Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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.

Pumpkin_Man Tyler Perry is very interesting to me. I don't hate him or anything, but seems like every one of his movies, including Madea has to have random sub-plot drama. This one is probably one of my favorites because abusive relationships intrigue me, and Perry has captured it very well. Lisa is engaged to the very abusive and controlling Carlos, while her half sister Vanessa is dating a guy who wants to love her but she keeps pushing him away because of her traumatic childhood. Meanwhile, Madea is getting ready for her big family reunion and must deal with a troubled disrespectful teen named Nikki. If you love the Madea character, I'm sure you'll enjoy MADEA'S FAMILY REUNION!!!

theskulI42 Yes, Tyler Perry's latest maudlin soap opera/outrageous comedy/Christian preachfest has all the wifebeating, handsome menial workers, inopportune times to walk in the door and fat black sass we've come to expect from a Tyler Perry film, and this time, he's behind the camera, resulting in a visual look that is, surprisingly, better than the last one, at least in spurts. The opening sequence is Barbara Walters/ Casablanca" soft-lensed, and deceptively so. Also, her bedroom scenes are bathed in a suffocatingly everpresent blue glow, successfully transferring visually the vibe of the situation. I don't really need to recount the plot strands here. If you've seen and enjoy Tyler Perry's films, you go in knowing exactly what is going to be here. And if you haven't seen or don't enjoy his films, why the hell would you be watching them? It involves a woman being forced by her overbearing mother into an abusive marriage, her damaged-goods sister finding romance with a friendly bus driver, and everpresent Plot Interjection 'big momma' Madea, once again getting arrested, forced to take care of a runaway orphan that also always seems to get in trouble and is a bit of a wayward youth. Preposterously, the segment that works best for the film...is Medea herself. Perry has toned her (and her angry old man of a brother) down quite a bit, scaling her back to the point that she actually comes off as something resembling reality, playing tough-love-sass court-ordered mother, and where in the last film, Medea brandished a pistol and cut a couch in half with a chainsaw in the first 10 minutes of appearing on screen, here serves as advice dispenser and child bearer, even as the film leads to the almost fascinatingly inappropriate finales that seem to color both works I've seen from him. In fact, this expression of Tyler Perry through his films is more the mark of an auteur than a lot of directors saddled with that tag ever will be. The term auteur is not necessarily a judgment of quality, and Tyler Perry's films are all most wholly Tyler Perry's films, and it's fascinatingly rare to see a film attempt to present every side of the human experience and its fractured, human creator, as Perry's not a philosopher, and doesn't claim to be. He is an ordinary man who is trying to satisfy all the bases of what he wants to do. He does what he can to be a good Christian, to follow the tenets and followings, but he is not a perfect man, and he cannot help himself from his natural human nature. Sometimes, he just cannot help ogling an attractive young woman, or indulging in exuberant revenge fantasies. But like all men, he is not all bad, and not all good, with the truth falling somewhere in between, wholly reflected in his output, resulting in among, regardless of quality, the most honest productions to hit the screen in some time. The acting has markedly raised the game from the previous film. Where in Diary, Kimberly Elise was flooring the pedal and putting everything into it, almost every single other actor in the film let her down. The supporting cast here, including absolute professionals like Blair Underwood, Lynn Whitfield, Boris Kodjoe and one of the few bright spots in the first film, Cicely Tyson, shine well beyond their means in limited roles. Tyler Perry also has improved markedly. In the interim between the first film and this, he seems to have learned not only how to write for his creations, but ACT them, as he was stiff and awkward in the first film, but gets into the grooves and crevasses of the character here. This is obvious not a perfect film. It's not great art, the characters, even as the actors may stretch them well, still serve as ciphers and Types to allow for no confusion in his message, despite the fact that for me, confusion serves as the only message to be derived. The comedy may be less over-the-top, but to make up for it, he's ramped up the melodrama, as not only is one bedroom scene so over-the-top that it threatens to collapse upon itself, but Blair Underwood seems to be almost foaming at the mouth on occasion, and it is a testament to him as an actor that he somehow manages to reign this character in and keep him from plummeting over that edge. Also, the film's denouement is abrupt and a lot of plot strands are just sort of glossed over or immediately solved for easier access. Does Tyler Perry contradict himself? Very well then, he contradicts himself. He is large, he contains multitudes. He is not just one thing, and he is not perfect, and each play, and each film he puts out is just as revealing and yet maddeningly enigmatic as I'm Not There is for Bob Dylan, and this most certainly does not guarantee quality, as each story has to rest of its own laurels. But, where "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" failed because its plot and characters failed to outgrow their sitcom/soap opera limitations, "Madea's Family Reunion" is no better on paper than its predecessor, but its cast and crew has improved, and are striving well-behind their means, giving 110%, and somehow, it works, and I, for one, must grace this film with a big, hearty "AMEN!". Add this one to the underrated file. {Grade: 7.75/10 (B/B-) / #30 (of 70) of 2006}

chucksax Last night, in a fit of baby-induced insomnia, I watched "Madea's Family Reunion," which my mother-in-law had given to us on DVD. Considering the fact that Molly's entire family has adopted several Madea-speak phrases into their family lexicon (specifically, that Molly's mother is "diabetical"), I expected a somewhat silly parody of modern African-American life. I expected a bunch of scenes similar to the family scenes in those Eddie Murray movies ("Hercules! Hercules!").Instead, the movie is about two love stories, centered around Medea's nieces (sisters). One was a young woman in an abusive relationship, where her rich, socially-accepted Investment Banker fiancée beat her and emotionally abused her. The second was a romance the other sister developed with the bus driver who takes her home from work every day, a relationship complicated by the fact that, having some personal issues, she was not willing to have a physical relationship until marriage.By themselves, those stories were interesting and somewhat compelling. The psyche of an abused woman, and an abusive man, is a fascinating place. Thank God that I have never been there, but the struggle to overcome that abuse is, excuse the repetition, compelling. Relationships that are out of the norm of pop culture relationships - gasp! no sex after the first date or any other dates! How Biblical! - are interesting, although I would have likely enjoyed seeing some of their family dynamic develop a little bit more. (She has two children from two different fathers - how modern - and he has one child.) Where the movie breaks down - and becomes considerably less than it could have been - is in the myriad sub-plots and alternative story threads that are thrown into the picture. This movie, in one hour and fifty minutes, attempts to address every major issue that affects African-American culture in 2006, and the movie falls short in addressing every single one of them.Sub-plots (hopefully, I'll get them all): Madea starts the movie in court because she violated the house-arrest anklet (how'd she get that? I didn't see "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"). She has a foster child forced on her - a truly obnoxious teenage girl that Madea "beats into submission." No mention is made of any of her struggles - except that they exist - nor how she overcame them. This girl suddenly figures out her social issues and school issues without anyone's help and turns her life around, simply by being close to Madea. There's a rape subplot involving the sister dating the bus driver & one of her step-fathers - the father of the other sister. The mother becomes an enabler of the abusive relationship, and we discover that the abusive fiancée is helping her steal money from the trust fund his fiancée. (This plot is never developed past its reveal.) In addition, at the family reunion, a speech is given by one of the clan elders which will, apparently, keep the young black men with their families, make the young black women dress respectfully and become "more than they are," and keep this black family - having been started by former slaves - learning the lessons of the past and staying together to help one another.This could have been a good movie. Not a great one, as the real plot topics have been covered, better, by others. But, this movie tried to do so much and failed at most of it.

mswatsoninc Having grown up in the rural south, I am well schooled when it comes to home grown Christmas trees and the run of the mill cedar tree. But, I'm afraid all that working knowledge of sap couldn't have prepared me for "Medea's Family Reunion." Those of you who are diabetic, I would avoid this sickeningly sweet melodrama at all costs.My one hope is the girls hanging from the ceiling during the over the top wedding scene towards the end were well paid for the hours they must have been dangling there. Is that a spoiler? Oh, lord...let me spoil it further....Let's see...we have molestation, family dysfunction, marrying rich, domestic violence, overbearing mothers, and a saccharine soliloquy from Cycelie Tyson to-boot. Oh, and let's not forget the beat the crap out of the child for laughs angle. Honestly, does any one edit films anymore? "Madea's Family Reunion" is like the worst soap opera, after school special, public service announcement, and bad Flip Wilson homage rolled into one. Tyler Perry made the mistake of directing his own script. Of course, one could argue that his sitting down to write it might have been his first offense.If you want to see Tyler Perry do bad drag and think it's funny, I'd say watch this film. If you want to see every emotion in hyperbole acted out on the screen in front of you, and if you still have the wherewithal to endure it, watch this film. If you're looking for anything of substance, outside of a Judge Maybelline cameo, I'd look elsewhere.