Meet the Browns

Tyler Perry is so talented. I was very disappointed with the casting of the movie. Frankie Faison, Margaret Avery, Jenifer Lewis and Angela Bassett are all well seasoned actors but their acting roles in this movie was that of an amateur. Their talents were not displayed at all. I was very disappointed in their lines, role, acting just everything. David and Tamela Mann were outstanding as always. They were the glue to hold the movie together. Jenifer Lewis was the worst. She did Vera no justice. The actress that played Vera in the play should have been cast for the movie. Actually all of the same actors should have been cast in the movies. I expected more from the movie.

Meet the browns By: Tyler Perry

Hey Guys, the movie I'm about to present is called "Meet the Brown". It's a very good movie, it will make you laugh, and it will make you cry. Now it does have some scenes that are not for kids under ten but it deals with decision making and a lot of teenage peer pressure. I loved the movie because I could relate to it so if you could relate to family situation and just a teenage life this is a great movie! The Movie is about an average family that lives in Brooklyn, New York. Brenda, who is played by Angela Bassett, is a single parent with 3 kids and with no help from dads she has to work. The bad part is that her plant she works at shuts down and she loses her job. Michael, played by Lance Gross, is the oldest. Star of his basketball team in high school and the man of the house taking care of his two little sisters. His mom without a job he insists on getting a job to help out with the house. While that is happing she gets a letter for Georgia saying that her father has died. When she arrives in Georgia she meets her hilarious family The Browns. Michael ends up getting caught up in the wrong situation and makes a very bad decision that gets him hurt. Then with Brenda she is constantly trying to get Michael Sr. involved in his life but he just won't cooperate with her. What funny is that he ends up showing up when something good happens to him. Ha-ha doesn't work. Harry who comes in when she goes to Georgia becomes her boyfriend. He is like an agent for basketball and he also helps Michael to. He is kind of the antagonist in this story. She meets her family and finds out that her dad has left her a house. It's really old and needs help, Harry ends up fixing it up while Brenda went back to Brooklyn. That all I'm going to tell you, overall it's a great movie for any family, it shows the ups and downs, Friendship and trust with people you barley know. So get the movie and I hope you enjoy it.

After seeing last year's excellent Daddy's Little Girls and Why Did I Get Married I thought Tyler Perry had finally come into his own as a film maker. Granted Mr. Perry doesn't have the visual flair of Spike Lee,John Singleton or the underrated Ernest Dickerson but what he does have is heart. Sadly even an A-list actress couldn't save Meet The Browns from being a trite affair that may hugely disappoint Perry's fans. For starters Mr. Perry needs to fire the editor of this film. Maysie Hoy who edited Perry's two previous films comes of as a first timer here which is ironic because she's been doing movies since 1992 and has worked with talented directors such as Robert Altman (The Player)and Theodore Witcher (Love Jones). I counted at least three scenes which didn't transition well at all and did nothing to progress the story. As for the script it seems as Perry wrote this script on a whim; and the film was just made to cash in on his success because it lacks the heart of Daddy's Little Girls and Why Did I Get Married. As for the acting Margaret Avery who was excellent in The Color Purple & the recent Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins gives a paper thin performance as does Lamman Rucker who was excellent in Why Did I Get Married. As for Angela Bassest she's good as always and plays the mother role very well, I'm anxious to see what she bring Notorious next year. I would say two of the strongest performances in the film come from Lance Gross as Angela and much to my surprise Rick Fox as her would be suitor. The big question though is how well does David Mann's Leroy Brown translate to film ? In my opinion not as well as Madea and some of his jokes seemed forced and unneeded. As for the big screen return of Madea it's unwelcome at best and she hasn't been missed. Tyler Perry has the potential to be one of the strongest black filmmaker in Hollywood, he knows a good story, has a knack for finding talent hence Lammon Rucker and Lance Goss who will both go on to do great things. But with his latest Perry sticks to a formula that he successfully broke out with two back to back winning film released last year. Here's hoping his next film The Family That Preys gets him back on track.

Pity my poor friend who spent all day telling me how hil-lar-ious Tyler Perry movies are, tsk-tsking all day that I had not ever seen one of his movies. Chuckling about how funny this was going to be and how i was going to run right out and rent all the others. Sadly, she spent the whole rest of the evening over coffee and cannoli reflecting on how great Tyler Perry's OTHER movies were. I forgive her - we're friends.

This movie was OK - it had its funny moments and good Lord don't we ALL have those family members? I don't care if you're black, Italian, Jewish or white-bread American - we've ALL got that same cast of characters sitting around our family table.

And OK, i understand that unless i saw the other movies i would not have a clue who Madea is or why she's being chased by the police. But that's OK - i can let an inside joke slide, especially considering the huge hoot and roar that accompanied her appearance.

Overall, i understand that this was not Tyler Perry's finest hour. But i sense that he has a LOT to say about families, standing proud, sticking with convictions when the rest of the world says "settle for less" and working hard to overcome circumstances. I will go out and rent his other movies, just to get a more fair picture of this filmmaker.

I was never "big" Tyler Perry fan, but at the same time, I've never been a "Tyler Perry Hater" either. I always give his films the benefit of the doubt, and I really enjoyed "Why Did I Get Married?" This movie though, "Meet The Browns," could have been an ABC Television Network After School Special. Everything about the storyline was cliché', formulaic, and predictable. The characters were CARICATURES of real people.

I laughed here and there in this movie, but overall, I was vastly disappointed in this effort. It's like Mr. Perry just "threw this movie together" without much thought.