I have to make a confession. I watch Tyler Perry's Madea films. OK, JUST HEAR ME OUT! Now, I think they're all FAR from perfect films, but at the very least, I do enjoy watching the portions featuring Madea. Such was the case of my latest viewing, Madea's Big Happy Family. It's a bit embarrassing to say, but let's just get down to my review.
First of all, we have a tangled web of subplots. The mother of a family, Shirley, is devastated to discover that her case of cancer has worsened, prompting her to plan a family dinner to tell her children about her condition. This includes her daughters, Kimberly and Tammy. Kimberly is a secretive woman (Improperly focused character #1), and Tammy is having trouble with her marriage, and her two disobedient children. This also includes Byron, a man on an unlucky streak, having served jail time for selling drugs, and behind on paying child support to his insufferably obnoxious ex-girlfriend. There's also some drama between Cora and Mr. Brown. But leave it to Madea to set things straight, and not be afraid to beat the living hell out of anyone who steps out of line.
This movie is textbook Tyler Perry. As always, he gathers together a cast that could have been quite good, with good material, but their characters are inconsistently written, and their focus tends to blur because the script is overly cluttered with subplots. It's not a problem because they're hard to follow (They really aren't), but it's because it doesn't give these characters all the attention they deserve.
This isn't even mentioning Tyler Perry's ubiquitous switch in tone. His rhythm moves as comedic scene, dramatic scene, comedic scene, etc. I think the comedy portions are better than the dramatic portions, but the flip flopping between the two makes things feel dull. At the end of the day, I didn't emotionally connect with the story like I feel I should have. For once, I wish Perry would construct a film that's sure of what it wants to be.
I give it ** out of ****
