A Madea Christmas (DVD REVIEW)
A Madea Christmas
DVD Review by Kam Williams
Madea
Mixes Mirth and Message in Modern Holiday Parable
Mabel “Madea” Simmons is the
moralizing, motor-mouthed senior citizen
created and first introduced on stage by the incomparable Tyler Perry. The compulsive granny is a self-righteous vigilante who
can’t help but intervene on the spot whenever she sees an innocent victim being
bullied by a sadistic villain.
At the point of
departure in A Madea Christmas, the eighth screen adventure in the popular film
series, we find her working as Mrs. Santa Claus in a downtown Atlanta department store. The seasonal job
affords the politically-incorrect impersonator an opportunity to shock kids and
their ears-covering parents with a profusion of her trademark off-color asides
and English-mangling malapropisms.
Soon after she’s
unceremoniously relieved of her duties, Madea decides to drive with her niece,
Eileen (Anna Maria Horsford), to tiny Bucktussle,
Alabama to spend the holidays
with the latter’s daughter, Lacey (Tika Sumpter), the local schoolmarm.
What neither of
them knows is that Lacey recently eloped with a likable local yokel, but failed
to inform her mom about the marriage because Conner (Eric Lively) is white. She
fears her mother might object to the interracial liaison. Complicating matters further is the fact
that coming along for the ride is Oliver (JR Lemon), Lacey’s ex-boyfriend who’d
like to rekindle a little romance.
Meanwhile, Oliver
has told his parents, Buddy (Larry the Cable Guy) and Kim (Kathy Najimy) about
the nuptials, and they are arriving soon from Louisiana, so something’s gotta give. But
rather than come clean, Lacey enlists her new in-laws’ help in hiding the
truth.
Unfolding in
accordance with the age-old “One Big Lie” TV sitcom formula, A Madea Christmas
is a pleasant, if predictable, modern parable peppered with plenty of humorous
asides. Tika
Sumpter and Eric Lively manage to generate just
enough chemistry to be convincing as shy newlyweds.
But the
production is at its best when Madea and equally-outrageous Buddy are trading
barbs toe-to-toe. For instance, when he tries to tell “the one about the two
rabbis and the black dude,” he’s cut off by Madea asking if he’s heard “the one
about the stray bullet that kills the redneck for telling the story about the
two rabbis and the black dude.”
Sassy sister
squares-off against backwoods hillbilly for lots of harmless laughs!
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated
PG-13 for profanity, crude humor and sexual references
Running
time: 100 minutes
Distributor:
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Blu-ray
Extras: Jolly Follies; and Introducing Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Tough Love
To
see a trailer for A Madea Christmas, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SLe_EIpeWI
To
order a copy of A Madea Christmas on Blu-ray, visit:
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