MADEA GOES TO JAIL Review

Tyler Perry is back and don’t expect MADEA GOES TO JAIL to be as great as Why Did I Get Married and The Family That Preys because this one is in the same level as Meet the Browns, only funny at the beginning, overdramatic, and… halfway through the movie it’s like Madea herself has run out of energy and tricks to make us laugh. After a while you get tired of the yelling and ebonic remarks. She will still be an iconic character that makes Tyler Perry’s fans keep coming back again and again but this is definitely not his best work yet.

At long last, Madea returns to the big screen in “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail.” This time America’s favorite irreverent, pistol-packin’ grandmomma is raising hell behind bars and lobbying for her freedom…Hallelujer!
After a high-speed freeway chase puts Madea (Tyler Perry) in front of the judge, her reprieve is short-lived as anger management issues get the best of her and land her in jail. A gleeful Joe (Tyler Perry) couldn’t be happier at Madea’s misfortune. But Madea’s eccentric family members the Browns (David and Tamala Mann) rally behind her, lending their special “country” brand of support.
Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke) is on the fast track to career success. But Hardaway lands a case too personal to handle – defending young prostitute and former drug addict Candace Washington (Keisha Knight Pulliam) – and asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Holmes (Ion Overman) to fill in on his behalf. When Candace ends up in jail, Madea befriends the young woman, protecting her in a “motherly” way as only Madea can.

Gotta hand it to Tyler Perry though. He’s loyal when it comes to gathering all his usual cast members and friends to join the gig. If you’re in Tyler Perry’s circle and you’re an actor, you better believe it that you’ll always have a spot in his movie one way or another. This whole Adam Sandler mentality is cool and all it’ll get old eventually. One thing to notice, Perry has a certain way of drawing academy award actresses, in his previous movies he had Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, and Angela Bassets, in this one he has Viola Davis, not to mention all the famous guest stars who make a cameo and you kinda have to respect the fact that Perry champions black actors everywhere but facts aside, MADEA GOES TO JAIL could’ve been better.

Let me just break it down in a very simple way. Actingwise, Derek Luke, a talented young star, is set to have an emotional scene where he remembers an awful past but what you get is a laughable performance. You don’t get much out of Viola Davis, as an unlikely preacher, she doesn’t even get a profound moment where I’d expect her character to steal the scene, it was an average appearance, if you will. Tyler Perry better be careful playing multiple roles in a movie, the last thing he wants is to be typecast as the next Eddie Murphy and get the same shameful career fate.

The story has potential, don’t get me wrong. It’s obvious that there are two separate but interconnected plots and characters that finally meet in the Jail setting and Perry keeps trying to inject humor and crack up the audience every other scene but sometimes it gets a little too much and irritating, by that I mean whenever it should be serious heartfelt moment and then bam.. all of a sudden it turns into a Madea scene but we didn’t get to ‘digest’ the previous scene quite yet and that frequent coming back and forth happens throughout the movie.
Speaking of movie.. I respect that Tyler Perry is bringing his plays to the big screen and he’s keeping all the Christian themes and moral values, and is it just me or he always has one evil spouse in his stories?!.. I respect all that.. but even John Patrick Shanley managed to bring his award winning play DOUBT and turn it into big screen worthy with all the necessary theatrical elements and cinematography that gives you that movie watching feel and experience, an actual successful adaptation.
I long for the day when watching Tyler Perry’s movies wouldn’t feel just like watching another stage play.

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