I'm a Black man living in a predominantly Black city. That being said, I have some major misgivings about Tyler Perry's work. I realize that some people out there feel the need to praise him, because he's Black and trying to portray a positive image about the culture. But, I honestly do believe that, were Perry White, this film would have had the NAACP, Al Sharpton, and Jessie Jackson all over his ass.

I have been forced to watch this movie one whole hell of a lot recently and each repeated viewing makes my blood boil. The characters are poorly written and acted. The jokes are so bad, I have to actually be told something is supposed to be funny. I'm just going to break this big pile of sh-t down.

Madea=suck. The character may have had some appeal, but it doesn't anymore. When the only thing she ever seems to do is smack around children and threaten adults with violence she is less than useless. She is unnecessary.

The situation with the wife beating fiancé was horsesh-t. If a woman was so scared to death of her husband, why would she try to run away when he's sleeping in bed. Wouldn't it have made more sense for her to leave when he was at work. At any rate, the characters in this arc were so annoying and overbearing that I hoped he would throw her off the balcony and was royally ticked when he didn't.

Then there are the two lovebirds. A bus driver asks a woman out by harassing her while he's making his rounds. I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe when she agreed to go out with him even more. But, what takes the cake is that a grown man was reduced to tossing pebbles at a window and passing notes like a ten year old by a castrating mega bitch. I don't use this term lightly, but that woman only had two modes. Morose victim and psycho momma. No matter which of these two faces she showed, however, there was one constant. The bus driver wasn't going to get any. He even married her without sampling the goods--WTF!

Then there's the family reunion scene. Here we've got the mother load which includes implied incestual taboos, grinding for the sake of grinding, shirtless, overly musclebound, b-ball, plus the great taste of Maya Angelou. When those babes dragged their butts outside and called a meeting, was I wrong to wish that the oldest of them was claimed by a heart attack. All this crap is going on at the reunion, in laughably easy to separate groups, and then they ring a bell. When they do, everyone drops what they're doing and heads on over for a stern talking too, just like a pack of Pavlov's doggies--WTF!!

Then you have the final five minutes of the film. In it we see the abusive fiancé get manhandled by his longtime victim and all around bad actress. There is an impromptu wedding where Black people are dressed like angels and are hanging from the ceiling--WTF!!! The only reason to watch it this far, besides testing your threshold for pain, is the hope that the second villain of this story gets her ass handed to her as well. Guess what, it doesn't happen. Instead, Perry takes the testicularly challenged way out and plays it safe, ending the movie on a tone of forgiveness--WTF!!

I'm pretty sure that, if given a day , I could probably write a doctoral dissertation on all the ways this movie sucks. Don't even get me started on the rest of Tyler Perry's films. I'm just going to say this. In my opinion, as a Black guy, D.W. Griffith's legacy lives on. The irony is that it is doing so through a Black man who will be praised for doing what Birth of a Nation did, selling us down the river. I only wish Perry's films were dudes so I could kick them in the nuts. Thanks a lot, dude!! What are you going to follow this up with in 2009, a comedy about the raping and savage beating of slaves in Colonial America?

Madea, Tyler Perry's cash cow is back, this time under the direction of Perry himself, and we are not the better for it.

The plot has Madea contending with family problems as she gets ready for her family reunion. Its typical Madea madness as we get both wild comedy and touching human drama.

Unfortunately Tyler Perry is not a particularly good film director and the comedy and drama don't really mesh. The problem is Perry's performance as Madea is off. Clearly Perry has other things on his mind and it shows.Perry's mind is on the scenes he doesn't appear in, but anytime he's on screen things get lost. This is a bad thing since Perry's Madea is the glue that holds the stories together and with her essentially missing there is no reason to watch. Its as if Perry is on autopilot and goes back to the broad performances that work so well on stage, but which seem too out of control in the "real" world of film. (Clearly Perry needs to let someone else direct him in the next film) I have to say I'm a fan of Madea. I like the character that Perry has created and I like the stage shows that he's put on, which is why I'm disappointed when I see how the opening up of the plays tends to fall flat. If you want to see what I mean watch Perry in action in any of the videos of the stage shows that the Madea films have come from. They are very funny, very human morality plays that actually move you.

3 out of 10. A misfire.

Madea's Family Reunion (2006): Dir: Tyler Perry / Cast: Tyler Perry, Lynn Whitfield, Rochelle Aytes, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, Blair Underwood: Sequel to Diary of a Mad Black Woman where a family unites under the ruling of one peculiar grandmother. Strong subplots including a mother who is charmed by a bus driver who has a son of his own. She is unable to accept his love due too her mother's dominating nature. Her sister is her mother's favourite but she held within an abusive relationship with the man she is suppose to marry. Tyler Perry not only directs this film but he also handles many other areas including portraying Madea. With convincing makeup he has created Madea into a show of force with comic payoff. Unfortunately she is involved in an unnecessary subplot regarding a teenager put in her care. In supporting roles is Lynn Whitfield as Victoria, forceful mother who reveals the source of her behaviour and the consequences that accompany it. Rochelle Aytes plays her daughter forced into an abusive relationship and encouraged to regain her dignity. Lisa Arrindell Anderson plays the other daughter whose relationship with the bus driver is predictable but nonetheless charming. Blair Underwood also makes an appearance amongst the chaos. Themes regard relationships and family issues resulting in a family reunion well worth attending. Score: 9 / 10