Tyler Perry’s ‘Madea’ films never really caught on in the UK. Madea is, essentially, Perry in old lady drag, playing at being a tough, sassy, outspoken opinionated 70-something African-American woman. The joke that has somehow lasted across at least ten films seems to be that, because she’s old, she can get away with saying outrageous things. These films consistently make money in America and appear to be targeted at a very particular African-American audience. You might argue that I dislike Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas because the film simply wasn’t made ‘for me’ but that argument would be bollocks. I detest this so-called ‘comedy’ because it is gut-wrenchingly unfunny.
In this one, saucy old Madea pays a yuletide visit to her great-niece Lacey (Tika Sumpter) and her family, causing chaos. Things get complicated when it emerges that Lacey is secretly married to Conner (Eric Lively) who is - shock horror - a white guy. The lie, naturally, spins out of control.
There’s obviously a huge market for this sort of thing but I’m not sure why, as I find it excruciating. I’m pretty sure this isn’t just because I’m white. After all, very few of the lame gags in this one are actually ‘race specific’. The jokes are just rubbish, the plot is lazy and the film-making feels half-arsed.
I can see the appeal of Madea in principle - there’s great potential in a loudmouthed old momma with no filter saying whatever mad thought pops into her head. Problem is, most of her extended monologues feel ad-libbed, unfocused and rarely hit the target. She’s a fun idea for a character, someone who speaks ‘the truth’, regardless of consequence but more often than not, she’s just obnoxious and nasty. Of course, behind all the banter and jive talk lies a heart of gold but after speaking lots of puerile gibberish, when Madea suddenly starts spouting sage words of wisdom, it just makes the whole schtick feel phoney.
The film does make one or two mildly interesting plot choices, with Perry smartly focusing on the fact that many black people can actually have their own unchallenged prejudices, revealing that Lacey’s mother disapproves of her being with white men. Sadly, all of this is undermined by numerous idle K.K.K. jokes and hillbilly stereotypes. To be fair, Larry the Cable Guy pops up as that rare redneck character who is incredibly tolerant and likeable, if vulgar and oafish.
There are also some dull subplots about bullying, the town Christmas pageant and some stuff with Lacey’s ex-boyfriend but none of these are surprising in the ways they play out and are tied up oh-so-neatly.
Perry also shoehorns in some stuff about keeping the ‘Christ’ in Christmas and this is another film that tries hard to present American Christians as a subjugated minority. In Perry’s hands, it’s a weird mix of heavy-handed melodrama and terrible jokes about Jesus being born to “the virgin Mary J. Blige.”
Throughout, though clearly desperate to push buttons, Perry struggles to find anything meaningful or inappropriate to say. Perhaps the joke is that, were Madea a ‘real’ person, it wouldn’t be long before someone strangled her. After 100 minutes of this mince, I really wish I could.
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