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QUICK TAKE:
Dramedy: As an outspoken and impulsive woman ends up in jail due to her anger management issues, a young assistant D.A. tries to help his childhood friend who's now a drug-addicted prostitute.
PLOT:
For outspoken and oversized Mable "Madea" Simmons (TYLER PERRY), her latest run-in with the law might just be the straw that finally breaks the back of her continued luck of not serving any jail time. It seems that after having eluded the police with her pot-smoking brother, Uncle Joe (TYLER PERRY), Madea beat them up, all of which was recorded. Accordingly, family members Cora (TAMELA J. MANN) and Leroy Brown (DAVID MANN) hope that family lawyer Brian (TYLER PERRY) can prevent her from being sent away.
At the same time, things are looking good for Atlanta assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway (DEREK LUKE). His career is continuing to grow with the help of his friend and assistant Chuck (RONREACO LEE), and he's engaged to fellow prosecutor and coworker Linda Davis (ION OVERMAN). But he's thrown for a loop when he recognizes a woman from his past, Candace "Candy" Washington (KESHIA KNIGHT PULLIAM), who's now up on prostitution charges.
Due to the conflict of interest predicament in which he finds himself, he turns over the prosecution to Linda who's understandably curious about how he knows this woman. He doesn't immediately let on, but is determined to help his former friend and thus enlists the aid of Ellen (VIOLA DAVIS), a former hooker turned preacher and social worker who tries to get the likes of Candy and her friend, Donna (VANESSA FERLITO), off the streets and out of that line of work.
As Joshua's continued efforts to help Candy end up putting a strain on his relationship with Linda, Madea's anger management issues eventually land her in jail, where she must put with other inmates such as eccentric serial killer and bunkmate T.T. (SOFIA VERGARA) as well as Big Sal (ROBIN COLEMAN) who thinks she runs the place.
OUR TAKE: 3.5 out of 10
Our reviewing policy for films that aren't shown in advance to critics is that we'll only provide a paragraph or two about the film's artistic merits or, more accurately, lack thereof. After all, life is too short to spend any more effort than that on a movie that even the releasing studio knows isn't any good (which is why they hid it from reviewers before its release).
Writer/director/star/producer/yada-yada-yada Tyler Perry returns to the well once again with this latest "Madea" flick. Yet, despite the title and related advertisements showing him doing his big guy in drag thing in the titular establishment, most of the film's focus is elsewhere. And that's in the land of melodrama where former "Cosby Show" kid Keshia Knight Pulliam is decidedly all grown up playing a drug-addicted hooker who unexpectedly re-enters her former friend's life (that being of Derek Luke giving one of his least interesting and/or engaging performances to date).
Segueing back and forth between the in-drag yucks and the ultra heavy thematic material (beyond the drugs and prostitution there are several parts revolving around rape), Perry simply can't keep everything in balance.
As a result, it feels like we're watching two completely different movies, albeit with the filmmaker's usual subjects (religion, redemption, etc.) obviously showing their faces, all to appease the target audience that mysteriously keeps coming back and eating from this same cinematic trough time and again. Continuing his slide backward, Perry needs to try something new, although I doubt that will happen considering the money-maker that is all things Madea. The film rates as a 3.5 out of 10.
Reviewed February 20, 2009 / Posted February 20, 2009
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