Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008)
Directed by Tyler Perry
Written by Tyler Perry
Starring Angela Bassett, Rick Fox, Lance Gross
Release Date March 21st, 2008
Published March 22nd, 2008
In Diary of A Mad Black Woman a brave dramatic performance by actress Kimberly Elise. as an abused wife of privelege forced to start over from scratch was undermined by writer-director Tyler Perry and his indulgent alter-ego Madea character who literally takes a chainsaw to the movie and destroys everything in his/her path. In Madea’s Family Reunion Perry’s call for social change and understanding amongst African Americans is once again undermined by broad comic moments between Madea and Perry’s other alter-ego old Joe.
It seemed that Perry simply couldn’t get out of his own way. Then came Why Did I Get Married? A complete departure from Perry’s first two movies and I had hoped it was a sign that Perry had matured enough to bring his honest messages of love, community, social change and humor with style and filmmaking substance. Meet The Browns squashes that maturity in the first act.
Oscar nominee Angela Bassett stars in Meet The Brown’s as Brenda, a single mom of three kids, by three different fathers, living in inner city Chicago. Things are tough and getting tougher when she loses her job. With the lights turned out and her baby daddies nowhere to be found, Brenda finds that her own father has passed away. His name was Pop Brown and he lived in a small town in Georgia where he may have left Brenda something in his will that might help her out. Traveling to the small southern town Brenda is immediately greeted by her new family.
LeRoy Brown (David Mann) is a polyester wearing, bald headed clown with a heart of gold. Though he says inappropriate things and is prone to wild, inhuman swings of mood, from wild laughter to tears, no real anger, LeRoy is a big loving teddy bear as he takes these strangers right to the Brown family home. There Brenda and the kids meet LB (Frankie Faison), his loving wife Mildred (Irma P. Hall) and Vera (Jennifer Lewis) a drunk witch whose claws come out when it comes to protecting what might be in her daddy’s will. Ultimately, Vera is harmless but she is a terrible bother throughout, functioning as the agitating force of the last third of the film.
Brenda’s son Michael (Lance Gross) is a basketball prodigy and down south he catches the eye of a scout/coach and former NBA star named Harry (Rick Fox). Actually, it’s the lovely Brenda that caught Harry’s eye but helping Michael develop his talent and deal with agents and NBA scouts that begin snooping around is a good excuse to be around Brenda. Her experience with men causes her to keep him at a distance but the romance is inevitable.
It is as if there are two movies happening in Meet The Brown’s. In one Angela Bassett is giving a pro level dramatic performance as a loving, struggling mother who discovers she can still find a good man in Rick Fox’s Harry. In the other movie are the broad, over the top and often terribly unfunny Brown family who act as ludicrous filler material distracting from the earnest, socially relevant drama happening in the other movie. Where Bassett does yeoman's work to dramatize Brenda’s struggles, the Brown’s blow into the movie, screaming and yelling, splitting their pants and ranting about pimps, ho’s and money.
Perry has a filmmakers version of multiple personality disorder. On the one hand you have an eloquent social activist with a genuine talent for telling relevant truths with great heart and humor. Then you have the A.D.D comedian Tyler Perry who nervously inserts broadly written comic moments into the drama because he doesn’t trust to stay with him when things get serious. Somehow, he overcame that nervousness in Why Did I Get Married but the jittery comic is back, to his great detriment in Meet The Brown’s.
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