As Testemunhas de Madea

I went to see Medea with one of my friends, when we arrived the theater was empty expect for couple people.

Madea's Witness Protection story centers around Eugene's family who ratted on their company to SCC. Eugene then has to go into witness protection which is offered by Madea, because Madea lives in hood and is very protective. Eugene then has to get back all money non profit organizations lost while investing in his companies ponzi scheme.

Some of jokes in the film were hilarious like when the old man in film was being a pervert. Also when old woman says she heard "negro spirituals" coming from house. My friend was laughing like hell throughout movie because he was high out of his mind but for many that scene was uncomfortable. Therefore if your gonna watch this get in bubbly mood, or smoke some herbs.

I'm a fan of Tyler Perry however I believe that he misses the opportunity to make a good movie great. In "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Family Reunion" (both good movies - I'd give them a 7 out of 10) there was an interesting sub-plot combined with humor. There was just enough drama to keep them interesting and enough humor to make them very funny. I really enjoyed Madea's character.

Since then, the focus is mostly on ridiculous humor. This includes "Witness Protection". It appears that Tyler Perry can no longer decide who he wants the character of Madea to be.Is she a woman that has made mistakes in her past, realizes it, and helps others? Well, not exactly. Instead, I'm left feeling that the character would still be pole dancing if she wasn't so fat. Additionally, the character references smoking pot as though it's acceptable and just what she, and others do. I'm disappointed in Tyler Perry.

This is an OK movie with a solid foundation on which to build. Unfortunately, the construction is weak.

I'm not going to regurgitate the premise of this movie as many others have. I will say that if you don't like TP and/or Medea, why the heck did you watch this movie. It was a typical Madea movie. Silly, OTT, nonsensical etc. But to fans of Perry, it was just plain mindless funny. We're you expecting fine theater based on classic literature? It's beginning to be obvious, based on all the reviews of all his movies that there's a significant amount of bigotry coming from TP's community. What a shame.

I did not see the entire movie when I first watched. The listings said it started at 2 and that's when recording started. But when I watched, the commercial break ended precisely as the recording started. As soon as I saw the family, I realized I knew them. Earlier in the day, I turned on a different TV with a DVR that records from an antenna (the other DVR uses cable) and met a dysfunctional family. I didn't have time to watch any more of this movie, as I had something to watch that the DVR had recorded, but I assumed I had seen it somewhere and could tell I would have really enjoyed it. I even checked the listings (which I don't normally do) and saw "To be announced". No, this channel is not on cable and I wouldn't have seen what it was showing anyway. The bratty teenage daughter resented being told to accept her father's second wife.

I saw the first half hour when this aired in July 2024 and Tom Arnold was a cartoon character but still funny, and Madea nearly destroyed a 1970 Cadillac teaching a would-be robber a lesson. Too pretty a car to be abusing like that; how many are left? But it was fun.

Yes, these people were as much fun as I assumed they would be when I was introduced. A lot of details were missing but I was able to figure out what had happened.

Whether she could act or not, Denise Richards sure was pretty to look at, and even if Cindy hated her, she was nice enough. And I'm not overly critical. Richards seemed good enough to me.

Eugene Levy, of course, gave his usual good performance doing what he does best, a frustrated and somewhat wimpy man who can't seem to cope with all the chaos around him.

John Amos did his usual fine job as the pastor. I don't quite understand why he would be here, because years ago he complained about a quality TV series he co-starred in being taken over by a clown. This is different? Maybe he needed the money, but of course he added to the quality here.

Doris Roberts was funny as a family member losing her mind.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Tyler Perry, he was great here in three very different roles, and the visual effects crew made him appear to be in scenes with himself quite convincingly. Dignified as the FBI agent, silly as Uncle Joe, and, well, what can you say about Madea? I've seen a couple of her movies and you just have to like her, if you are capable of it. She won't take that kind of business from anyone, but if you let her show you love, she will. What I wasn't expecting was the road trip, and getting through airport security was absolutely hilarious. And Madea in the big city? Priceless! All the deception and scheming really made this work for me.

And what a choir! I'm not really a fan of black church music, but these people were fantastic.

No, it won't win Oscars. It's just fun.

It's of course OK for a comedy to have a very simplistic story in it but its unforgivable when you just don't have a good comedy writer. Really, what's the point of watching a comedy when it just isn't being all that funny?

I just couldn't believe how badly written some of the comedy in this movie was. Most of the moments or pieces of dialog will get absolutely no laughs out of you, no matter how desperate the movie gets at times. The movie truly goes overboard in an attempt to still make you laugh, or at other times it's simply just going on and on. The director just didn't knew when to say cut at times, probably also because the director, Tyler Perry, himself is being on the screen a lot as well, as a whole bunch of different characters. But he clearly just ain't no Eddie Murphy!

The different story lines are either poorly connected or just connected in such an unrealistic way that it becomes ridicules. The movie even drops some story lines after a while and then picks them up again 30 minutes later, or sometimes it doesn't at all. It does the same with some of its characters. It all lets this movie feel like a real messy one at times and you are wondering multiple times throughout it what it exactly is that you are watching here.

The main premise of the movie is already a real ridicules and unlikely one to begin with. But the sad thing about it is that it's also absolutely going nowhere with it. At times I though that the movie was perhaps going to be one with some 'messages' it and the two different families would start to learn from each other and slowly but steadily grow closer to each other as well. But none of that is the case in this movie. It just mostly relies on racial stereotypes and other prejudices that just aren't being all that clever or original to watch and therefore also not all that funny.

And really, I love Eugene Levy but I just think he is better when he's not playing the lead role. He's just far better and more fun to watch in supporting roles, though it perhaps is not fair to say that purely based on his role in this movie of course. He is given some incredibly weak material to work with and the movie perhaps was at times relying far too much on his delivery. But not even a comical talent like Levy could turn some of the moments and pieces of dialog into something funny. And how are we supposed to believe he's married to Denise Richards? There is some weird casting going on in this movie but Tyler Perry foremost should not had cast himself playing 3 different characters. He just isn't a talented enough comic, so far too scenes involving him fall totally flat.

A failed attempt at a comedy.

4/10

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