Review of TP Madea Goes to Jail

First and foremost, I am a consistent supporter of the Tyler Perry company. I have always enjoyed his plays. Every speaking engagement or interview he’s ever done, he’s so humble and surprisingly self-aware. However, I have to say, I’m tired of seeing Madea!

Tyler Perry has an ingenious skill of intertwining religion/spirituality with good-natured humor. He also has an amazing eye for talent. He always puts together great ensemble casts for his films, same with the plays. With MGTJ, he chose Derek Luke and Keshia Knight Pulliam as the central characters. Now we just saw Derek Luke a month ago as Puffy in Notorious. But we also know him for such serious roles in Lions for Lambs, Friday Night Lights, and of course his 1st major casted role, Antwone Fisher. Derek Luke has the innate ability to tap into your emotional realm and be vulnerable on screen, while maintaining that rough exterior. I’m not gonna lie, I almost cried in the scene where he’s talking about why Candace (Pulliam’s character) is so important to him. Without spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it, the deeply rooted guilt comes pouring out and it’s 1 of his better performances to date.

Keshia Knight-Pulliam has always been saying she wants people to stop seeing her as “Rudy from the Cosby Show”. With the role of a young lady who lost her way in MGTJ, I think she’s relatively close to differentiating little Rudy to fully-grown Keshia. I was a bit skeptical at 1st, b/c she’s not the greatest actress to begin w/…but after seeing the movie, I can admit, I do see her in a different light. Her role as a prostitute-trying-to-go straight is very believable on some levels. I saw her as a relevant actress, tuning into the character. Rather than it feeling forced

My only true problem with this film, as w/ the other Madea movies, is Madea…as crazy as it sounds, the character has just ran its course..the plot itself is very interesting and driven by relatable characters…but Madea is just randomly thrown in and it takes away from the film. The other side is, in the commercial trailers, mostly all of Madea’s scenes are shown…so when you see the actual movie, you already know what you’re about to see before the segueway is set.

That’s the only reason I’m giving the movie 3 out of 4 stars. This was his best opening weekend to date and it’s been reported he’s doing Why Did I Get Married 2!