Some of the Madea movies have just a sprinkling of Tyler Perry’s outsized, drag character, but there’s a lot of Madea in “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” and that should make for big happy Tyler fans.
It has taken a long time for Madea to grow on me, partly because the tones of the movies are so uncertain, but I think I’m finally hopping on the bus. The movies want us to appreciate the no-nonsense lectures that the cranky Southern matriarch delivers at the end of each film but we’re not necessarily supposed to admire the woman who delivers them. She’s funny, sure, but she’s also sometimes abusive, selfish and, as we learn in the cliffhanger ending of “Family,” a big fat liar. Perry’s performance as Madea, like his non-drag performance as Uncle Joe, is so lived-in and vivid that I completely forget the actor behind all that makeup. Madea’s mannered dialect, in which “hello” sounds like “hellerrrrr,” is hilarious.
The rest of the actors in the Madea movies are not always as clear about how to react to Perry’s plus-sized caricature — and, as director, that’s at least partly Perry’s fault. “Big Happy Family” is one of the funniest of the Madea films, but it is also features some terrible acting by cartoony performers who behave as if they’re on stage and they’re trying to project to audiences that are miles away from them. Others, sensibly, respond to Madea as if she’s simply another character in the movie, which is why Loretta Devine sticks out in “Family.” She is quietly, splendidly honest as a woman who is dying of cancer and needs Madea’s help to gather her bickering family so she can tell them the news.
The lesson here is that when you have a character as outrageous as Madea, a movie doesn’t need more of them (I’m talking about Aunt Bam, whose job is to yell and throw things, and a vicious baby mama, whose job is to give us a headache). Those characters just drag the movie down, but the rest of the time — when “Family” successfully argues that real people are often involved in funny situations at the same time as they’re involved in tragic ones — this “Madea” feels like the best “Madea” yet.
Chris Hewitt can be reached at 651-228-5552.
“MADEA’S BIG HAPPY FAMILY”
Directed by: Tyler Perry
Starring: Perry, Isaiah Mustafa, Loretta Devine
Rated: PG-13 for drug use and strong language
Should you go? If you’re a “Madea” fan, yes. And if you’re curious about the character, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start. ** 1/2
