Tyler Perry’s Straw' is a typically melodramatic yet potent depiction of systemic miseries that lead to a hard-luck heroine’s police standoff.

As bad as it is, there’s always someone doin’ it worse!” That’s just one of the pearls of wisdom dropped in Straw (now streaming on Netflix), an effectively tense action-melodrama set during a particularly rotten day in which a hard-working woman who only wants to take care of her daughter finally snaps.