Madea Goes to Jail

I hadn't seen any of Tyler Perry's films before this one because I don't find drag comedy appealing. I didn't expect this to be a great film, but it was much worse than I could have imagined. The main reason is Madea herself. Madea is a rude, hostile, Ghetto cliché of a woman who as the opening credits demonstrated, has spent most of her adult life in and out of jail for various offenses caused by her inability to control her anger and need for revenge. After one particular incident the elderly behemoth must finally endure the consequences and serve time. Although this did not happen until about one hour into the film, I applauded because Madea is clueless to how bad her behavior is that even a trained professional like Dr. Phil couldn't get through to her. She needed to learn that she is not above the law as a sort of comeuppance.

Another reason this film was so bad was that it would frequently shift to a secondary storyline which had nothing to do with Madea. It was something of a "Pretty Woman" premise involving a legal clerk trying to rescue a childhood friend from drugs and prostitution. Every time this happened, it was like somebody getting a remote control and changing the channel. The ending does show a common thread for these story lines but it's not enough to save this train wreck of a film.

After watching Madea, I can't understand why people enjoy Tyler Perry films so much. The Ghetto factor may be the main reason people line up and pay good money to see this garbage. If that's the case, it's very sad that this is what 21st century America considers entertainment. I would have given this a minus rating if IMDb allowed it.