Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family
for drug content, language and some mature thematic material.
Reviewed by: Brian C. Johnson
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults Teens |
| Genre: | Comedy Drama |
| Length: | 1 hr. 45 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2011 |
| USA Release: |
April 22, 2011 (wide—2,100+ theaters) DVD: August 30, 2011 |
| Featuring |
Tyler Perry … Madea/Joe Loretta Devine … Shirley Cassi Davis … Aunt Bam See all » |
| Director |
Tyler Perry |
| Producer |
The Tyler Perry Company Ozzie Areu … executive producer Michael Paseornek … executive producer Tyler Perry … producer Roger M. Bobb … producer Reuben Cannon … producer Joseph P. Genier … co-producer |
| Distributor |
 Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.) |
“I’ll make your family an offer it can’t refuse.”
Watch out y’all… Madea’s back and she’s as mad as ever! Tyler Perry has kept his promise to his own mother (she passed away recently and asked that he keep Madea around, despite his expressed desire to retire the wig and body suit).
Those who have been fans of Tyler Perry since his breakout career in stage plays have watched Madea’s over-the-top antics over and over (and over and over and over and over). Her acerbic language and definitely rude behavior was funny then, but it wears thin after hearing the same jokes and same dysfunctional family plotlines time and time again.
In “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” Tyler Perry stars and directs the adaptation of his latest popular stag play by the same name. Fans of the play, honestly, will not see much difference between the play and the movie. Madea (Perry) is called in to help Miss Shirley (played by veteran actress Loretta Devine) gather her estranged family together to inform them of her impending demise. Despite her best intentions to raise her children to love God and each other, their bitterness and unforgiveness prohibits them from even spending Sunday dinner together without fighting.
The remainder of the cast includes Perry’s usual cadre of actors reprising the roles that made them household names including David Mann as Mr. Brown and his wife Tamela as Madea’s daughter, Cora, and Cassi Davis (star of TV’s “House of Payne”) who plays Aunt Bam, Miss Shirley’s pot-smoking, over-sexed elderly caretaker. As a matter of fact, virtually the entire cast of the stage play makes cameo appearances in this movie.
As usual, Perry uses Madea’s matriarchal position and voice to try to send powerful messages about family, love, relationships, even God, but sadly, those messages get lost in all of the redundant jokes and bad language. Once again, Perry as writer rides the fine line between acceptability by popular culture standards and his core Christian audiences’ standards. There are some who might be drawn in by the title; don’t be fooled, this is not “family” oriented material. Keep the younger kids at home; perhaps mature teens could handle it, but parents should view first.
In various television and print interviews, Perry promises his loyal fans to keep doing the Madea character, as long as his fans want to see her. If that is Perry’s only criterion, Madea’s iconic status will keep her going for many years to come. The question is, should he/she?
Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Heavy (“hell”—30, “damn”—17, “ass”—21, etc.) / Sex/Nudity: Heavy (mature thematic material, sexual dialogue, and some provocative apparel)
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
The same jokes are also used over and over again. One of the things that really bothered me was the excessive yelling. In fact, when the movie was over, my ears were actually ringing, and I didn’t even see it in the theater, I watched it on DVD at home! It’s not a bad movie, but you have to go through a lot of stress-filled scenes to get to a positive ending, only because the family members finally apologize and vow to start treating each other with respect.
Overall, I would recommend it, just rent the DVD instead of making a purchase. My parents bought it on DVD and it’s still a movie that we’ve only watched once.
Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4
Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
I’ve been a loyal Tyler Perry fan for years, but as a Christian, the only recommendation that I can make to anyone going to see this movie is that you skip it. I also definitely cannot recommend this movie be shown inside a church building when it comes out on DVD. There were so many places where the curse words could have been left out entirely, and it would in no way have taken away from the movie. I mean even the kids were cursing in this movie!
This movie reminds me of the same way that Satan deals with society, and about what passes these days for art, free speech, and entertainment. He doesn’t start out with the sex, violence and profanity right away, but he slips it in little by little until one day we realize that we’re miles away from God yet don’t even realize how it happened. It’s a shame that we are living in a day when a movie that’s supposedly aimed at a Christian audience has just as many, if not more curse words than a typical Chris Rock, or Martin Lawrence movie.
I guess that’s what I get for going out and watching a movie staring a man who in direct violation of Deut. 22:5 dresses up in drag. The sad thing is that no one else in my church seems to have a problem with it. Now I’m starting to realize why Jesus asked if he would find faith on the Earth when he returns.
I’ve been burned too many times from watching Tyler Perry movies thinking I’d be getting some clean, wholesome entertainment. I realize now that the days of his movies being clean have long passed, so I think I will be fasting from Tyler Perry movies from this point forward.
Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
As far as entertainment goes, I love Madea and put up with the small things, because the overall comedy makes up for it.
Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
This is my favorite in the series so far. It is very funny, and very touching, I cried some heavy tears, I will freely admit.
What I like about Perry’s (he plays Madea and is the film’s writer, producer and director), is also what most most people don’t like about the films. Perry is a Christian, and provides good, solid morals, all under a guise of a realistic, worldly environment. Characters curse often, make sexual jokes and Aunt Belle is seen most often smoking marijuana. This is not a children’s film in any way. But through the mud and mire, I could see the message embedded in the story, and that’s what I like about Perry’s technique.
As an aspiring film-maker myself (still got some college to go, though), I plan on using the same technique. I might not be so crass, but I believe the best way to share a Christian message is not to shy away from the muck of the world, but use it in a way that the Secular world can understand and identify with.
If you’re a fan of Tyler Perry’s previous films, definitely go see this one! If not, you might enjoy this one more, but I think you best stay away. Though Perry uses a real-world environment to portray his message, I understand why some people don’t want to be put through that, so if that’s you, just avoid this film. Personally, I can’t wait for the next Madea story!