A Madea Christmas.

Review #872: A Madea Christmas.

Cast:
Tyler Perry (Mabel "Madea" Simmons), Larry the Cable Guy (Buddy Williams), Kathy Najimy (Kim Williams), Chad Michael Murray (Tanner McCoy), Anna Maria Horsford (Eileen Murphy), Tika Sumpter (Lacey Murphy), Eric Lively (Conner Williams), JR Lemon (Oliver), Alicia Witt (Amber), Lisa Whelchel (Nancy Porter), and Noah Urrea (Bailey McCoy) Directed by Tyler Perry.

Review:
Has Movie Night gone under the hill? Is it reaching for anything now? Am I reviewing...a Christmas film in November? Actually, this is the first film I've done starring Tyler Perry, creator of things that likely clogged up TBS years back, because I can't remember anything about his shows. There really doesn't seem to be a consistent plot to this film...is it a movie about this family? Is it about doing a Christmas jubilee (because I guess it's the town's anniversary? Because that only applies to 25 or 50 year celebrations), or is about farming? A dam? For some reason, the farmer sell their crops on this jubilee...wha, you've never heard of selling crops in winter? Also, did you know that mayors can just fire teachers but can't read a contract to see its stipulations? Somehow, the movie keeps going in spite of itself. There must be a problem when Larry the Cable Guy is actually more endearing than Tyler Perry...the bar is set so low by so many lame and tired jokes that exist in some sort of vacuum. The movie doesn't even have much to do with Madea, which is a blessing covered in muck. There is some sort of anti-bullying plot...which ends with Lively's character punching Murray in the face...after the latter gets saved from a car wreck (don't worry, one of them apologizes...the latter one. Heck, they give the family a pie). Did I mention that one of the characters lied to their daughter about their dad being killed (instead, he jilted her for another woman)...and it doesn't really seem to be addressed again after that. It's like there are no consequences, where characters can just steal stuff from a store after being fired, tie up a kid to a wood board with Christmas lights, and flat out lie about a company giving a town money in front of the company's representatives. There isn't really a villain, which is somewhat surprising. I guess they decided that there needed to be more focus on padding itself out with repetitive dialogue. It fails as a comedy and it fails as a drama, having both no real sense of joy and also no sense of dramatic impact, respectively.

At the end of the day, this is already bottom of the barrel stuff that is also mixed in with bottom of the barrel Christmas stuff. I'm not a fan, but I'm sure some of the people who read this are fans, so I guess if you like Madea already, go right on ahead. Honestly, I don't understand this phenomenon (much like other trends in media), but that's how it goes.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 10 stars.