A Madea Family Funeral (2019) Lionsgate/Comedy RT: 102 minutes Rated PG-13 (crude sexual content, language, drug references throughout) Director: Tyler Perry Screenplay: Tyler Perry Music: Philip White Cinematography: Richard J. Vialet Release date: March 1, 2019 (US) Cast: Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely, Ciera Payton, Kj Smith, Quin Walters, Aeriel Miranda, Jen Harper, Courtney Burrell, Rome Flynn, David Otunga, Derek Morgan, Christianee Porter, Mike Tyson. Box Office: $73.3M (US)/$74.8M (World)
Rating: **
Tyler Perry says A Madea Family Funeral will be the final film starring his signature character, the towering, slap-happy matriarch whose harsh, devil-may-care attitude and words of wisdom have solved many a family crisis. First of all, let me make it clear that the funeral in the title is not hers. Madea does NOT die. On the contrary, she plans the funeral of a not-so-loved one amidst much family drama. That being said, I think it’s about time for Perry to retire the character, at least until he comes up with something better than the last few outings. Did we really need two Boo movies? They’re virtually identical. Sadly but not unexpectedly, A Madea Family Funeral is only marginally better and it’s a mighty slim margin.
A Madea Family Funeral was shot in seven days and looks it. Once again, we get a lot of very long improvised takes of Madea and her cronies, brother Joe (Perry), Aunt Bam (Davis) and Hattie (Lovely), talking, trading insults and making crude remarks. These scenes go on endlessly. Some of it is funny; a lot of it is just shrill and annoying. The funny parts typically involve straight-laced nephew Brian (Perry again) being exasperated by their behavior. In between these scenes, we get a fairly standard drama about a family that apparently has adultery in its DNA, a trait passed down from father to son. It all starts with an improbable encounter at a hotel. Most of the principal characters are present when Anthony (Morgan, Joan of Arcadia) suffers a fatal heart attack on the day of his 40th wedding anniversary. He was engaged in an S&M session with family friend Renee (Walters, The Haves and Have Nots) at the time. Their sounds of ecstasy are overheard by the people in the next room, his son A.J. (Burrell, Chef Julian) and mistress Gia (Miranda, Straight Outta Compton) who’s engaged to his younger brother Jessie (Flynn, How to Get Away with Murder). At the same time, Madea and company are checking in. They came for the surprise anniversary party; they’re staying for the surprise funeral.
The wife Vianne (Harper, Greenleaf), not wanting to waste any time, asks Madea to plan the funeral to be held in two days. That doesn’t give her a lot of time considering that black folks typically take a long time to put a funeral together (a point made several times in the movie). The logistics alone are a headache. It usually involves relatives from all over the country making the trip to pay their final respects. Many jokes are made about this and other funeral-related matters like the length of the actual service (they go on for hours). There’s also an amusing bit about the lingering effects of the sexual performance-enhancing drug taken by the deceased before his untimely demise. If nothing else, A Madea Family Funeral definitely pushes the PG-13 envelope.
I will cop to laughing more than a few times during A Madea Family Funeral. Some of it is funny. The problem is that it’s a very poorly made movie. I know Perry doesn’t care what critics think of his movies He never screens them in advance. He makes movies for his fans. He knows what they want. His movies make money. They’re review-proof. The fans will show up regardless of what critics say. The audience I saw it with seemed to love it. You know what? I’m happy for Perry’s success. I will never judge those who love his films. At least they tend to have a positive message unlike mindless, vulgar garbage like Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (a movie I actively HATE!).
Nevertheless, I have to look at Perry’s films from a critical point-of-view and that’s where A Madea Family Funeral runs into trouble. It’s badly made. The shifts between comedy and drama are uneasy. Scenes go on way too long and to no avail. Take the scene where Madea and company are pulled over by the cops. Perry could have really done something with it, but it ends up going nowhere and taking too long to get there. This has always been Perry’s main problem. His movies go on way too long. It feels like A Madea Family Funeral could have benefited from a bit of tightening up.
The dramatic portions are better than the comedic scenes even if we know that everybody’s dirty little secrets will be revealed by movie’s end. Do you really think Vianne didn’t know her husband screwed around? She actually has the best scene in the movie when she delivers a blistering monologue near the end. Granted, it would be better suited to the stage than the screen, but it still works. The acting in A Madea Family Funeral is pretty much on par with the other movies. A lot of it is stilted. Perry introduces a new character, a lowbrow sort named Heathrow. He rides around in a wheelchair (he lost both legs to diabetes) and talks through a hole is his throat (he lost his voice box to cancer). Like Joe, he’s a dirty old man. He has a few good lines, but is his character really necessary? I think not.
Personally, I didn’t care for A Madea Family Funeral. I haven’t liked a Madea movie since Madea’s Witness Protection in 2012. But that’s just me. I don’t want to deter Perry’s fans from seeing his latest movie. Not that there’s any danger of that. Like I said, it’s review-proof. Writing this review was probably pointless, but I did it anyway. I’ll close by saying A Madea Family Funeral will appeal more to his fans than those unfamiliar with his work. If you’re a fan, see it. If not, don’t see it. Either way, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Madea. It’s not easy suppressing a force of nature. Like the Terminator, she’ll be back.
