Madea (Tyler Perry) is back in a new movie which, like always, is from the previous play of the same name. In this one, Madea’s niece, Shirley (Loretta Devine) receives some devastating news about her health and she wants to gather all her children together to tell them the news. All three of her adult children, Tammy (Natalie Desselle), Kimberly (Shannon Kane), and Byron (Shad ‘Bow Wow’ Gregory Moss) have problems of their own and don’t to have the time to hear what their mother has to tell them. Tammy can’t control her two disrespectful sons. Kimberly has anger issues and takes it out on her husband, Calvin (Isaiah Mustafa). Byron, recently released from prison, is having money problems. Not only does his baby mama Sabrina (Teyana Taylor) wants more child support, but his current girlfriend Renee (Lauren London) wants him to go back to his old way of life so that she can have the finer things in life, she feels she deserves. Frustrated by all of this, Aunt Bamm (Cassi Davis) calls on Madea to come and help get all of Shirley’s children to come to dinner. Once they are all gathered, will a family secret once again separate the siblings? Madea will have to use all of her tough love to keep this family from once again coming apart at the seams during this tragic time in Shirley’s life.
Now if you’ve been a fan of Tyler Perry’s movies, then you know that he always makes a play version of his stories before he makes them films, and this one was no different. I saw the play version and thought it was hysterical. I kind of zone out during the singing segments of the plays and that’s why I always look forward to the film releases of the stories. Also in the films Tyler has more room to let his characters be more over the top and hilarious. He has single handedly put Cassi Davis on the map as far as being a top black comedic actresses. She has one of the funnier roles in this movie along with Perry as Madea and his brother, Joe (also played by Perry). Another outrageous character is Mr. Brown (David Mann). This is one of the funniest characters in the Madea storylines. When he and Perry are on the screen together, you are definitely going to laugh out of your seat. I have to also give major props to Loretta Devine in this role as Shirley. She put on such a great performance of playing terminally ill, that you would think she wasn’t acting. She did such an outstanding job, I really felt for this character. Once again, Perry was able to pull together a great cast to round out the rest of the roles. Each actor did a tremendous job, both comedic, and dramatic. I gave this movie 2 ½ stars out of 4. It was really, really funny and Perry’s characters are not losing any steam. They continue to be just as hilarious from plays to the big screen. The movie runs for 1 hour and 46 mins. It’s rated PG-13 for drug content, language and some mature thematic material. It was written and directed by Tyler Perry. It was produced by The Tyler Perry Company and was distributed by Lionsgate.
Sometimes everyone can use a little tough love, when times are hard. Ezo
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