Photo courtesy: boo.movie
Tyler Perry, a man whose comedic performances and series of films have in the past left audiences crying in laughter, barely made the cut of hilarity with his new movie, “Boo! A Madea Halloween.”
The movie brings to the screen a few of the loved, reoccurring characters in many of Perry’s works surrounding his famous character, Madea. Old favorites like Aunt Bam (Cassie Davis), Brian and Uncle Joe (both played by Perry) once again make an anticipated return to the big screen. Only this time, instead of a movie adaptation based on one of the many stage plays about the struggles and lives of these beloved characters, they have returned for a Halloween special.
The movie focuses on the nephew of Madea, Brian Simmons, who is having a great difficulty keeping his daughter out of trouble. His daughter, Tiffany (Diamond White), is insistent on going to a party being thrown by a fraternity at the local college and will go to great lengths to get there. Even if it means enlisting her friends to help fool her great-aunt Madea into believing they are all being haunted by the home’s resident ghost.
The film has all the potential to be a great comedy that leaves the audiences bending over in fits of laughter, and, at a few points, it does come close. But overall, it fails to meet the expectations.
To begin with, “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” is flooded with too many plot points, leaving the characters practically tripping over themselves to come to closure with each issue. It makes things messy and somewhat hard to follow by the point of the movie’s climax. This is an issue expected when a movie such as this runs over the 100-minute mark. There simply wasn’t enough to work with, yet Perry was insistent the movie be dragged out. The end result makes for a sloppy, unsatisfying ending.
The jokes thrown at random don’t stick, and there are only so many times Aunt Bam can reference to her use of “some of that good stuff” for her chronic pain before it gets old. There were some scenes where I found certain elements used in the jokes to be a bit overexaggerated, such as the scene in which Madea and the members of the fraternity spend a total of two minutes smothering themselves with her breasts.
However, this is not to say “Boo! A Madea Halloween” has no true comedic factors whatsoever.
Perry has built up his characters and their backstories so well over the past decade it’s hard to not laugh when Madea uses one of her catchphrases or when she and Uncle Joe make digs at one another.
And you can’t forget about the notorious message of the story every Tyler Perry film and play has always included. This story focuses on what it means to be a father, as well as a child, and the dynamics of a broken family. The story rebuilds the strained relationship between a father and his daughter. The audience comes to understand Tiffany is rebellious and resentful of her father for things she never could bring herself to understand. With the help of Madea, Uncle Joe and Hattie, Brian is able to finally reconnect with his daughter and put down a firm foot on where he stands as the parental figure in her life.
Rating: C
