Diary of a Tired Black Man (2008) User Reviews

Interesting but one-sided

[sweatermanmcgee · 6/10 · 26 August 2020]

The dramatic parts are poorly scripted sometimes to a comedic level, but it starts an interesting conversation. It's definitely from a male point of view. Some of the interviews with men acknowledge their fault in the relationships, but this IS NOT the narrative.

Anyway, I'm "Conan O'Brien" white so take this review however you want.

The Truth

[DPEFilms · 5/10 · 19 June 2013]

People don't look at movies like they should, you get mad at the content and want to rate it low, or you look at the UNKNOWN actors, but you should look at a film for its content... quality, editing style, topics... I saw this film years ago, I thought it was on point far as perception of the subject matter. If you didn't like the movie thats OK to voice your opinions but if you don't have a film project at all then why be highly critical on someone who does? a movie cant cater to every viewer. This movie was a typical low budget, creative and playful movie. He had to start somewhere! every movie don't have to be a blockbuster to be a good film... you guys are way to Hollywood! some of the best movies are low- budget films. its all opinion. and your opinion belongs to you.

Diary of a Tired Viewer...

[jazni · 2/10 · 31 May 2010]

I stumbled upon this film playing on Showtime and found it to be so riddled with stereotypes that it's hard to watch. 'Diary of a Tired Black Man' is a low-budget, hybrid drama/documentary, which apparently sets out to present and answer the question of why black women and men are incompatible.

The film is not a technically beautiful one, but I'm a huge independent film fan, so I can live with the flaws. The single greatest problem with this film is that it took a subject matter ripe with possibility (an intimate look at Black Relationships in America) and turned it into a lopsided tirade against half of its subject matter--black women--which does the film its greatest disservice.

In between interviews with an assortment of people across America (this film would've fared better solely as a documentary) , the filmmaker interjects staged, dramatic moments surrounding the diary of a 'Tired Black Man,' Jimmy Jean Louis. The badly-written scenes, which are apparently designed to help audiences understand why this particular black man is 'tired,' only highlight the lead's poor choice in a high-maintenance, gorgeous but self-absorbed, airhead. This is a mistake that American men of all races have made, nothing race-based or shocking here, but the laborious scenes, interspersed with the interviews, gives the film a disjointedness that's exhausting to watch. Even Jimmy Jean Louis looks like he'd rather be elsewhere.

With the 'Tired Black Man's' diary writing as its basis, the film seeks to validate nearly two hours of raced-based drivel, without really getting to the heart of the matter: People are ultimately people. Men will be men and women will be women. To single-out universal, relationship issues as a stereotypically 'black problem' is just, well... 'Tired.'

Don't believe the 10 star reviews here written in the same voice. It's truly an abuse of IMDb and an insult to film-making.

Diary of a Tired & Bored viewer who was subjected to this God-awful movie!

[tmcantebury · 1/10 · 26 October 2010]

If I could give negative stars I would, cause frankly, this doesn't even deserve 1 star. I'll keep it brief. There are so many problems with this video --- too many to count.

First -- it's "labeled/categorized"as a 'drama' i.e. narrative film. That is one big glaring mistake: It is not a narrative film. It is a documentary. (this video is an insult to the genre, "documentary")

This is just an arrogant, self-righteous, one-sided, conceited, ignorant, self-indulgent commentary on the STEREO-TYPE of an "angry black woman" -- condescending African-American women who carry this self-inflicting, self-destructive disease known as, "Angry Black Woman Syndrome".

The majority of the men in this video, including our Lord-Almighty, director/savior, Mr. Tim Alexander merely come off as being completely ignorant, selfish, chauvinistic, and simple minded. He and his posse of "men" criticize all the women around them, surrounding them in their small, unimportant lives as being the cause of all their pain and torment. Okay, can we all say, "Martyr"!!!

And he edits most of the women to either look foolish or support his opinion --- wake up folks, it's called "EDITING".

Give me a break! I am not a woman. I am not African-American. I am not white. I am a male. And I think this was so infantile and stupid, it ironically defeated the director's point by making all the men testimonials look completely infantile- -- the men (including director, Tim Alexander) don't even seem like they could get a G.E.D. if their life depended on it. But I love how we're so blessed to see our very own Tim Alexander give talks in coffee shops and parks like he's some expert on gender/race relationships. Who is this loser, besides just being a narcissist.

Oh and for the record, I have dated several African-American women plus I have several African-American male and female friends and none of them (especially the females I've had relationships with) act or even think this way.

As it was barely mentioned in the movie, maybe these issues aren't just "black women issues" but rather "Men and Women" issues as a whole. For the Tim Alexander, I know that's a bit too much to swallow, cause after all, he's actually the racist for not seeing the larger picture and realizing it's not a color/race issue, but rather just the standard gender/relationship issues that every one deals with. It'd help if maybe he dated. Then he might actually know what he's talking about instead of just watching Tyler Perry movies.

It's actually a shame that film-making tools are so accessible to anyone because it can't stop fools like Tim Alexander who has to take credit for every-single job on the film -- director, cinematographer, editor, writer, original music, make-up --- I mean, come on... seriously... what are you, like 12 years old? Gotta have your name down on everything because you're so insecure with your abilities?

And insecure is what you are. It shows inside-and-out. This reeks of insecurities... of you, Mr. Alexander: Narcissist.

Finally, the "re-enactment scenes" are HORRIBLE. Why would you cast an African male with such a thick accent (who clearly hasn't grown up in the "American" culture) to be your lead protagonist/victim and mascot for all suffering African-American males? That's like comparing apples to oranges.

The female lead/wife who plays the supposed "angry black woman" really has no motive for being angry, other than just your weak script that says she's angry. Look around -- they live in a pretty upper-middle class lifestyle. Where's the stress for her to be so angry? It's not like the husband is a dead beat, or unemployed, or having an affair, or neglecting their child... It's not even that they're a blue-collar working class family but the wife just always demands more.

SORRY TIM. But the good news is, the world needs plenty of bar tenders, so why don't you start there and leave the documentaries and film-making to the people who are smart enough to make a good movie.

Very important project

[karmella · 7/10 · 26 May 2010]

Lately, the conversations around the demise of the black family and black relationships have mostly given a voice to black women. Even more specifically, the focus has been narrowed to a sub-population of women, financially and academically successful black women, as if the rest of the community has no voice and does not matter.

Finally, Diary of a Tired Black Man explodes on to the scene to shake the dust off of the trite "good black man shortage" formula and open up the dialog to the entire community. What really caught my attention is how we finally get to hear from black men speaking with black men. No, it's not locker-room talk about sexual escapades. Rather, these men are giving first hand accounts of their struggles within relationships.

The film is an entertaining and illuminating collage of street interviews and short vignettes. The vignettes, illustrative autobiographical shorts that highlight the struggles of the film maker's past relationship, bring together the myriad of thoughts, confessions, and accounts of the real people who are interviewed. I found that the theatrical interludes worked well juxtaposed with the impromptu interviews. I gave it one less star than ten because I didn't think that all the the acting was executed as well as it could have been.

Diary of a Tired Black Man is an important piece that I'm sure will make an impression on anyone who views it. For the first time, I could see very clearly how: * The notorious "attitude" that many men complain about is actually very common, contrary to my previous belief. * The "attitude" often manifests as misdirected anger and verbal abuse. * The broad generalizations about women that sound unfair to my ears actually come from the hurt that men have experienced in past/ current stressful relationships and family experiences.

I gave this film a 7/10 stars because I love the intent and the approach and I believe it's an important project, but the acting was lacking and the accompanying online forum contains a suspicious amount of hype-generation/ hoaxing from fictitious writers.

the movie could have made more of a plea...

[swtblkhny · 3/10 · 5 July 2010]

The documentary portion of the movie made a good effort at dealing with relationship issues; however, it still came across with an biased slant against Black women. Despite this attempt at highlighting and solving problems, since it focused on how angry Black women make good Black men tired, what we ended up with for the most part was not at all balanced in perspective.

Yes, the documentary portion portrayed real people answering real questions, but at some point, the writer/creator must step in with facts, step in with objectivity, with examples of Black couples' success, and with steps towards healing, right? Well, the space and opportunity to do that was filled with a satire-like and wholly unrealistic melodrama. The main character, James, a near perfect Black man, and his trials and tribulations with a angry wife.

James was successful career-wise, the home-purchaser, provider, good father, faithful in the face of temptation, and church-going man. A viewer might expect that many of the men being interviewed in the documentary portion would have similar experiences--That would have truly been an eye opener to any women who may be losing hope that James exists. However, this did not seem to be the case. For the most part, it was not clear who these men were...if they were in healthy relationships or not, if they went to church regularly, were faithful, or were "James". What is clear is that they are Black men and they are "tired."

Many Black men and Black women are tired of the divisiveness and are seeking to come together in a real place where we have mutual understanding. Some of that understanding comes from recognizing that some of these issues are gender-based and affect other races while some of these issues are people issues (to generalize a point: good guys like bad girls/good girls like bad guys). I actually sensed that the writer may have been "angry". Although anger was never defined and how anger emerges was never identified, from my own education, I sense that this movie was not made in the spirit of love and healing.

All in all, I think the movie could have made more of a plea for each person (male, female, Black, or of other races) to keep being good and to be honest, to trust/to be trustworthy, to self-reflect, to hold the self accountable, to hold one's friends accountable for how they treat their significant others,to talk to each other (not inflame -anger-, finger point, or blame--that makes people defensive). Despite this, I think it may elicit conversations and motivate someone to take a call-to-action to decrease the communication gap between men and women (Black or otherwise) and promote ways we can make peace and progress with one another.

A Must-See

[danceability · 10/10 · 26 October 2009]

A Must-See "All Men...especially Black Men Are Dogs and No Good" is the typical stereotypes that some African-American Women say about the African-American Male but this film takes you on a inside journey with real African-American men who are NOT like that but it's the Angry & Bitter Black woman who have been scorned in previous relationships because of the bad choices she made fail to look at her own responsibilities and chooses to take it out and assume all Black Men are useless.

I enjoy this movie cause it's a focus on the conscious but on the other hand, the negative I have to say about this movie I feel the documentary part could've been a bit shortened in between segments.

This movie also will admit that there are some African-American Men who are indeed no good but on the same token there's just as many Good African-American Men as well.

This film will explain itself in full detail once you began to watch it

No Bad Reviews?

[mercuryix2003 · 7 June 2009]

I looked at the external reviews for this film; all of them were positive. That's pretty amazing, as very few films ever made have received only good reviews. Then I noticed that the IMDb rating is only 2.9 out of 10, one of the lowest ratings on IMDb.

It's also peculiar that out of 80 ratings, not one person wrote a review. These facts don't seem to add up.

The maker of the film didn't choose only the good reviews and exclude all of the bad ones, did he? That would be rather biased. However, almost all of the external reviews I read, even though they rated the film highly, said the filmmaker was very biased in his presentation of black men being mistreated by their unappreciative black women.

I really don't know what the rules of IMDb are as far as what external reviews are included or not; whether the filmmakers have control over what is posted regarding their films.

It just seems something rather skewed is going on; a film highly rated by certain critics I hadn't heard of before, but yet with one of the lowest ratings on IMDb.

You like what you like

[jones_da2 · 7/10 · 28 June 2014]

It's funny how a person can criticize about this movie being stereotypical of black women in the worst way and also being degrading to a black men as well. These are the same females,(make no mistake about it) that watch Atlanta Houswives, Real Housewives Of Basketball players, DC housewives, Divorce Court and a whole lot of other reality, bullshit, degrading, demeaning, illiterate, "Err,"Err, "Good Morting", slave sounding stupidity that you can muster up. Man up, woman up, and let a well intended movie from a different point of view breath. With that being said, It rare that we see a positive movie about blacks period. "A Day In September" staring Sidney Portier and Diane Carrol was a positive movie about blacks falling in love later in life. The real world is full of many types of people, different shades of all races and nationalities, it's what is called being different that makes us all the same.

A Great Opportunity Wasted

[natural1999 · 1/10 · 26 May 2010]

This movie could have addressed the issues in black relationships in a meaningful way. Instead it presented the same old Sapphire caricature accompanied by bad acting and worse writing. The premise is a relationship between a perfect black man, James, who is constantly abused by his irrationally angry wife, Tonya. There are several short scenes that can be summed up with black man = good; black woman = angry. Foiling this perfect male character against a dramatically flawed woman combined with the unrealistic scenarios and terrible acting makes this so called docudrama feel completely unrealistic. But then an attempt is made to relate these far fetched scenarios to the real world by interviewing some black men, who likely have little in common with the handsome, financially prosperous and near perfect James. Of course these men claim that black women are angry.

The black community has low rates of marriage. Most of the men interviewed were no doubt complaining about women that they hadn't bothered to marry despite having children together, or women who have all of the burdens of being a wife with none of the benefits. Most black women do not have the opportunity to be stay home wives and mothers with high earning husbands who live in nice neighborhoods. They are instead dealing with men who suffer from high rates of unemployment, who earn low incomes on average and who often insist that women handle most of the housework and child care despite working full time jobs to support the family. Anger in this context takes on an entirely different meaning.

Instead of addressing the reality of many black people's situations in this country this movie tried to apply a situation in which a woman has no reason to be angry to the many women who are experiencing the normal human emotion of anger with good reason. The result is an insulting caricature, a strawman argument for the problems with black relationships, and the waste of a great opportunity to explore the issues in those relationships with any depth. The filmmaker simply scapegoated black women and repackaged the Sapphire caricature that dates back to minstrel shows of the past.

Diary of a Tired Black Man . . .A Must See!

[koolkc107 · 10/10 · 28 May 2010]

Mr. Alexander's independent film, "Diary of a Tired Black Man" should be required viewing for anyone who might want to improve their current relationships or get insight into things that might improve future ones. Ostensibly, it is about black relationships but when you view it, it will be evident how universally applicable the concepts are. Be warned! This is a film done without the backing of any Hollywood studio whatsoever and realized only through the tenacious efforts of its director as well as actors and actresses who felt the subject matter was vitally important. As such, some of the scenes may come across as a bit raw, but no more so than the early efforts of a Spike Lee in his films "...Bed-Stuy Barbershop" or "She's Gotta Have It". What is important is the message gets through loud and clear and what a message it is! I will not go into specifics, but when the trailers and publicity describe this as a man's answer to films like "Waiting To Exhale" and some Tyler Perry offerings, they are not overstating things. If you are a woman or man who believes the "conversation" on relationships in general and black relationships in particular have been too one-sided, too slanted solely toward male vilification, then this film is a resounding and profound counterpoint. Run, don't walk, to your nearest store to get this. Buy multiple copies because as you view it, I promise you will think of someone in your life that needs to see it. Before I go I need to say something else. It never ceases to amaze me how most detractors from the film try to attack some of the filmed scenes. Here's my reply. Go rent a copy of "El Mariachi" the first film by Robert Rodriguez. It is a great film . . .but the acting is not done by Oscar caliber thespians. As a matter of fact, the leads in DOATBM, Jimmie Jean-Louis and Paula Lema, are actually (in my opinion) much better in their film than the freshman-like actors in Robert's. But even if my opinion would not be universally shared, I find this tactic of going after the actors- and after a film obviously shot with a limited budget (read: absolutely no $)- to be a cop out. It is a way of avoiding the true strength of the film, which is, of course, the feedback given by the men and women in the documentary parts. I believe one reviewing critic had it pegged correctly. To paraphrase: The filmed vignettes serve merely to ask questions; it's the feedback that supply the viewpoints that are the heart of Mr. Alexander's opus. But naysayers virtually all to a man and woman avoid comment on these parts and for good reason- it is hard to criticize truth. Not that everyone commenting is correct, but their replies are largely their honest opinion. And this is conveyed so well in Tim's film that in the final analysis their testimony becomes unassailable. My advice to those who want to pan the film. Try going after the essential truths presented not just by the filmed scenes, but by the back and forth commentary of the men and women in the street. If you can attack and deny their truth, then your gripes about Tim's film might have some merit. But if you cannot- and I suspect this is something that will be beyond most- then you need to watch the film again and ask yourself honestly exactly what about it is truly making you uncomfortable . . .then start your own healing process.

I still LOVE being a black woman Tim!

[angel_jackson91 · 1/10 · 20 August 2010]

I saw the movie on Showtime and I felt like I was watching something created and produced by the Ku Klux Klan. Unlike Diary of a Mad Black Woman where the viewer sees two types of men, Diary of a Tired Black Man is deliberate in its hate for black women. It was thought provoking in that it revealed that black women are still struggling with the century old pain that stems from slavery but it is evident that we must deal with this pain alone. This movie and America try to tell us what we are not but as a black woman who has never hit, yelled or mistreated a black man, I know who I am and this movie as taught me to be proud of black me. This will never matter to Tim Alexander who is involved in an interracial relationship anyway but to those black women and black men who still believe in each other- keep your head up.

Diary of a Bitter Black Man

[dagreene1 · 1/10 · 19 August 2010]

I stopped channel surfing to watch this movie, thinking, "Finally, a movie that will explore the real issues in Black relationships and Black families." How wrong I was!

This documentary is so one-sided and the images of Black women are so stereotypical, it's extremely sad! And the mini-movie that plays between real-life interviews is so comically unrealistic, I felt like I was watching a Tyler Perry play. The main woman is more of a caricature of a woman with undiagnosed Bipolar disorder than an example of a real Black woman. (and apparently, the director has something against Asian women, too, because even they aren't safe.)

The men and women who can speak proper English and give valid, unbiased points are few and far between. Most of the people interviewed are embarrassingly ignorant. Most of the men are angry and bitter, themselves. They refer to themselves as the N-word. They refer to women as the B-word. One guy even uses the B-word when talking about his own mother. Another guy actually said "The Child Support system was put in place to cause a great divide between the Black Man and the Black woman." Really? (this statement alone makes it seem as if most Black men would not take care of their kids, and are angry that they're being forced to.) The worse part is that they return to the most ignorant of the bunch and ignore the ones who actually thought before they spoke (instead of just spewing nonsensical rants for 10 minutes.) It's as if the director purposefully focused on those interviewees who were saying things (regardless of how absurd they were) that validated his point of the movie: That most Black men were decent, hardworking, faithful men, and that most Black women were nagging, unhappy, manhood-destroying creatures that pushed them away.

This movie was a wasted opportunity to dive into real issues about a really important subject, from all different perspectives. Instead, all it does is further the damaging stereotypes of Black women (and, unintentionally, of Black men as well) and allow the director (a man,with a lot of hurt and baggage) to get revenge on not only his ex-wife, but the rest of Black womanhood.

Unfortunately for those of us who are Black (and a couple of other races), all must feel the fury of this (Black) man scorned.

Tired Black Man...Tired

[wruss69 · 24 August 2011]

OK, I am all for black independent films and I am usually the first one to go and grab one when I see them on the movie rack at Walmart. I just happened to be browsing TV when I stumbled upon DOTBM. I caught like an hour and half of it...and I MUST say.

THIS was one of the worst films ever. I was embarrassed for black filmmakers and people....EVERYWHERE! I found it more comical than anything else. Laughable b/c of the whole tone of this film AND the poor acting. I sort of enjoyed the interviews with real people...but overrall I would be TICKED off if I had to pay for this movie at the theatre.

This is a good movie to watch if ur like home from the hospital and bedridden or something...and have absolutely NOTHING else better to do...like getting a root canal, going to jury duty, getting a speeding ticket, giving birth, etc....

Otherwise, don't waste ur time...unless ur curious, of course.

DOTBM was T.I.R.E.D.!

Review of a Funny White Man

[aaronmocksing1987 · 1/10 · 28 November 2010]

I saw this movie, but I left it on at night and then the DVD player was busted. So, in essence, I really didn't pay much attention or know what it was about. When I saw the main character's face on the cover, I assumed the man was still angry about his people or something. I mean, when you look at it, what's he so unhappy about? Is he looking at me? You? I'm not sure what is going on. The title says he is pretty tired, but he appears to be rather disappointed.

Then again, the woman seems to be rather disappointed with him. I sure hope he was able to provide a nice trip down under or something. That's in this movie right? I guess that's what I get for getting a movie to just mess around with for two hours. Seriously though, the title and the cover is funnier than the movie. It needs to be Photoshopped and put into various things like... An American Tail or something, I dunno.

Jimmy Jean-Louis Is The Only Good "Thing" in This Movie

[tracey3563 · 1/10 · 31 July 2017]

Tim isn't honest. There's no balance in this film. The "documentary" aspect is...sorrowful. Just about all the commentary from women contributes to the perspective that Black women are contentious beings who live to create chaos and drama - we destroy the Black man's "peace". EVERY Black man interviewed is a street psychologist - with detailed commentary on what's wrong with us and how we got there. Most of the men aren't exceptional - a few refer to Black women as "bitches" and "hoes", but we should listen to them. Okay.

The Black men speak boldly and confidently about the absence of fathers in the lives of Black women - as a major factor contributing to our supposed negative, combative nature. One of the problems with that mindset is that it implies that Black men somehow escaped the dysfunction that comes from dads being MIA. That doesn't begin to make sense.

"James" is the "perfect" Black man, with a shrew for a wife, "Tonya". Her character is an absolute failure...as a friend, let alone a wife. But the movie never invests much time examining the question of what was wrong with HIM to choose her. That's a legit question. The person you choose says a lot about you. If the script had been flipped and the bad spouse had been the husband, men everywhere would have blamed Tonya for choosing him, and insisted good Black men are in abundance. There's a brief scene where Jame's "conscience" is speaking to him thru Tonya - he married her because she was eye candy, not because she was a good woman. Who's fault was that? His...but after that brief moment of introspection, it goes right back to the idea that many Black women just aren't cut out for being loving, supportive and kind human beings.

I knew what I was getting into, when I rented this movie - I wanted to see Jimmy. I saw Jimmy. The End.

Your Answer

[timalexander · 10/10 · 29 September 2009]

It is because the film is highly rated with real people (its intended audience) and not professional film snobs like most of the people who rate films here. It is not a movie for critics, but a message to real people - most of which do not review films here. You will need to see it for yourself. Most of the real world reviews are positive because real people like the film. But I do have bad reviews as well from people who missed the film's true intent - and that was not to be a Hollywood or a textbook climatic film - but a deep cutting message. And that I accomplished as evident by the numerous positive reviews. Thanks for pointing that out. I hope I cleared it up.

Summary Review for Diary of a Tired Black Man

[vcthree · 10/10 · 24 May 2010]

"Diary" isn't a traditional, straightforward 107-minute movie, and it is more of a documentary, but it works in that the short scenes provide enough dramatic tension, yet elicit a wide array of responses from an audience. That audience would be the people who are peppered between the cinematic scenes that star Jimmy-Jean Louis and Paula Lima. They are the people that Alexander went across the country to show them exactly the same things you're looking at, and then respond to what they saw in real time.

Here's the sum up: you may not like this film, because you feel it's pointing an undue finger at women for the chasm in black relationships. Whether undue or not, it is pointing a finger in the direction of women, but in asking those women to make better choices in who they mate with. It also asks men to make better choices in who they mate with. And that does not necessarily mean dating out of race, either. The point is, find anyone that brings values of peace and loving-kindness into your lives, and not those who would bring nothing but headaches and heartaches, leading you down a path to bitterness and anger that carries over and ruins potentially good relationships.

Great movie, great message

[msgem · 10/10 · 29 May 2010]

Tim Alexander's movie can show young black women who don't want to make the mistake of "living and learning" that there are good black men out there.

It is the job of the elder generation to share their experiences and show the young folk how to avoid making the same mistakes and have a better understanding of each other..who should not want that.

Loving each other should not be this hard..

Tim has taken on the job, out of love to try and wake up the village.

You sure won't see any movie of this importance to the community coming out of Hollywood.

One of 2010s Most Provocative Films

[Amberlisa1971 · 8/10 · 17 May 2010]

The documentary portion of this film was absolutely excellent. Top rate Michael Moore quality. In fact, if it was solely a documentary, there is no doubt in my mind that it would be up for industry awards in that category. It captured so many different perspectives on what goes on in modern day African-American relationships. Many African-American men were interviewed, and, if nothing else, it was really very refreshing to see so many African- American men honestly reveal their thoughts on intimate relationships. Not only were African-American men interviewed, but also African- American women, as well as, women from other races and even a token white guy (I think). There was such a variety of feelings, viewpoints and perspectives that were expressed about male/female relationships that everyone can really learn a great deal from this film. It is extremely provocative, worthy of being taught in college classrooms.

The cinematography was just incredible! We are talking Spike Lee innovation and creativity! Before I knew that Tim Alexander was the filmmaker, I honestly thought this was another Spike Lee joint! (And c'mon, everyone has to admit Spike's amazing!) Like Spike, when it comes to making films, Tim Alexander certainly does know what the hell he is doing! The editing was astoundingly smooth and flawless, as the film move back and forth from the scripted portions to the unscripted portions.

Speaking of script, this film was groundbreaking in that it combined a scripted portion with a documentary portion, quite an ambitious undertaking! This filmmaker deserves brownie points for innovation. In the scripted portions, the actors were incredible! It's unusual to see such good acting from relative unknowns. But these actors were good! They were very believable; lines were delivered with incredible verve, power and passion. Kudos to all of the actors! Hopefully we will see more of the characters Tonya and James on the big screen, because they were highly entertaining.

But alas nothing is perfect, when it came to the scripted portion; the characters were portrayed in the extreme. I believe this was done to highlight the problem between them, but it's a bit heavy handed; and inevitably some people are going to be deeply, offended by the portrayal of the character Tonya. But real art offends! That's the whole point of art. Mr. Alexander is quite the artist.

Nevertheless, all in all, it was very well done. It's definitely a must see! You can catch it on Showtime; a station that I find only subscribes to excellence. As a writer, I have very high standards and I almost only recommend Showtime and HBO programming. Once again, Showtime does not disappoint. The Diary of a Tired Black Man is an incredibly provocative film, with universal themes that everyone can relate to.

Diary of a tired black man

[Liznicolehart · 10/10 · 29 May 2010]

i thought this was an excellent movie and it has changed my life. people can argue all day long about it and do but what's great is how in loved the viewer becomes in their own thinking and sharing with others. A movie can be great without a huge budget or even sometimes without the best actors, but it can change lives as it has mine I think that says it's a great movie! For me it crosses all lines and it is a movie to make one use their head and think, get together and enlighten. An it has enlightened me.

People are highly engaged on the forum with many different opinions. That shoes the power of the movie. Idf it meant little, there wouldn't be so many people discussing it's complex issues. At times I thought the main character was a little dramatic but that's what gets the point across. I felt really uncomfortable watching her anger and the movie made me look at my own anger. It's really got me thinking and changing my ways

The Truth Is Always Hard To Face, Isn't It?

[spiritof67 · 10/10 · 11 July 2021]

I rread some of the negative reviews here. Didn't note that many of them were written by black men. This one is. And I'm here to tell you that not only is 100% of this movie authentic and true but that I personally have endured most of the objective torture shown here that black women think is common in their relationships - including, more than a few times, "You have to break a black man down so you can build him back up." Really. Women treating you as if they as individuals were some sort of carnival prize to be won by the most crafty suitor, who would then submit to a rebuilding. Women who criticized you for being African when you are actually Caribbean. Women who thought you were a walking ATM machine. And as a few women actually say here, being really harsh to black men just because they can. Again, there is not a single untrue vignette in this film, but there are a LOT of reasons here why black women and men don't get married - including women who will have your baby but don't want anything to do with its father.

Interesting

[amy-duru · 15 July 2014]

Watching the video for the first time and I know there is a point to this.. Yes black women get angry the rate however differs from person to person but honestly so do black man. The point of view here is one from a black man's point of view but if we have to flip the coin we'll see why black women are angry surrounded by bums for husbands, boyfriends and life partners or drug dealers who care for no one but themselves, sloths who just know how to get there when it's time to eat but not know how to work, violent angry men who have no control over their anger and as a result of their cunning facade are able to get women to marry them... Sometimes society is to blame coz nice a woman gets to a certain age without a man it becomes a taboo n she marries whoever just to belong... There are soo many factors that could affect a woman's psych but d same goes for men.. However why didn't the editor edit the point of view segment coz d main characters business was all out there.. Hahahhahahahaha soo sorry I couldn't help but notice it... He tried sooo hard to cover it with his bottled water but naaaaaaaa brothers got huge apples... Back to seriousness the guy going on about decision making should please remind himself how many decisions he's ever made that's been sooo accurate MR PERFECT.. I like those who made it clear that it ain't a black thing but a human or people thing this stereotype of black women is much cause white people have the same attitude and is even worse.. Am sure some of these men speaking even hit their women.. However regardless of race or color truth or sex is if any body has not and cannot find themselves they can never know what they' want.. Gross with the spitting that's just gross.. I feel the lady psychologist in green she made sooo much sense. But em question why did jimmy divorce Kimora lee Simmons if he is sooo perfect abi she get issue to? In summary as much as I see some sense to this movie it's biased in making all black woman look monstrous and all women look we all have issues while the black men are still very much part of the problem and not holy... I need me a white guy please coz I can't seem to find any good black men...