Madea Goes to Jail (2009) Reviews

• Possibly the most touching film ever made about a black guy in a fatsuit.

  ungy3572009-03-09

  Tyler Perry has really outdone himself this time, making the deep artistic statement "I'm black, and I have a fatsuit." Sure, this statement has been made before by Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, and others, but Perry adds a certain panache to the blackness and the fat suit that makes this more than just a movie about a black guy in a fat suit: it is THE movie about a black guy in a fat suit. There may be other movies out there which you are tempted to see: "Slumdog Millionaire" may have won several acadmey awards, but where's the black guy in the fatsuit? How is that a movie? Tyler Perry continues to push the boundaries of artistic excellence with drag AND a fat suit, and we can only hope some day he decides to throw bad accents and white face into the mix.

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• What a funny movie...

  josephbrown8642011-12-16

  I'll keep this short and sweet. It's not Avatar, and it wasn't over produced! It's funny and has a great plot. Here is some advice, get a sense of humor. Not every movie has to be 10/10 to be good. Giving a movie like this anything less than a "5/10!" Is absurd! Quit getting mad just because this movie promotes religion and happiness. Go watch a really Hollywood movie and hop on their bandwagon! This is a real movie, from real people, from real life! These characters take me back to my childhood. Hard times and hard struggles and how in the end, God works things out! I bet half of you people reviewing this movie just hate the religious message! That's all!

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• Excellent! Funny!

  desiree-hunnicutt2011-11-26

  I was busy getting ready for the Holiday meal preparing when Madea came on television, it takes a lot to grab my attention but this did. I found this movie to be funny, serious, silly, and a pure joy. I really enjoyed the back to common sense writing mixed in with the crazy antics of a silly senior citizen. Since I've seen this movie I've begun watching all of the crazy antics of Madea, a true pleasure! I look forward to more of Tyler Perry's writings, and please keep it fun and clean like it is now. A fun watch for sure!

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• Topsy Turvy Movie

  jackcartlidge82009-03-20

  This narrative can't make it's mind up. The director (who also writes it) gets confused between whether he has written a comedy, or a melodrama. The scenes containing what we believe to be the main protagonist 'Madea' are an attempt at comedy that rely on spectacle and stereotype. The gags aren't executed very well at all (yet you can't blame the actors and actresses with this script) and I get the feeling that this has all been done before, recently in fact and better I might add. Scenes containing Candi are melodramatic and actually not that bad. There is some good acting and the plot is well contrived. Some of these scenes question American class division and have a purpose. So, bring these two elements together and you get a confused audience. The two stories have no relevance to each other until the end of the film when they 'collide'. I use collide loosely because this doesn't even happen. The characters meet and nothing much happens. I think they spoke together in about three shots. The story itself lets the director down as well. It's easy to second guess (yet you wish you'd be proved wrong) and you wonder whether you are watching two different movies playing at once. The character of Madea is badly constructed. There is no development what-so-ever. Without giving too much away; Madea's involvement in the ending is complete nonsense. People who have seen this film will probably agree that she has no real reason to be there. To sum up, this is the worst film I have seen in years. The director should have picked one of the stories instead of merging them in some sort of Nutty Professor meets Pretty Woman side show. Utterly ridiculous.

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• Not worth the money

  SenaShetani2009-02-23

  I found this movie to be lacking severely in plot structure and and in character development. There are many times when the director's attempts to be funny overshadow any chance there may be for character growth. A lot of the acting was wooden and there were many clichés thrown in there that the director was hoping no one would catch onto. The ending was especially horrendous as it appears the director could not come up with anything else so just made something up. There were two highlights: Viola Davis' role in the film and when the lights came on in the theater and we were allowed to leave. Other than that I wouldn't want to see it again.

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