Directed by Tyler Perry Starring Angela Bassett and Tyler Perry Review by Eli Manning
SYNOPSIS:
A single mom takes her family to Georgia for the funeral of her father -- a man she never met. There, her clan is introduced to the crass, fun-loving Brown family.
REVIEW:
Mr. Tyler Perry has found a market and Mr. Tyler Perry is on a roll. In less than 5 years, he has been transported from a struggling comic to box office and TV ratings gold as a Producer, Writer, Director AND STAR of multiple characters. The man is living the dream of 1000's.
Meet the Browns is his latest installment. Funny thing about this film is that it's a drama in the main character's world -- Brenda (Angela Bassett), a financially strapped mother of three living in the Chicago projects. And then all of a sudden it's a comedy when she and her family travel to Alabama to attend the father she's never seen before funeral.
The family is a bunch of characters and are very funny at times and are obviously performing in a comedy. All the while Brenda's family and her hot new love interest (played by former NBA player Rick Fox) are acting in a drama. When the drama insects with the comedy, all the performers seem confused who is leading. They are like talented dance partners both wondering who is suppose to be in control.
This 180 degrees genre action works at times while confusing at other times. I am not a person in the demographic of who this film is for so I am writing this from an outsiders point of view. You must have seen Tyler Perry's previous films to get some of the jokes and get involved in some moments of the film that have nothing at all to do with the plot of the film.
Tyler Perry focuses on some major issues in Black America today but really skims the surface. Sometimes this film feels like Boyz in the Hood (and 3 shots in particular were stolen from that film frame by frame), then all of a sudden enters The Nutty Professor. And I can't deny that I was entertained and intrigued, but I sort of just wished he just made an all out comedy. Therefore some of the issues and themes he's trying to say would come out in a comedic mood and still touch on the same problems.
When it's a drama, there are just too many logical holes happening that took me entirely out of the film. Some examples are kids dealing pot and having turf problems over it (that's a harder drug problem not a nickle and dime business like selling pot) and the silliness of how he wrote how a basketball player turns professional.
Angela Bassett is a great actress as she can evoke any emotion that's needed in a film. But perhaps she was a little too polished to be a mother living in the projects. It seems like she's been living in Hollywood for too long to portray a role like this in its proper dimension. And Rick Fox can play some basketball but his acting needs some work. You can see that director Tyler Perry stayed far some Fox during some much needed moments of close ups because he knew he wouldn't be able to pull off the emotion that was needed.
Overall, this is a very flawed but entertaining film. Tyler Perry obviously has a lot of talent. I just ask him to make a comedy and a drama separate and not put them together in one film. It just doesn't work.
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