Susan Granger’s review of “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail” (Lionsgate)
This latest installment in writer/director Tyler Perry’s comedy series raked in more than $40 million its first weekend, the highest grossing film for both Perry and Lionsgate studio. Yet most mainstream moviegoers haven’t a clue who Perry is or why his movies have such box-office clout.
Rising from New Orleans homelessness to owning a multimillion-dollar Atlanta production company with the hit TV series “House of Payne” and “Meet the Browns,” Perry has a devoted following in a niche market. His Christian evangelical stories usually revolve around African-Americans struggling to make ends meet, surrounded by good people with faith in God and in each other.
“I understand my audience,” he says. “If you’ve worked all day and you are going through all this hell in your own life, it’s nice to go to the movies for two hours and forget about everything. If I can do that, I feel like I’ve done something worthwhile.”
So in this latest formulaic, slapstick comedy, the trash-talking, hot-tempered Mabel M. Simmons, a.k.a. Madea (Perry), who has a long rap sheet, is incarcerated and would be headed for the Big House if the arresting officers hadn’t neglected to Mirandize her. Instead, she’s sentenced to anger-management therapy with Dr. Phil McGraw. Yes, that Dr. Phil.
Meanwhile, Joshua (Derek Luke), a fast-rising D.A., is working on a case involving a college friend, Candy (Keshia Knight Pulliam, grown up from “The Cosby Show”), who has become a drug-addicted prostitute. And his uptight co-worker/fiancée Linda (Ion Overman) doesn’t understand his sudden concern about getting Candy away from a Latino pimp and turning her life around.
With Perry playing three roles – Madea, Joe (her pot-smoking brother) and Ben (her lawyer nephew) – on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail” is a silly yet crowd-pleasing, forgiveness-themed 5. And watch for Tyler Perry to make a cameo appearance in the new “Star Trek” movie due out May 8th.
