Directed By Tyler Perry

Starring – Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, David Mann

The Plot – Madea’s (Perry) back hallelujer. And she’s not putting up with any nonsense as family drama erupts at her great-grandson’s (Brandon Black) college graduation celebration.

Rated TV-MA for drug use, adult language, and scenes of momentary violence

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube

POSITIVES

The twelfth Madea movie in this topsy turvy franchise pleasantly brings with it a few endearing qualities to its creativity that easily makes this one of the more tolerable chapters for the titular character since her inception, twenty years ago. For starters, the humor is noticeably more effective here. This is certainly an aspect of the freedom in direction that the material attains in this being a direct-to-streaming effort instead of another cinematic sequel, giving us more than a few blunt vulgarities and gross-out moments that periodically tickled my funny bone and helped in keeping my investment to the film faithfully throughout. Beyond this, however, so much more praise once more goes to Perry, whose vibrancy for personality as Madea pushes the material further than it has any right to. Perry exuberates an infectious love for the character that still permeates after all of this time, providing a respectable dedication to the role that he has not only used to create an empire from, but also left an undeniable imprint on the history of black cinema that for better or worse will always be remembered. Adding to Perry’s delight is the addition of Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll, whose own cherished dress-in-drag protagonist, Agnes Brown, comes along for the ride, and brings more than a few scenes of awkward hilarity in distinguishing the language barriers between these respective cultures. “A Madea Homecoming” is also a vast improvement to production, seen stylistically throughout a few clever transition sequences and colorless scenes that makes this one of the more experimental instances with Perry’s directing talents. In fact, Perry’s ambition doesn’t just lend itself to visual capacity, but thematic ones as well, as the lessons of the film about forgiveness and acceptance offer a sweet sentimentality to the experience that feels timely appropriate for the world’s divisive reality, enriching this with a depth of hefty humanity that above all else tenderizes with the kind of sociological reflection that Perry consistently incorporates to the dilemma of his characters.

NEGATIVES

Sadly, the perils that have doomed lesser efforts tragically humble this ambitious chapter in ways that have us confirming this is more of the same. This sentiment is more apparent in the heavy-handed dialogue than anything else, which stretches the movie’s run time to an unnecessarily bloated 100-minute run time that it doesn’t even remotely earn. This is again because of improvisation of the conversations stretching to such painful lengths that they completely eviscerate the intention of their summoning to begin with and make a chore for the pacing that continuously tests audience patience with lines that fail to ever get to the point. This is made easier with the importance of the narrative, or lack thereof, which unravels without ever truly creating any long-lasting intrigue or momentary tension for the intention. Any momentary instances of uncertainty are resolved mere moments after they were introduced, and only evade aimlessness as a result of a couple of ridiculous plot twists during the second act that feel like they were directly lifted from a Lifetime Television movie. On that front, the brass tonal shifts littered casually throughout the narrative are not only unearned, but they’re also downright silly for a movie this crass. The dramatic inflections definitely give the film the trashy novella characteristics they’re coherently reaching towards, but they’re conjured during scenes that are so obviously cloaked in comedic emphasis that they creatively come out of nowhere and have this movie experiencing an identity crisis of sorts during moments where it should be hammering down consistency. Aside from this, Perry’s direction behind the lens is once again the culprit for more than a few confrontations with the movie’s inconsistent production value. Mainly in the perils of the lighting and shot composition, the film feels very much like a TV sitcom, with one camera personal shots lacking any challenging ambition or compelling stature to their interpretations. It’s true that you don’t watch a Madea film for these creative aspects, but when compared to the aforementioned accredited transitions and experimentation with color pallets, it seems strange not to try, especially in attempting to make this film stand out from other dreaded efforts. Finally, the ensemble of this film, while trying their hardest to establish such meaningful characters, are the single biggest factor in absolving the film of any momentum. This is most felt when they’re asked to carry a scene far from the clutches of Perry or O’Carroll, and the inorganic, emotionally flat enveloping’s have this feeling like a high school stage play, instead of a major motion picture. It’s difficult enough that none of these actors receive characterization or even continuity between films, as they’re continuously shuffled in and out with each passing installment, but it’s made a lot worse when they’re asked to interact off of one another, and a complete lack of conviction stilts the energy or believability of the scenes we’re asked to interpret as authentic.

OVERALL

Madea’s return to the screen does bring with it a few surprising instances of effective humor and sociological themes that help it reach the upper tier of Madea installments for a consistently underwhelming franchise. Unfortunately, like any homecoming, Perry returns to the same comforts in familiarity that have both outlined him a career and made his films an exercise in autopiloted futility that hammer home every ideal with the kind of volume or subtlety of a bull running through a China shop, except bulls are settled when they don’t reach their target, Perry not so much.

My Grade: 4/10 or D