Total Recall: Movies Directed by Tyler Perry
We count down the best-reviewed directorial work of the Peeples producer.
32%
5. For Colored Girls
By 2010, Tyler Perry was an entertainment industry unto himself, with enough clout to pursue one of his passion projects: A film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. By the time it arrived in theaters, it went by the drastically shortened For Colored Girls -- and according to many critics, Perry's take on the interconnected struggles of nine women was missing more than a few words from its title. In spite of an impressive cast that included Thandie Newton, Kerry Washington, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, and many others, Colored fell flat with critics who felt Perry underserved his stars with plodding direction and an overly soapy script. For Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post, however, "For Colored Girls is a bold example of an artist's reach exceeding his grasp. And it's hard not to applaud his determination and grade for ambition."
38%
4. Madea's Big Happy Family
Having already scored with the stage version of Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, Perry decided to bring it to the screen in 2011, enlisting a typically eclectic cast (including Loretta Devine, Bow Wow, and Isaiah "Old Spice" Mustafa) to offer audiences a peek into one particularly drama-filled episode in the life of the titular matriarch. This time out, Madea presides over a series of crises that include a scary medical diagnosis for her niece (Devine), a couple of marriages on the verge of collapse, and a recently released ex-con (Bow Wow) at a moral crossroads. It's familiar stuff for the Perry oeuvre, and although Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Times admitted that "the unconverted might grumble that the movie's many riffs and rants feel recycled from previous offerings," he argued that "Perry possesses a superb ear for the themes and emotions that connect him to his core audience, and that's on display again here."
44%
3. Why Did I Get Married?
Sort of like Clue, only with genitals instead of murder weapons, Why Did I Get Married? drops a group of marrieds (including Perry and Janet Jackson) into a couples therapy retreat, adds a spoonful of infidelity to stir things up, and lets the drama fly. That was the idea on paper, anyway; in practice, most critics felt that Perry subjected his cast (which also included Jill Scott, Malik Yoba, Michael Jai White, and Richard T. Jones) to a chaotically constructed script that was overloaded with melodramatic exposition in the bargain. Of course, that didn't stop Married? from grossing a healthy $55 million during its run -- or from entertaining Patrick Huguenin of the New York Daily News, who wrote, "Perry, so adept at giving fans of his touring plays an evening that spans the entertainment gamut, once again delivers something for everyone."
51%
2. The Family That Preys
One part Desperate Housewives-style soap, one part inspirational Walden Media drama, 2008's The Family That Preys found Perry telling the tangled tale of two lifelong friends (Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard) whose children have all, to one extent or another, lost their way -- and attempting to infuse the whole thing with spiritual themes in between all the bedroom and boardroom shenanigans. It would have been an ambitious feat for even a master filmmaker, so it's unsurprising that -- while many of them respected the effort -- most critics felt Perry couldn't fully balance the overwrought melodrama with the message. For others, however, Prey held up to scrutiny; as Chris Hewitt argued for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "If all Tyler Perry did with The Family That Preys was give Alfre Woodard a good part, that would be enough to make the movie worth seeing. But he does more."
62%
1. I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Well, here it is: Tyler Perry's sole Fresh film -- for now, anyway. 2009's I Can Do Bad All By Myself borrows its name -- but not its plot -- from one of Perry's Broadway plays, and finds the ever-irascible Madea and her brother Joe meddling in (or improving, take your pick) the lives of three kids whose alcoholic aunt (Taraji P. Henson) is their only hope of a normal childhood. Will her hunky immigrant boarder (Adam Rodriguez) give her the love she needs to make a change and turn her life around? Of course he will -- but formula filmmaking is a pretty powerful thing when it's wielded by the right director, and in this case, the critics felt that Perry pulled it off. "Contrived, sentimental, tonally bipolar, and as predictable as clockwork," admitted the Chicago Reader's Cliff Doerksen, before applauding, "this latest from chitlin' circuit impresario Tyler Perry is just a fat slab of ecstatic entertainment."
In case you were wondering, here are Perry's top 10 movies according RT users' scores:
1. Madea's Family Reunion -- 84%
2. Why Did I Get Married? -- 83%
3. Daddy's Little Girls -- 80%
4. I Can Do Bad All By Myself -- 80%
5. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds -- 78%
6. Madea Goes to Jail -- 74%
7. Meet The Browns -- 73%
8. Madea's Big Happy Family -- 73%
9. For Colored Girls -- 72%
10. Temptation -- 71%
Take a look through Perry's complete filmography, as well as the rest of our Total Recall archives. And don't forget to check out the reviews for Peeples.
Finally, here's RT's interview with Perry and the cast of Temptation, from earlier this year:
Adrian DeZendegui
Wow, Tyler Perry has a suck ass career
May 8 - 04:40 PM
Matt Ritchey
Tyler Perry actually has an AMAZING career. HE likes what he does, he has a very loyal following, he makes BANK and he does pretty much whatever he wants.
That being said, I made the mistake of seeing one of his movies. His MOVIES suck ass. His CAREER is enviable.
May 8 - 06:01 PM
Rod Guzman
So he's like another Ed Wood? Meh.
May 8 - 07:28 PM
Frisby 2007
That spot is already taken by Uwe Boll.
May 8 - 11:40 PM
Gage Kent
agreed
May 8 - 06:40 PM
Jamiel Catalan
So is John Moore
May 9 - 12:41 AM