RocShemp

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Yes, that's Eugene Levy. Since I don't hate the Perry's Madea flicks (except for Madea Goes To Jail), I'l likely check this out.

Jules Winfield

The film event of 2012. The Avengers is just gonna have to settle for second place.

Matthew Chmiel

This may be the first Madea film to flop.

Lionsgate, really? The Fourth of July weekend for a Madea film? Good luck.

Solid Snake

what's the budget on the film?

RocShemp

Dunno but Madea's Family Reunion had a budget of $6 million.

GoldenJCJ

It appears that Perry is building off the same movie model that Jim Varney embarrassed his way through 25 years ago.

I look forward to Madea Scared Stupid.

Solid Snake

So it's say....$16 million max. And by looking at some of the other budgets..good god..They easily make the money back. Damn. How the hell have I not paid attention to Tyler Perry's stats. Jesus fucking Christ.

GoldenJCJ

^The guy knows his demographic, that's for sure.

Solid Snake

I guess I should watch Madea's Familiy Reunion and see wtf is up w/ Perry. The man makes bank, more power to him. Doesn't seem like he hits critical too much..but his demographic likes it...so...I guess he got what he was going for...and....won?

RocShemp

Madea's Familiy Reunion is his most polished film in the Madea canon. He actually has a visual style in it (his directing style usually comes across like that of Kevin Smith) and unlike the horrid Madea Goes To Jail, Perry found a pretty good balance between the comedy and the drama portions.

What's interesting about Perry's budgets is that most (if not all) come directly from his own pocket. So he gets a full return on his investments.

Solid Snake

smart man in that case.

wait....MFR was 6 years ago. You're telling me the man hasn't gotten "better" since MFR?

RocShemp

I haven't watched any of his movies since then so I honestly cannot say.

Solid Snake

so wait...you haven't seen anything since MFR..but you also saw....Madea Goes to Jail...which came out in 2009.

Wha?

Groucho

I've never seen one of these movies end-to-end, but I remember stumbling across one flipping through channels once. It was actually a serious drama and I didn't realize what it was until suddenly the mood changed and Madea showed up.

RocShemp

Hold on. I think I mixed up my titles.

My bad. Although MFR is great, the film I meant was Madea's Big Happy Family (which came out in 2011).

JesseCuster

Not a fan of the films but Tyler Perry is one shrewd cat. He's found a winning formula and has had the sense to stick with it. Good for him.

I also liked him quite a lot in Star Trek. I hope he pops up in the sequal.

The Bus

If I remember the story correctly, Perry was shopping around his films to studio heads and nobody was interested. Some staffer at Lionsgate convinced the execs to give it a shot. Studio people had no idea he had sold millions on DVD.

SkullOrchard

Before he started writing/producing movies and TV shows, Perry used to put on plays in Columbus (GA) all the time. The big draw was usually some has been black actor from the 70's. He'd promote these plays with TV commercials that only ran during the early AM hours.

A Don Cornelius sound-a like would enthusiastically emphasize: Special guest star, Bern Nadette Stanis from Good Times or Demond Wilson from Sanford & Son!!

RocShemp

^ And it worked? That's actually rather effective marketing, then.

RocShemp

I rented this today and had a great time. There was one random bit with some FBI agents who had their voices swapped that was more odd than funny and I was saddened that Madea was a tad more restrained this time around but it was a fun ride from beginning to end. For those that have issues with how preachy Perry's movies tend to be, this one had none of that. Heck, the only scenes in a church were there for a gag and some minor exposition.

Although contrived, I did enjoy a certain reveal about Eugene Levy's character.

I wish John Amos had been given more to do.

Troy Stiffler

You're on my shit list, Pal! Nobody talks bad about Ernest.

Knowwhaddamean?