Oh Lord, Not Madea Again: Why Are Tyler Perry’s Plays So Good, But His Movies Aren’t?

September 17th, 2012 - By IndigoBlack

Source: hiphopweekly.com

Now as for a Tyler Perry movie, I’m not as amused. I supported movies like Why Did I Get Married?, the adapted version of I Can Do Bad All By Myself, and Diary of A Mad Black Woman (great start!), but lately, his movies have become a bit stale, following the same formula and coming up with the same results: Madea fests. Aside from the Why Did I Get Married? franchise and Daddy’s Little Girls, there were very few Tyler Perry movies you could check out without seeing Madea bust through, breasts low, voice high, gun toting and ready to fight. What used to be very comical became tired, and if that wasn’t enough, Perry would always hog the same sole positive character in non-Madea films, many of the actors would either overdo it or under act, and the story would end in such a non-realistic, quicker-picker-upper-let’s-hurry-and-wrap-this-ish-up way that it almost felt like time wasn’t used wisely in the construction of the theatrical versions of his movies.

Maybe it’s the fact that his stage plays, which mainly the black community see, are cool, but when he makes a feature length film distributed in theaters for a great deal of people of all backgrounds to see, it’s as if the characters are made 10 times worse: Meaner, sassier, clownish, and ten times more stereotypical. Or hey, maybe it’s the extra humorous dialogue from the stage plays that’s missing in the movies. Maybe trying to adapt a story from a play into a two-hour movie is something I’ve underestimated. Maybe it’s the singing we need!? Or maybe, just maybe, the silly wigs with the microphones hanging out of them on people’s foreheads are the key to his plays’ success, but what should have been an upgrade by going to the silver screen has turned out to be a downgrade in comparison to what you can enjoy when he’s on stage.

I’m not here to go on an extra long rant about where Perry went wrong in the direction of his career or anything like that (and if I did…OH WELL), but I just would really like to know why his plays are so easy to enjoy while his movies come off so blah? I can remember looking at the stage play of “Madea’s Big Happy Family” a few years ago when it became available via Redbox, and laughing my a** off, feeling for the characters, and singing with them all in the span of 133 minutes. But when the trailer for the adapted film version dropped with Teyana Taylor calling out “By-raaaaaan” and the same ‘ol Madea slapping sense into bad kids, I rolled my eyes.

As someone who thinks that Perry has been blessed with the gift and the opportunity to tell stories, his stories, via numerous methods, and having seen his work from the early days, I would love to see the same colorful and great work put into the stage plays put into the feature films as well. Oh yeah, and if the improvement of his movies means we’ll have to miss out on a movie a year and the chance to see more “gems” like Good Deeds, Meet The Browns, Madea Goes To Jail, and Madea’s Witness Protection, I’ll gladly wait patiently. Hey, I’m just saying…

Are you a fan of his stage plays? Are they better than the movies?

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  • kasagirl

    i just saw this site….yall needa leave tha dude. I bet a million dollars that the majority of you ppl here are not christian young people or from such a background. Then if u are, u have lost it along the way. I agree that the movies are boring with the exeption od diary of a mad black woman and family reunion but his plays are superb. They are uplifting and encouraging and most his owrks uplift women. On behalf of the descent women left out dere i give toodles to perry for encouraging us and respecting us the way he does. and he encourages thhe male population too sooo yall jus dont bring down the dude like that. One man’s joy is another man’s downfall…so if u are airing ur opinion dont do it outa hate for the individual..make sense doing it…….

  • http://twitter.com/Myssdee Myssdee

    (Revising my comment)

    Here is my problem with Tyler Perry MOVIES

    The plays is not a problem because most of the time the
    IMPROV is on point

    But the MOVIE SCRIPTS are wayyyyy off

    I understand that Tyler Perry wants to be the Jack of all
    trades

    I respect his hustle

    And he has true rags to riches story

    BUT…. when it comes to TV and Movies…. you want people
    to be engage in your craft just like they are engaged in your plays.

    The plots and scenes in most of his movies just doesn’t make
    sense…

    Diary of a Mad Black Woman

    Let’s talk about that one little scene when the character
    Helen was looking for a job in a NEWSPAPER in a UPSCALE restaurant, watched a
    couple get engaged, and was drinking fine red wine in a clean glass. This was
    after she was KICKED out of her mansion by her husband with no money, no
    assets, no nothing…LITTLE DETAILS LIKE THAT THROWS THE AUDIENCE OFF.

    Madea’s Family Reunion

    No matter what State you in…people these days have sense
    to know that no Judge just give a foster a child a home to an old lady just
    because she is known as a “strict disciplinarian”.

    Meet the Browns

    Brenda’s biological father being a PIMP (unreal in these
    ages). I can understand if the father was a rolling stone but being a PIMP…I
    need for Tyler Perry to get with the times here.

    Why did I get married? (MY LAST overanalyzing Tyler Perry
    Movies)

    Why Did I Get Married? was good for ONE reason…ANGELA
    played by Tasha Smith.

    Again…certain scenes in Tyler Perry movies just don’t make
    sense. Dianne gets her Tubes tied after her 1st child without her husband
    knowing??? Unreal…which would throw the audience off

    Bill Cosby was successful with The Cosby Show because he
    hired writers with versatile scripts and psychologists, which still has us
    begging to bring a modern-day Huxtables.

    If Tyler Perry can get on point with his movies, he will be a LEGEND AMONGST LEGENDS.

  • Guest

    I have to admit, I have never seen any of his plays, but I have a hard time believing they’re any better than his crappy movies!!!!!

  • Myssdee

    Here is the problem wioth

  • http://www.facebook.com/erica.hampton.7 Erica Hampton

    I think Madea has run her course….He should do a “Madea Goes to Heaven” and close the curtains on the broad. He has written others movies with her not in it that have been really good.

  • Sandy

    Because maybe he should make a motion picture. Take an Oscar home, just for the hell of it. With all that Tyler has at his disposal, perhaps it’s time for him to make a motion picture, not just a movie. There are so many talented actors out there but Tyler seems to always pick the same one for the subject style movie. We all know about sassy mouth Medea and her family (all of them) it’s tired. But we haven’t seen is Tyler break through all the (dozens) throwback conversations and circumstances and make a motion picture. There is a difference. As I’ve heard and not sure if it’s true, but there is some talk that Tyler and Spike don’t get along due to creative differences. Well, I wonder why? Could it be that everything/anything Spike has made has been a hit, Oscar worthy, having much less than Tyler has access to.To date no black filmmaker has reached the level of talent Spike seems to have, no matter what. I only wish that Tyler would display all of his talents. Not for nothing, but I’m sure he can produce a movie without church, murder, husband and wife betrayal and Madea in it. Come on Tyler it’s time!

  • jackieOsassin

    we get it, black hollywood. a man in a fat suit and wig is
    hilarious as hell.

    now PLEASE stop making plays and movies about it.

    • get real

      1. The Madea character just isn’t funny to me. 2. All of his movies throw black men under the bus. But I understand when women are your #1 audience you have to pander out of this world. 3. How many more black men are we going to see wear dresses in Hollwood? Madea goes to jail, Madea graduates kindergarden, Madea graduates first grad, Madea peels an orange etc. I mean when are people going to get tired of the same ole same ole?

  • Ms_Sunshine9898

    I agree about his plays. But everyone knows, what you do in theater doesn’t necessarily work on stage and I can’t handle one more “my daddy/step daddy raped me and I had his child and mama covered it up because she thought it was best” storyline. . .

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/thesapphireempress96?feature=results_main A.J.

    I think it’s because the stage plays are longer. Sometimes, his films feel like they’re rushed to wrap up all the conflicts and tie all the plot points together. There’s also a limit as to how long a movie can be, unless someone is intentionally making an epic. With the stage plays, he has more time and space to go on as long as he wants to, until everything is resolved and nothing is left out. I would rather see a 2.5 hour play that’s complex than a movie that tries to cram everything into just under two hours (and that goes for everyone, not just Tyler). There’s also more room for improv, which adds to the play. I also think that there’s just something special about audience interaction, and seeing someone live.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/thesapphireempress96?feature=results_main A.J.

    I think it’s because the stage plays are longer. Sometimes, his films feel like they’re rushed to wrap up all the conflicts and tie all the plot points together. There’s also a limit as to how long a movie can be, unless someone is intentionally making an epic. With the stage plays, he has more time and space to go on as long as he wants to, until everything is resolved and nothing is left out. I would rather see a 2.5 hour play that’s complex than a movie that tries to cram everything into just under two hours (and that goes for everyone, not just Tyler). There’s also more room for improv, which adds to the play. I also think that there’s just something special about audience interaction, and seeing someone live.

  • Yokessm

    I loved his plays and my favorite movies are not taken from plays : “the family that preys, good deeds”.

  • FromUR2UB

    I thought it was the other way around. I really like his movies, but after seeing one play on DVD, didn’t like it so much. Oh well. Nothing is supposed to please everybody.

  • Jaeda

    Wow I thought I was the only one that felt that way I agree that his first few movies were pretty good but the plays were always better, and I stopped paying to his movies after Madea goes to jail that movie was just too much it took to long for the story to come together, bad acting by Rudy, the scene when it took Derek Luke forever for his two tears to drop Smh. Also Meet the Browns omg the movie was a combination of TWO plays and it confused the mess out of me. I did somewhat enjoy Good Deeds. Although I’ll miss Tylers plays I will not miss his movies that are based on his plays.

  • Shonda Johnson

    In my personal opinion,Tyler Perry movies or screen plays are NOT funny. I don’t see the hype on him or his work.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003727282938 Wee Bey Brice

    cause he’s a horrible filmmaker……

    • Vee Mack

      Yep so horrible now he is a millionaire. So horrible that he puts lots of black actors and actresses to work. So horrible he has Oprah on speed dial. And we all know Oprah loves to promote horrible films. A black man making it in hollywood in his 30′s at the time all because he makes horrible films and plays. Imagine that.