Madea Goes to Jail
BY Ryan LaMarca / 2009-03-14
My first encounter with the Tyler Perry phenomena is the strange and unusual "Madea Goes to Jail." But even more bizarre than the movie itself is the misleading title. Despite the fact that the movie is called "Madea Goes to Jail," the renowned titular character only ends up in the big house near the last twenty minutes of the show. Although I wholeheartedly did not know what I was getting myself into with "Madea Goes to Jail," I think it is safe to say this is one series that is just not for me.
Rough and tough grandma Mabel "Madea" Simmons (Tyler Perry) is finally getting her comeuppance with the law. After participating in a high speed car chase and then assaulting a fellow shopper at Kmart, Madea is sentenced to five years in prison. Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke) is troubled when he recognizes his latest defendant from his own troubled past. Candace Washington (Keshia Knight Pulliam) is a prostitute and a drug addict and is about to be put away in prison. Realizing he cannot let this happen to a past acquaintance, Josh makes a serious effort to help Candy turn her life around. But Josh's fiancé Linda, also an ADA, does not approve of Josh's involvement with the woman as jealousy begins to set in.
When I first got ready to see "Madea Goes to Jail," I had essentially the same notion that I assume many people will have: Madea will be in jail and cause trouble there. Well, it's sort of like that. But first, you have to watch all of the melodramatic material involving two engaged lawyers and a prostitute girl. At first, I was overwhelmed by the amount of characters walking around in this picture, trying to figure out how everyone is related to everybody else and how exactly they are involved with Madea. Well, apparently none of the lawyer characters have any connection to Madea in any kind of personal manner.
Most of "Madea Goes to Jail" deals with Joshua and his whiny fiancé getting jealous over Candace the prostitute with Madea going to jail serving as the backup story. If anything, this should have been switched, as the only good scenes in the movie were when Madea went to jail. I realize the lead story involving Josh and Candy had a nice message of redemption and second chances, but subtlety is apparently not Tyler Perry's strong point. Instead of relying on the viewer to catch the message, characters openly spell it out for you like they would in an old after-school special.
It's funny because as I was watching the movie, everything about it seemed like something you'd watch on daytime television. It even feels that way in production values, too. And then, just about every daytime television personality they could manage to find shows up. Dr. Phil and Judge Mathis both have decent size cameos that actually let them interact with Madea. Dr. Phil is Madea's anger management therapist while Judge Mathis serves as the presiding judge at her hearing. In a smaller role are all five ladies of "The View" who discuss Madea's imprisonment on their show.
The only thing really saving this movie is Madea, and although seeing Perry in drag is still creeping me out, he/she was actually funny. Had they spent more time with Madea in prison, this movie might have been better. While she's in there, she makes friends with her cell mate, a psychotic, yet euphoric serial killer, and picks a fight with a butch inmate (also in drag) who makes a move on Candace. If they had done a little more of this and a little less of the soapy melodrama, things might have looked brighter for the movie as a whole.
But then again, not even all the Madea scenes were comedy gold. Take for instance Madea's trip to Kmart. She defies a judge's orders to refrain from driving and decides to go shopping. As she gets ready to park, another woman steals her spot. Of course, Madea cannot let this go and she demands her parking spot. Utilizing a nearby forklift, Madea proceeds to pick the woman's car up and slam it down in front of her face, laughing all the way. This scene in particular could have been funny, but the way that the woman acted felt extremely amateurish. She flaunts herself about and then screams in just about the fakest way possible. It made me question the authenticity of the very movie I was watching.
In addition to that lovely scene above, just about everybody does a lousy job acting in this movie, except for maybe Perry and Viola Davis, who is believable as a church/social worker. The bad acting wouldn't have been so noticeable if they hadn't made the material so heavy for themselves. Perry has some really good messages in "Madea Goes to Jail," but it doesn't work in that sense because he's also trying to do a comedy at the same time. All this fighting in the relationships and the immaturity of Linda just start to grate on your nerves after a little bit.
Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail" is in my opinion for Perry fans only. The movie does not make itself available to acclimate outsiders to the world of Madea, and without even a little bit of background on these characters, you will have an apathetic view of the movie. Speaking strictly as a newcomer to the Perry stable, I didn't find "Madea Goes to Jail" any reason to check out the rest of the series.
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