Tyler Perry's Jeez Jon

A little while ago, I conducted an experiment:  I watched four of Tyler Perry's movies and tweeted my way through them.  My intent was to take a look at a huge cultural phenomenon and see what the hubbub was all about.  Considering his films have grossed over half a billion dollars in the theaters, obviously something is going on.  Since I didn't have the inclination to watch all of his films, I watched four: Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail, and Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?

Basically, all of Tyler Perry's films (mostly based on his very successful plays) are melodramas in the classic sense.  The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad. Staying true to your roots is good; being bougie and uptight and looking down on people in the ghetto is bad.  In most of his films is his character Madea, a large grandmother in Atlanta who smokes pot, shoots guns, has a police record and won't go to church.  She's also the main font of wisdom in all Tyler Perry films. Since it's also a drag performance, the presence of Madea is usually the comic relief as well.  I'm guessing the mythological reference is on purpose, but in this case "Madea" is short for "My Dear".  Got that?

The structure of a Tyler Perry film goes like this:

1. A member of Madea's large extended family is either married to someone Evil or is engaged to marry someone Evil.
2. Said Evil Person is shallow, materialistic, and very snobby.  Also said Evil Person is pretty obvious in his/her Evil Tendencies.
3. The main female character will be bitter and angry due to how men have treated her in the past.
4. The male romantic lead will be handsome, artistic... and completely chaste.  No, you read that right.
5. Bitter woman will do an act of violence against the Evil Person.
6. An older woman will lecture people about Jesus, and that older person is usually Cicely Tyson. 

Each film is broken down after the jump.

Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman

• Madea Family Member in Crisis: Her granddaughter Helen, played by Kimberly Elise.
• Evil Person: Helen's shallow husband Charles who kicks the childless Helen out of the house and brings in his skeezy mistress... and their kids. 
• Bitter Woman: Helen, the said Mad Black Woman from the title. Used to live in the lap of luxury, now waiting tables.
• Sensitive Artistic Man Who Won't Sleep With Bitter Woman: Orlando (Shemar Moore), the chaste steel worker who has a matching do-rag/shirt combination for any situation.
• Act of Violence Against Evil Person: After Charles is confined to a wheelchair after a gunshot wound, Helen slaps her husband around and then shoves him in a Jacuzzi where he starts to drown.
• Older Woman Lecturing: Cicely Tyson, as Helen's Bible-thumping mother.

Helen learns self-reliance and ends up with Orlando at the end, completely ripped off from An Officer and a Gentleman, complete with the carry off. Here are some of my choice Tweets from it:

• Apparently Madea can apparently conjure a chainsaw out of thin air. No wonder these movies are popular: she's a witch! [via]
• Tyler Perry as Madea is some of the most over-ther-top muggy acting I've seen this side of a junior high school play. [via]
• He picked MBW [Mad Black Woman] up and is now carrying her out of the steel mill. They still haven't had sex yet. [via]

Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion

• Madea Family Member in Crisis: Her niece Lisa, engaged to abusive fiance Carlos, played by Blair Underwood.
• Evil People: The aforementioned Carlos, and Lisa's horribly shallow mother Victoria who thinks wants Lisa to continue to take physical abuse from Carlos so she can continue to take money from Lisa's mystery trust fund. You read that right.  Oh, and [SPOILER ALERT], Victoria pimped out Lisa's sister Vanessa to her 2nd husband when she was 12.  That's right, this movie the Precious of its time.
• Bitter Woman: Vanessa, abuse victim and single mom of two kids. Also wannabe spoken word artist.
• Sensitive Artistic Man Who Won't Sleep With Bitter Woman: Frankie (Boris Kodjoe), artist/bus driver who also had a child... and as a Christian is remarkably chaste.
• Act of Violence Against Evil Person: Vanessa slaps her mom at the reunion and they start to fight, which is broken up by Cicely Tyson's sermonizing. (See below) After Carlos slaps Lisa in Madea's kitchen, Lisa heaves a bubbling pot of grits into Carlos' face and beats him with a cast-iron skillet.
• Older Woman Lecturing: Cicely Tyson, reprising her role as Myrtle.  After she, Maya Angelou (yes, Maya freaking Angelou) and a bunch of other women walk around the family reunion, Cicely stops the action of the film and lectures.  For a solid five minutes.

The reunion actually doesn't kick in until the film's 2nd hour, and out of the four "Family Reunion" is the worst film in the bunch.  The tonal shifts from wacky comedy to abuse to flat-out exploitative emotional pain are just too jarring to really explain.  Eek.  My choice Tweets:

• Evil Fiance: "I love you to death... and I mean that." He didn't twirl his moustache afterwards, alas.  [via]
• Montage of sinful things at reunion: playing dice & dirty dancing. Apparently not sinful? High Fructose Corn Syrup. [via]
• Maya Angelou does a poem, then shirtless angels trumpet the arrival of a lip-syncing waiter. Gayest. Wedding. Ever. [via]

Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail

• Madea Family Member in Crisis: Madea, who attacks woman's car in a K-Mart parking lot and then goes into jail.
• Evil Person: ADA Linda who's engaged to be married to her fellow ADA Joshua (Derek Luke). Linda left the ghetto and refuses to help those still there 'cause she's getting married, y'all.
• Bitter Woman: Candy, the hardscrabble prostitute played by Keisha Knight Pulliam. Yes, Rudy from "The Cosby Show."  She's a hooker due to HORRIBLE THING FROM HER PAST.
• Sensitive Artistic Man Who Won't Sleep With Bitter Woman: Josh, the ADA also from the 'hood and childhood friend of Candy who feels responsible for her due to HORRIBLE THING FROM HER PAST .
• Act of Violence Against Evil Person: After ADA Linda trumps up charges against Candy, Josh does career violence to Linda and Linda goes to jail.
  
• Older Woman Lecturing: Ellen, the minister who helps the prostitutes on the street AND conveniently does classes at the Jail where both Candy and Madea end up.

Out of the four, Madea Goes To Jail is the most accomplished and the most fun. It's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but if I had to watch one of these again, this is the one I'd pick. My choice Tweets:

• Evil Fiancee's BFF tells Josh it's okay not to help out those left "in the ghetto." Boo! Hiss! [via]
• Rudy is smarter than the other hookers: she reads! [via]
• It takes a SWAT team to take down Madea... that and a village.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?

• Madea Family Member in Crisis: Apparently none of the characters are related to Madea and she does not appear in the film.  The film is about four couples who travel to a cabin in Colorado for a week-long vaction.  However, all four couples have problems, ranging from workaholic wives to dead children to baby momma drama.
• Evil Person: Mike (Richard T. Jones), who makes his overweight wife Sheila (the marvelous Jill Scott) drive to Colorado after she's told she's too fat for only one seat on the plane.  Richard repeatedly belittles Sheila because of her weight.
  
• Bitter Woman: Angela (Tasha Smith), who is the breadwinner in the family, and repeatedly belittles her philandering husband about that and his baby momma.
• Sensitive Artistic Man Who Won't Sleep With Bitter Woman: The small town sheriff Troy befriends and woos Sheila after Mike kicks her to the curb.
• Act of Violence Against Evil Person: After Mike publicly humiliates her in front of their friends and finally asks for a divorce, Sheila quietly grabs a bottle of Chardonnay and cracks it over his head.
  
• Older Woman Lecturing: No older woman lecturing, but Janet Jackson does speak on and on about the importance of God and communication.

Like most of his films, Tyler Perry paints every character with one or two characteristics and that's it.  There is no need for subtlety, no need for subtext.  The big reveal that happens at the climax of the film is all told instead of shown; one character blurts out everyone's dirty secret that the audience has never heard.  It's clunky and obvious.  Jill Scott's considerable acting talents are wasted here. The Choice Tweets:

• "I don't have control issues" says Tyler Perry in "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?" directed by Tyler Perry. [via]
• The guys debate the ethics of cheating. It's like "Dr. Phil" meets "Different Strokes". [via]
• Janet : "I'm trying to be Perfect Patty. Perfect Patty messed up!" She's not the only one. [via]

Look, I know very well that I am not Tyler Perry's demographic for his films... or his TV shows... or anything that he does.  The fact that he is speaking to an entire section of the populace that doesn't feel like it has a place in our culture is a good thing.  He's obviously a very smart and savvy guy, and has done very well for himself.  On that level, I really do admire his success.  What I don't admire is his product.  His stuff is obvious, facile, predictable and painfully earnest.  When you look at some of the actors he gets in his films, you really see how thin his material is.  You have Oscar nominees like Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, and Cicely Tyson saying trite lines and I sit there and cringe.  He has some amazing people at his disposal and he's not giving them what they deserve, and that really makes me sad.

But what I feel in all this really doesn't matter at the end.  He has his thing and he's doing it.  And his audience is eating it up.  I've had my taste... and from now on, I think I'll pass.

Comments

[O.]

I think it is interesting how is playing to a niche market and doing well. I wonder how much he 'workshops' the script in his theater shows. Is that a viable model for other people? TOur a show on the cheap to refine it and then make a movie of it... Hmmm