiations, and conspiracy theories.

The tone shifts are so sharp it feels like two completely different movies—and neither one fully works.

Supporting Cast: Flat and Forgettable

While Taraji is operating on one level, the rest of the cast feels stuck in a different, less compelling movie.

• Sherri Shepherd, as the bank manager, is solid but underwritten.

• Teyana Taylor plays a detective trying to empathize with Janiyah but lacks a meaningful arc.

• Sinbad appears in a brief protest scene that feels more symbolic than emotionally resonant.

The supporting characters function more as plot devices than real people. No one else feels as emotionally textured or lived-in as Henson’s character, making it hard for the audience to invest in the larger world.

Tyler Perry’s Direction: Melodrama Over Message

This isn’t the first time Perry has tried to balance social commentary with emotional spectacle, but Straw proves he hasn’t quite figured out the formula.

He leans on rainstorms, dramatic music cues, and sermon-like monologues rather than letting moments breathe. The result? A film that constantly tells instead of shows—lecturing the audience instead of trusting them.

Even when the film tries to critique the system—racist institutions, economic exploitation, medical neglect—it does so in broad strokes. There’s little room for nuance or depth. It’s a missed opportunity.

The Final Twist: An Idea That Arrives Too Late

In the film’s final act, we learn that Janiyah’s daughter had died before the standoff even began. Everything we’ve seen is a result of her psychotic break from grief, blending trauma, memory, and imagination.

This twist had potential. But by the time it lands, the audience is already exhausted by the film’s tonal inconsistencies. It doesn’t clarify the story—it confuses it further.

Other films have executed similar psychological reveals with impact (Breaking, Joker, Requiem for a Dream), but Strawlacks the deliberate pacing and emotional layering necessary to make it hit.

A Comparison to Breaking (2022): Less Is More

Straw draws inspiration from Breaking, the critically acclaimed 2022 drama starring John Boyega as a veteran pushed to the edge. But where Breaking is quiet, focused, and emotionally restrained, Straw is the opposite.

ElementBreakingStrawToneSubtle, character-drivenLoud, emotionally scatteredFocusOne conflict, one settingMultiple crises, chaotic escalationLead PerformanceIntrospectiveExplosive but uneven scriptDirectionControlled tensionOverly dramatized

The comparison shows that Straw had the right bones, but Perry couldn’t resist overcomplicating the story.

Social Commentary or Trauma Exploitation?

Perry clearly wants to make a point about Black motherhood, mental health, poverty, and systemic failure. But he delivers those themes with such heavy-handedness that they lose authenticity.

Instead of giving us character-based insight, the film serves up trauma as spectacle. It’s hard to tell if we’re supposed to reflect or just react.

Films like The Florida Project, Moonlight, or even Precious show how you can portray pain and poverty with dignity. Straw doesn’t quite manage that balance. The message is real, but the execution feels manipulative.

Final Take: A Film That Squanders Its Potential

What works:

• Taraji P. Henson’s performance is awards-worthy

• A genuinely important twist idea (mental health breakdown)

• Strong themes about economic and social injustice

What fails:

• Overblown storytelling that undercuts emotional authenticity

• Flat supporting characters with no real arc

• A chaotic tone that confuses realism with drama

Straw might have had the right intentions, but intentions aren’t enough. Perry’s tendency to overwrite and over-direct drowns out the nuance this story demanded.

Verdict: Taraji gave this everything. The rest of the film gave her nothing in return.