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Review

Madea (Perry) did not pick the best weekend to have a family reunion. Court sentencing has just forced her to be a foster parent and take yet another member into her already crowded household, just as her soon-to-be-married granddaughter admits she is being beaten by her fiancé. There is so much drama involving the characters in Madea’s family tree, and it is consistently conveyed with the feel of a daytime soap opera. Thankfully, the hilarity of the Madea character always manages to save the day. While there is no question Perry’s creation of Madea has found audiences both in movie theaters and on stage, this is the second attempt to bring one of his plays to life on the big screen and this time around, even Perry directing himself can’t prevent the same mistakes from being made all over again. It’s like watching last year’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, minus the great acting talent of Kimberly Elise. Hopefully the audience can overlook the amateur filmmaking eye, bad acting, the melodrama and those horrible music montages that Perry seems to love using.

 -- Chris Lombardi