Madea's Big Happy Family

2011 "Peace. Love. Harmony. Or else."
4.8| 1h46m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 22 April 2011 Released
Producted By: Lions Gate Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

When Shirley, Madea's niece, receives distressing news about her health, the only thing she wants is her family gathered around her. However, Shirley's three adult children are too preoccupied with their own troubled lives to pay attention to their mother. It is up to Madea, with the help of rowdy Aunt Bam, to bring the clan together and help Shirley deal with her crisis.

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Reviews

Freaktana A Major Disappointment
Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
numbersense That pretty much describes Madea's character--as she forces the other characters to straighten up their acts without giving any consideration to her two-faced ways (damaging a fast-food place, smoking marijuana, slapping kids that aren't her own, et al). I did find Bryon's baby's mama interesting as she reminds me a lot of students at the high school where I substitute teach--only interested in themselves. While I liked the reconciliation between the two daughter's with their husbands at the end, I hated how Byron dumped his then-girlfriend. I don't know if it was because his mom died, or because he didn't want to be drawn back into his old lifestyle. I also found the "1-800-choke-a-*" line that one of the minor characters said to be disturbing for a film made by a professing Christian such as Tyler Perry.
Steve Pulaski Madea's Big Happy Family is one the best Madea film I've seen so far, as most of them tend to be nothing more than noise and a lot of different genres and themes meshed together in one grand, tonal inconsistency. It's not that Big Happy Family is much different from this formula, but it's definitely more spirited and quick-witted than a great deal of its predecessors and successors. Rather than focusing on sight gags and tired racial humor, this particular outing showcases Tyler Perry like a variety show performer, breathlessly running between characters and delivering a fast-talking performance out of each one. Just when you think Perry's liable to run out of gas in the third act, he turns it around and continuously cranks out a tireless bout of one-liners and meaningful monologues through the most unlikely character in the entire film - the titular one.More on that later; the film opens with Shirley (Loretta Devine) visiting a doctor with one of Perry's signature character, Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis), to discover that her cancer has reoccurred in a more aggressive state. In response, she request Aunt Bam gather all of her children and their significant others together for what could very well be the last get together they ever have. Shirley's children, Byron (Bow Wow), Tammy (Natalie Desselle), and Kimberly (Shannon Kane), all arrive promptly. Byron is in a loose relationship with another woman, struggling to maintain the intimacy, take care of his son, escape the drug-dealing scene, and manage his destructive baby mamma (Teyana Taylor). Tammy and her husband Harold (Rodney Perry) are also fighting constantly, never coming to an agreement on anything and experiencing rough patches in their marriage when it seems like only yesterday they loved each other unconditionally. Then there's Kimberly, who, amidst arguing with Tammy constantly, has a secret for Bryon that nobody is expecting, which is quietly held until it comes out at an inappropriate time.Punctuating all this oppressive, soap-opera drama is none other than Tyler Perry in drag, playing his famous Madea character along with her brother Joe. Madea is the matriarch of the family, holding the fort and desperately trying to keep everyone stable, even if she frequently snaps, pulls out her pistol, gets physical, or simply has to knock some sense into her family. Much to my surprise here, Madea is more about her verbal banter here than her psychotic rampages or emotional hissyfits. Sure, the occasional one slips out unexpectedly, particularly in an early scene in a drive-thru which is too outlandish to take seriously amidst the more serious drama, but overall, it's remarkable how pleasantly light-hearted Madea can be and how incredibly serious she can be in this film as well.Consider the scene when Madea knocks some sense into Tammy and Harold, as their marriage has been souring for quite sometime now and neither know how to handle it. In a roughly two minute monologue, where no humorous or sentimental punches are pulled, Madea talks about couples struggle the most when they hit their forties for a number of reasons that are painstakingly honest: both couples generally begin to see their parents' age, and even die, financial stress has the ability to take its toll, he's going through a midlife crisis, she's going through menopause, a sex life is hard to maintain in a tumultuous society, and so on. This kind of brutal honesty and realism is something I've humbly come not to expect in a Tyler Perry film; I generally expect to see silliness on display and the occasional reality of a bad situation portrayed in a modest light. Madea's Big Happy Family isn't really different on that level, as it still cherrypicks a great deal of issues that often plague the black community (drug-dealing to get by, the struggles to be a father to children born out of wedlock, etc) and oversimplifies them, but, every now and then, the film stumbles upon a hint of genius that shows maybe if Perry would stop clowning around, he'd be able to extract some true, heartwrenching meaning and insight from his characters and situations, even his band of comic characters.As expected, Perry creates a conglomerate of genres with this film, merging slapstick comedy, family drama, marital debacles, and gospel all together into a film that, especially towards the end, find itself almost crumbling under the weight of all these genres. This narrative hodgepodge is enough to make one forget all of Perry's accomplishments thus far within the film, from the brutal realism of a tough marital situation and creating one of his most unpredictable characters into a rare laugh riot. The last twenty minutes of this film, which manage to squeeze in a strange choir rendition and an agonizingly unfunny Maury skit, seem like they're coming from an entirely different writer who was only given a vague paraphrasing of the prior events of the film.Give Perry credit not only for the difficult aforementioned accomplishments but the fact that he managed to at least make an attempt to humanize the bulk of the characters he introduces throughout the film. Another one of Perry's unsung talents is that while he includes a great deal of characters in his films, he manages to allow them room to run and space to play in so no character is left without some kind of personality. Madea's Big Happy Family is a great deal of fun at times and a dreary slog at others, making it a fairly accurate depiction of life in the eye of someone who is "this close" to fully portraying everything in a believable and balanced manner.Starring: Tyler Perry, Loretta Devine, Bow Wow, Natalie Desselle, Shannon Kane, David Mann, Cassi Davis, Tamela Mann, Lauren London, Isaiah Mustafa, Rodney Perry, Rodney Perry, and Teyana Taylor. Directed by: Tyler Perry.
Marc Davis Why not just go ahead and call this movie Soul Food 2? Only this rip off of that nicely done comedy-drama from 1997 is not even close. The brilliantly funny Loretta Divine, who first stole the show in Waiting to Exhale (1995), can't even save this movie. Here Divine play Shirley, a dying matriarch of a very dysfunctional family (just like Soul Food). But the movie never really takes off like Soul Food did. The film is infused with director/producer Tyler Perry's brand of comedy for one thing, which has become way past tired and stale.There were a few good laughs, but overall, the movie just wasn't that funny when it tries so hard to be and all the high family drama is so predictable in Perry's movies to the point that we just don't feel sorry for these individuals when we should because, quite frankly, Perry uses the same formula over and over and over again. He always has these extreme cases of domestic violence or verbal abuse in his movies, only for everything to work out like roses in the end. And to top that off in this movie in particular, there is a high amount of overacting and bad acting. At least in his previous films there was pretty much good performances by the cast. That was the only thing that saved his movies. Not this time.And the whole Medea routine, it's been played to the hilt. I hope Perry realizes soon that there's no more in the tank. Retire the Medea routine. Show us that you are more than a one trick pony. Come up with something new please! Along with Tyler Perry and Loretta Divine, the movie also stars Chad "Bow Wow" Moss, and Lauren London. The rest of the cast is really not worth mentioning. Just think about the characters and plot of Soul Food when you watch this. Or better yet, skip this movie all together and just go rent Soul Food.
Ryan_MYeah I have to make a confession. I watch Tyler Perry's Madea films. OK, JUST HEAR ME OUT! Now, I think they're all FAR from perfect films, but at the very least, I do enjoy watching the portions featuring Madea. Such was the case of my latest viewing, Madea's Big Happy Family. It's a bit embarrassing to say, but let's just get down to my review.First of all, we have a tangled web of subplots. The mother of a family, Shirley, is devastated to discover that her case of cancer has worsened, prompting her to plan a family dinner to tell her children about her condition. This includes her daughters, Kimberly and Tammy. Kimberly is a secretive woman (Improperly focused character #1), and Tammy is having trouble with her marriage, and her two disobedient children. This also includes Byron, a man on an unlucky streak, having served jail time for selling drugs, and behind on paying child support to his insufferably obnoxious ex-girlfriend. There's also some drama between Cora and Mr. Brown. But leave it to Madea to set things straight, and not be afraid to beat the living hell out of anyone who steps out of line.This movie is textbook Tyler Perry. As always, he gathers together a cast that could have been quite good, with good material, but their characters are inconsistently written, and their focus tends to blur because the script is overly cluttered with subplots. It's not a problem because they're hard to follow (They really aren't), but it's because it doesn't give these characters all the attention they deserve.This isn't even mentioning Tyler Perry's ubiquitous switch in tone. His rhythm moves as comedic scene, dramatic scene, comedic scene, etc. I think the comedy portions are better than the dramatic portions, but the flip flopping between the two makes things feel dull. At the end of the day, I didn't emotionally connect with the story like I feel I should have. For once, I wish Perry would construct a film that's sure of what it wants to be.I give it ** out of ****