Lacey has dumped city life for teaching in a struggling school. Lemon) and road trip to the rural Alabama community where Lacey lives. When Lacey (Tika Sumpter), Eileen's only child, says she can't make it home for Christmas, Eileen and Madea hitch a ride with Lacey's old boyfriend (J.R. In 'Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas' (as if we need reminding that Tyler Perry and Madea are one and the same), Madea takes a holiday job at an upscale department store at the urging of her niece Eileen (Anna Maria Horsford). Madea has never been better than in 'Diary of a Mad Black Women,' but she is always watchable. My favorite Madea moment is her Solomon-esque splitting of marital assets with a chainsaw. I joined the Madea fan club with 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman.' Who doesn't love a matriarch without a verbal filter? She says what we think, and then acts on her impulses. Headquartered in Atlanta and admirably working with local businesses and talent, Tyler Perry undeniably has created a formidable, super-sized screen persona. Tyler Perry has capitalized on that, laughing all the way to the bank, ignoring the shards of criticism hurled at his Madea pictures. Methinks, like Shakespeare, that women and men pretending to be women have much more fun than any version of male. Women trussed up as men, such as Barbra Streisand in 'Yentl' or Julie Andrews in 'Victor Victoria,' are serious affairs and don't tweak the same funny bone. Doubtfire.' These movies were factory products and commercial as all get up and go, but took off into their own sphere of men-in-drag. One of the things Hollywood used to be good at was producing enjoyable, seemingly effortless screwball comedies such as 'Big Momma's House,' 'Tootsie' and 'Mrs.

This film, which marks Perry's 17th movie, may not be the darling of critic circles (so far scoring 16 percent on the Rotten Tomato meter), but it does what it sets out to do, which is to entertain those who want to be entertained by Perry's style of Madea humor. Claus gear, Madea dishes out her special Christmas cheer and engages in naughty and nice repartee with Larry the Cable Guy. She-really he, being it's Tyler Perry-is back!įestive and smart in pearls and Mrs.

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