"Trapped in the closet" fittingly describes Tyler Perry's lurid melodrama, in which characters repeatedly stumble onto others' dark secrets during living room chats.
Madea's Family Reunion (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:14
Rotten:38
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion is sincere in its positive intentions, but leaves something to be desired as a film.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic material, domestic violence, sex and drug references
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Feb 24, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $63,231,524
Synopsis: Tyler Perry follows up his DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN with more of his unique fusion of soapy melodrama, poetry, spirituality, romance, and raucous humor based on his popular stage play. This time... Tyler Perry follows up his DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN with more of his unique fusion of soapy melodrama, poetry, spirituality, romance, and raucous humor based on his popular stage play. This time around, the drama centers on a pair of half-sisters struggling to overcome the oppression of their materialistic mother (Lynn Whitfield). Weak-willed daughter Lisa (Rochelle Ayetes) is being pushed into marriage with an abusive investment banker (Blair Underwood), while Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson) is unable to trust the love of too-good-to-be-true Brian (Boris Kadjoe). It may be a bit jarring at first to veer from harrowing scenes of domestic abuse to hilarious scenes of Tyler in his dual role as the tough-talking grandma Madea (here also raising a troubled foster kid) and her flatulent brother Joe, but it works, especially when Cicely Tyson and poet Maya Angelou show up as old relatives at the reunion; their powerful presence provides the weight to anchor everything down. Hearing Tyson pour her heart out while addressing the young people at the reunion from the porch of an old slave shack--Angelou at her side--is an unforgettably moving experience. This is the work of a daringly original comedian and filmmaker; fearlessly confrontational and generous of heart (without being corny), MADEA is three kinds of great: gut-bustingly funny, socially progressive, and genuinely inspiring. [More]
Starring: Lynn Whitfield, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, Rochelle Ayetes, Maya Angelou
Starring: Lynn Whitfield, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, Rochelle Ayetes, Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Boris Kadjoe, Blair Underwood
Director: Tyler Perry
Director: Tyler Perry
Screenwriter: Tyler Perry
Producer: Mike Upton, Reuben Cannon
Studio: Lions Gate Films
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Reviews for Madea's Family Reunion
The Madea franchise is premised on her excessive characterization, and audiences love the character. Still, she can be repetitive, and this film is unevenly paced and predictable.
Reunion plays like some dizzy-minded daytime drama that's complete with transparent pesky personalities wrapped up in a numb sermonizing of faith and fruitless frolic.
Madea is one extended, brutal soap opera, stacked with mediocre actors in an endless "smell the fart" acting contest (Lynn Whitfield wins), and kills any chance for important messages to be taken seriously.
Anyone curious about all the fuss surrounding Perry is advised to track down a DVD of one of his stage productions; Madea, his big mama, is not working on the big screen.
For his revolutionist’s passion and for allowing Tyson to once again fill the screen with her glory, Tyler Perry is my new hero.
The heavily melodramatic tone that predominates throughout much of the pic could have used more leavening with comic relief.
[The film is] too long and its tone is disconcertingly uneven, but Perry never betrays or condescends to his characters: He agonizes with their unhappiness and rejoices in their victories.
If you liked it before you will like it here. If, on the other hand, you find these trite recitations of overwrought stereotypes tiresome, you've probably already avoided the previous movie and the plays and should continue doing so.
There's a ragged road-show texture to Madea's Family Reunion, which, along with the rest of the movie, would be easy to dismiss if one didn't suspect that it might be calculated.
Perry has a heart as big as Madea's so, as the writer-director, he ensures his movie has the right sentiments.
Madea is meant to be a communal experience. But a critic's job isn't to judge how a movie plays in an ideal viewing. It's to look at the movie. Madea is dismal.
No question, Tyler Perry knows what he's doing, and he's doing it better with each movie.
Domestic violence, incest and greed are some of the issues that boil over in this sweet and sour comedy that adheres to theatrical guidelines that are seldom politically correct.
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
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