Review of Madea's Family Reunion (2006) by Dottie — 24 Sep 2009

Even Maya Angelou's beautiful, husky voice cannot hold up this movie, which is less funnier than the play, and seriously lacking in story and composition.

Madea's Family Reunion, as a movie adaption, fails horribly from its stage brother. The play is much more wittier, funnier, and belivable. Tyler Perry tries too hard to make the movie more marketable to the regular crowd, but in effect destroys what is a good story.

When it comes to Perry, he tends to overdo the dramatics which ultimately, spoils the whole movie. The play had the tension and sorrows of life delicately interwoven with the humor. Here, Madea is annoying more than funny or inspiring. The original tensions between the two sisters and their mother is dully done without the same passion or hurt as the original stage actors. All in all, most of the cast could barely convince the viewer that their angst and pains were actually real.

Maya Angelou was the only one with some decency, and her lovely voice and beautiful way of delivering lines was not even taken as seriously as it should, as no one seemed to really care what she was saying. And, Tyler Perry seemed to treat Madea with about the same enthusiasm as he does his microwave.

All in all, Madea's Family Reunion, as many other people were saying, leaves you wanting more and feeling the cast and crew could have dealt with a wonderfully tight and impassioned story with much more enthusiasm. Consider watching the play instead of the movie, it is much better.