Madea's Family Reunion
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Review #46 of 365
Film: Madea’s Family Reunion [PG-13] 107 minutes
WIP: $12.00
When 1st Seen: 25 February 2006
Where Viewed: Metropolitan Metrolux 14, Loveland, CO
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Review Dedicated to: Arin and Nia L. of Chicago, IL
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DVD | soundtrack |
Today, I officially admit to being embarrassed. I like to pride myself on being in the know and in the loop. Somehow, probably because I moved to a rural town in southern Minnesota for a few years after having lived in one of the nation’s epicenters of cultural diversity (Chicago) for the previous 11 years, I became a bit isolated from the pulse of culture in the USA. Come to think of it, the nearest theater that occasionally screened independent films to my location in MN was 24 miles. During those three years, Tyler Perry (please take the time to visit his web site and read his personal story if you, like me, have also been out of the loop on Mr. Perry) went national. His stage shows and film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, toured the country, and I missed them altogether, something for which I hold a deep ocean of regret.
In any case, I am happy to be back in the loop and to have seen Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion. When I left the movie theatre, my head was swimming. I found myself unable to even unravel on a basal level how I felt about this film. On some levels it seemed like a whole bunch of movies poured into one. There were extreme contrasts in the quality of cinematography, acting, and even set design throughout that created the look and feel and blur one would get if he or she scanned his or her memories from childhood to adulthood trying to remember any images associated with a particular set of ideals cycling through love, pain, anger, safety, pride, trust, loyalty, vulnerability, and so on. When I returned home and started some research into why the film is billed as Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion—an awkward seeming title to those not in the know about Tyler Perry’s stage character Madea (which, of course, I wasn’t in the know), it began to dawn on me that the film has this effect because it is based on a stage show and other bits and characters created by Tyler Perry and assembled into this film. Moreover, the many contrasts that appear bear a resemblance to the real life faced by people every day who walk among the various social classes in the United States. Anyone who has ever flown on an airline that had first class seating has walked past those rows of luxurious leather seats (two on each side not three) and watched that little curtain get pulled to separate the haves from the have nots and wondered what was going on up there that they needed to pull that little curtain so as to not make the have nots feel so bad about their little bag of free peanuts and a $5 glass of wine. Or how about the difference one experiences in treatment when you walk in to a BMW® dealership to buy a car vs. going into a Dodge® dealership? Or when you go to get your hair cut at a fancy salon vs. a $12 generic cut? Now apply these concepts to the feeling of crossing into the south side of Chicago every day on your way home from a magnet public school in a wealthier part of the city. A world of contrasts. A blurr of feelings and emotions. A sense that you don’t belong. An idea that a bunch of people are doing things, maybe amazing or maybe terrible, about which you know nothing? What does an Admiral Club at the airport look like behind those shimmering, sliding glass doors? What does it feel like to have lunch at the country club and be able to say, “put that on my account, please,” to the server that just delivered you a huge $24 shrimp cocktail? What do the $2,000 per night suites at New York’s fanciest hotels have in them for $2,000 a night? How about living on an entire floor of a tall building in San Francisco and having two entrances: one for the hired help and one for the guests? Some people have season tickets to the Opera, some to the NBA team, and some to the local junior hockey team. Some people are fortunate to be able to go to any one of these events once a year or once in a lifetime. Some people grow up in households with one or two parents or guardians that love and nurture them, while others grow up without either. Contrasts. Tyler Perry shows us, in a mere 107 minutes, an incredibly complicated world of contrasts. His focus is on one African American family with roots in Atlanta. In particular, an Aunt, her niece, and the neice’s two daughters form the nexus of the story.
The Aunt is Mable 'Madea' Simmons, a grandmotherly sort with a personality as huge as her heart and a, well, let’s just say a more ‘historically traditional’ mindset when it comes to raising children and living life. The film begins with a trip to court for Madea for violating her anklet parole. In court, her lawyer Brian (Tyler Perry) manages to convince the judge to let her go in exchange for taking charge of Nikki (Keke Palmer)—a victim of neglectful foster parents. The boisterous, Madea initially refuses the exchange stating she would rather be in prison than deal with this child, but after hearing of her unique style of managing children, the judge orders Madea to accept. Now, if you are in the right mindset yourself, you might have figured out that Tyler Perry also plays Madea—and he is mostly hysterical in the role bringing certain dimensions to her that, again, are all about contrasts. She lives with her brother, Uncle Joe—also portrayed by Tyler Perry, in a two-story, semi-broken down home, inhabited by quite a few people including her unwed grandniece, Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson) and her two children. From there, we are introduced to Madea’s niece, Victoria, played by the stunningly beautiful Lynn Whitfield, who is the mother of Vanessa and Lisa (Rochelle Aytes)—beauty runs in this side of the family to be sure. This is going to sound even a bit more like a big-screen soap opera when I mention that Lisa has recently been betrothed to the villainous investment banker, Carlos (Blair Underwood) by her mother. And that, is as much about the plot as I can give away. Suffice it to say that throughout the course of the film, there are many shocking family secrets revealed, the meaning of true love comes out, and we all learn Madea’s cooked-up solution to wife abuse. But, honestly, I haven’t even gotten to half of it yet. The film, is, after all, about a family reunion (check the title again). And the reunion brings to the film two living legends, Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou, as Madea’s sisters. Ms. Tyson serves the role as the family truthsayer as she unleashes, in a very evocative speech at the family reunion, all that young black men and women must do to save the future of their family. Ms. Angelou serves as her sidekick and poet of the family. Seeing these two incredible women represented a rare and tremendous treat. They both did wonderful jobs of just being real people.
My gut tells me that a lot of people are not really going to get this film. This is not Big Momma’s House 2. People going because they want comedy are not going to be happy. The film has funny moments and some flatulent humor, but it has some highly dramatic and tense moments as well. The topics of incest and domestic violence are core to the story. Again, I circle back to the concept of contrasts. The film represents extreme contrasts in humanity with a goal of peeling back the skins we add to the onions that are our true souls and getting at who we really are. We are not simple creatures that can be sized up and labeled by the first dimension of our personality people encounter. Rather, we are multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, beings with minds and hearts and bodies that have weathered the climate of our upbringing were it wonderful or less than so. For me, this film consciously shook me to remember that as a species we are quick to judge others and to formulate our opinions readily based on surface information. We snap to judgment and critique. I would suggest that this film helps us see the errors of those ways, and also I would encourage viewers of this film to let the film settle in your mind over night before writing your own review. Do some more research, and examine all that is here. Imagine being Tyler Perry who wrote, directed, produced, acted in, and even did the music for this film. What an incredibly personal effort this has been for him to create. Of course it is not a perfect film, nor should it be. For, I believe Tyler Perry’s goal was to create a film that helps us all to see that the most important thing in life is not achieving perfection or wealth or glory but, rather in learning who we truly are and believing in our capacity for overcoming the odds in our own worlds of contrasts.
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Madea's Family Reunion [DVD](2006) DVD
Madea's Family Reunion (Widescreen Version) [DVD](2006) DVD
The Tyler Perry 4-Pack DVD Collection [DVD] DVD
Madea's Family Reunion [DVD](2002) DVD
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