By Geno McGahee
There is no question that Tyler Perry is a great storyteller that can make a good comedy and characters. Without much debate, his best character and most popular is Madea. The loud, rude and funny woman played by Perry is always amusing, but, sometimes, the character is used to sell a movie and give you very little of her. Films like MADEA’S WITNESS PROTECTION and TYLER PERRY’S A MADEA CHRISTMAS utilized the character and were great films. Unfortunately, it seems that Perry uses the character to push his dramas without much Madea.
Netflix has brought back Madea (Perry) in this new film “A MADEA HOMECOMING,” and it turned out to be a really mixed bag. The story surrounds Tim (Brandon Black) graduating college at the top of his class and returning home with his friend, Davi (Isha Blaaker) with major concern about the announcement that Tim is going to make. He plans to come out to his family and doesn’t know how they will react.
The two best characters in the Madea movies, both played by Perry, Madea and her brother, Joe, are now introduced as they plan for the party. It appears that they either have a new makeup/SFX person on this one or the budget was less than usual because Joe’s prosthetics aren’t as good as they normally are. It wasn’t a big deal but it was noticeable.
There’s a lot of conflict and infighting with the family, but most of the family is unremarkable and not well-defined. They are very forgettable and maybe that’s because they can’t stand out alongside Madea and Joe. The one character that does well and stands out is Davi’s Aunt Agnes (Brendan O’Carroll). Agnes and the dialogue with Madea and Joe is funny stuff, especially when she tells them to not get their “knickers in a bunch” and they thought she said something else. It was a very funny scene.
The best things about this film outside of some of the characters are the social commentary that Perry is very good at. He has a great talent to approach a subject of public debate and hit it from both sides but to also give an opinion that is based in common sense. The banter between Joe and Madea over dinner about defunding police was some gold. I don’t think Perry needs any other actors in his film. He just needs to play everyone.
There are twists and turns in this that fall flat. I could not come to care about any of the main characters in this or their stories. When the focus shifted to Tim or his mother or Davi, the film slowed down and seemed a lot longer than it was. Had Madea and Joe not been a part of this film, it would have been impossible to get through.
A MADEA HOMECOMING is not one of the best films in the Perry catalog, but it’s worth a watch if you like the Madea character. I hope we continue to see Madea return, but Perry needs to know where the money is.
I recommend this film, but it’s definitely not a great Madea film.
