It's easy to hate on Tyler Perry and Madea but is this movie truly that bad? It in my opinion really isn't any better or worse than the usual genre outing.
So no, this by no means is a great movie but it never annoyed me and in some ways it's even being a quite enjoyable one. It's simply some harmless, simple, holiday themed entertainment, that doesn't offer anything new but it at least still provides some laughs.
Yes, I admit, I laughed at Madea. She definitely is the most enjoyable and funniest character in this movie. Whenver she was on the screen, the movie lit up for me, which probably also had to do with the fact that all of the plot lines involving the different characters just weren't all that great or funny to me.
Really, the main story isn't anything too bad for holiday comedy standards but there however are a whole bunch of distracting, formulaic, Christmas side-plots that more often than not turns this movie into a weak and far too predictable one. A real shame and it definitely makes the movie feel overlong as well because all of the different story lines need to get wrapped up of course toward the end. And how do you think things will end in this movie? Seriously, do things ever end badly in these type of movies? Oh well, you of course know what you are in for, whenever watching a movie of this sort, so you just can't and shouldn't complain too much about it really.
Like always, it's mostly relying on racial stereotypes and there also are a lot of racial themes throughout the movie, which does become a bit tiring, mostly because it really isn't doing anything new or surprising with any of its themes. It all might have been relevant in a movie 30 years ago but nowadays most of the themes feel too forced, out of place and outdated really. And seriously, you are not going to end racism or broaden people's horizons and open up their eyes by embracing racial stereotypes and emphasize and exaggerate them in your movies Mr. Perry. And I'm not just talking about black racial stereotypes but white ones as well, that are all definitely present throughout this entire movie.
The writing most of the time is weak and most of the characters are very weak ones as well but this movie at least does still provide some simple entertainment and never becomes an annoying and tedious to watch, unless you just can't stand Madea of course.
5/10
Watch trailer
No comments: