Doing Life Review
Director: Tyler Perry
Date Created: 2026-10-02 20:44
1.5
Doing Life Review: Written and directed by Tyler Perry, the Netflix film stars Naomi Baker as Anika and Jay Reeves as Carousel, alongside Tamberla Perry, Karen Obilom, Jasmine Sargent, Marley Jade Benard and others. The movie has a runtime of 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Doing Life Review
Tyler Perry’s Doing Life is about a single mother named Anika whose life gets entwined with Carousel when he rescues her from a violent prison riot. Carousel is in jail at that time, and this becomes the point of origin of a surprising tie between them. They become friends through letter-writing, in which they start to know one another before developing anything more than a friendship.
Carousel is a jailed individual who wishes to move on from his past and make a new life once he is out of jail, whereas Anika has much more to consider as she is a woman with a family. It thus means that their story is not only about whether they could be in love with each other or not. It is about whether Anika would be able to trust a man like Carousel and whether Carousel could really make a new life for himself.
The first major issue in Netflix’s Doing Life that I have is that it appears that this film tries to tell multiple stories in one go. There is Anika and Carousel’s love story, there is the difficult family life that Anika is having, there are workplace issues, there are other people’s stories, and there is Carousel’s story of making a place for himself in the world after his prison life. All of these do not come together organically; rather, they appear to be individual stories which have been force-fitted into one film.
This can be quite annoying, especially considering the fact that I actually thought that the concept behind Anika’s and Carousel’s relationship was a good one. The way they write letters to each other might actually be the most intriguing aspect of the whole movie. Before forming their relationship in reality, they get a chance to exchange letters that give them a chance to talk about their lives and experiences. This provides them with a reason to form a connection gradually and allows Carousel to show Anika who he is now instead of erasing his past.
However, there are times when the Netflix Tyler Perry’s Doing Life does not give due consideration to the foundation built for these characters. After the release of Carousel, a few of the actions associated with his relationship become so absurd that my mind could only focus on how badly the writing was done. There was one particular scene that struck me the most. When Carousel comes knocking at Anika’s place without letting her know and she knows the fact that her family does not know that she has been meeting him, he still ends up coming over to her house.
In my opinion, this is precisely the kind of conflict that could have been solved through one reasonable discussion. There was an issue with Carousel’s phone, so he had to reach out to Anika, but there was absolutely nothing stopping the movie from resolving this in other ways rather than making him come knocking on her door at the most inappropriate time. Instead, there is just an artificial problem created for the sake of the problem being there.
I have also found it hard to accept the character development arc of Carousel after his liberation. For me, the development arc of Carousel is meant to be an opportunity for him to change and start anew, but at times, his adaptation to the outside world appears to come too easily. Given the amount of time the movie takes in presenting his background, and how difficult it can be for him to fit in due to his former criminal record, I thought his life would become even more complicated than before.
That reduces the burden on the notion of having to rebuild a life after being incarcerated. I would have liked more opposition from Carousel. I would have liked to see him make mistakes, learn from them and grapple with those things from his previous life which could not be easily erased. The film makes me aware that his history is important, yet some aspects of the narrative make it seem that this is easily done.
This is also the case with Anika. Naomi Baker offers an earnest performance as Anika, and I can see how Anika could be hesitant around Carousel. After all, Anika is a mother, and hence she cannot focus only on her personal desires. Everything she does must have some connection with the family she has built so far. It is good to see that Baker has managed to bring that element of struggle into Anika’s character.
Jay Reeves is similarly trying to portray Carousel as vulnerable rather than portraying him as being perfect all of a sudden after having been a criminal. There are some scenes where the two actors are able to come together since the film gives them the chance to just talk, but I have never felt that they had sufficient chemistry between them in order to be believable as a couple. In many instances, the feeling between them was not as convincing because the screenplay was dictating that they were meant to be together.
However, there are some parts of the Netflix film Doing Life that I am able to like, especially the performances of both Baker and Reeves. However, despite my liking their performances, this was not enough for me to ignore the flaws of the screenplay. The plot of the film seems to be disjointed, and many of its conflicts appear to be unrealistic, while the development of Carousel’s life after he comes out of prison seems to be too easy for him. Most importantly, I struggled to believe in the world these characters were living in.
Netflix Doing Life Review: Summing Up
Overall, the 2026 Doing Life film turns out to be a rather unsuccessful attempt at portraying a story about a second chance at love. The concept of the story could have been promising; however, the style of writing constantly forces the characters into actions which are not realistic enough, while the several plots of the story do not allow the development of the main concept. The expectations from the movie were associated with an emotional love story about people who try to construct something against all odds.
