By Justin Kroll
For The State News
There are so many talented people in Hollywood today who can write, direct and star in their own film — Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee and George Clooney.
Tyler Perry does all three of these things as well, but the difference between him and everyone else is that they deliver entertaining, high-quality films. Perry is just producing trash.
In "Madea's Family Reunion," which is based on Perry's own play, Madea (who he also plays) is planning a family reunion. Madea is a loud-mouthed, annoying old lady whose only purpose in the film is to make endless wisecracks — ones that are repetitive and not all that funny — and to give occasional advice to a family member in need of it.
She constantly states how tough she is and even claims she shot Tupac. These repetitive remarks only get older and more boring as the film goes on.
Even though Madea is the film's central character, the central story line does not involve her. It involves two sisters who are having trouble with their selfish mother and dysfunctional love life.
One sister, Lisa (Rochelle Aytes), is a bride-to-be who doesn't love her husband because he beats her and threatens to kill her if she leaves him.
The other sister, Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson), is a single mom who can't adapt to the dating life. Vanessa has never been able to trust a man long enough to love him until she meets Frankie (Boris Kodjoe), a single father trying to show her not all men are the same.
Each sister also has relationship problems with their egotistical mother, Victoria (Lynn Whitfield).
We're left to watch and wait on whether these characters can find true love throughout the rest of the film, but all we are really waiting for is the movie to end.
"Madea's Family Reunion" is the perfect example of what would happen if the creators of "The Cosby Show" and "As the World Turns" teamed up to create a movie — without the interesting characters or funny jokes.
The film is full of so many one-dimensional characters, and the script might just be something stolen out of a soap opera. Besides the story, acting and script being nothing more than garbage, the theme is quite offensive.
For instance, the family reunion, which is the film's main scene, is offensive and disgraceful to all families across the United States. In one of the scenes, older uncles and grandfathers are checking out and making disgusting remarks about their younger nieces. And that is just one example.
Perry probably has the talent to make it in the movies, but until he creates something that is worth caring about, he is going to find his life on-screen cut short quick.
