BOO! A Madea Halloween (2016)

Madea winds up in the middle of mayhem when she spends a hilarious, haunted Halloween fending off killers, paranormal poltergeists, ghosts, ghouls, and zombies while keeping a watchful eye on a group of misbehaving teens. (Source- Google.com)

Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9-VHtJvPNs

Rating- PG-13

Genre- Drama/Horror/Comedy

Warnings- Inappropriate language, marijuana use

Growing up, I knew about the Tyler Perry franchise and I really enjoyed watching Perry's movies even as a little girl. I clearly remember sitting in a theater and watching 'Madea's Family Reunion' (2003) and I also recall re-watching 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' (2005) on DvD in my bedroom because it was one of my favorites from the Madea series. 

However, I think since his film adaption of Madea's Big Happy Family (2011) Perry's future films involving Madea have become more and more forgettable and boring, slowly removing the genuine emotion and hard work put into his past movies and replacing it with too much comic relief, one-dimensional characters and an unfocused storyline. So when I heard that 'Boo! A Madea Halloween' was going to be on the big screen, I couldn't help but cringe. The last holiday movie Perry made, 'A Madea Christmas' (2013) received mediocre approval ratings, so how would he make this Madea holiday movie about ghouls, fear and trick-or-treating any better? Well, I decided to find out.

Did 'Boo! A Madea Halloween' end up exceeding my expectations or was it another movie in a list of subpar films that will haunt Perry's career?

A Madea halloween focused on Madea attempting to fight off scary monsters with her friends and trying to protect a 17-year old girl named Tiffany from attending a frat party. Similar to being scared by freaky monsters, this film managed to scare me away from seeing another Tyler Perry movie ever again. 

I couldn't believe that when the credits started rolling up, the audience in the theater I was in gave it a round of applause. I found it to be one of the worst pieces of film Perry has directed so far, and it really disappoints me to say this since I love his other works.

This isn't about favoritism or being the kind of person who, "misses the old Perry" and wants him to, "go back to his old ways"...though thinking about it, it would probably be best for him to return to how he used to be because this will not do. 

(This scene is not from 'Boo! A Madea Halloween)

Back then, Madea movies always had a lot of humor but it did not overshadow the seriousness of the situation at hand. Madea was a great character, reminding many of us of that strong, no-nonsense grandma that would stick up for you in any situation. 

However in this film, she's just a chatterbox, she talks and talks about nothing important for the most part. There would be scenes when Madea and her gang would harp on a topic for about 5 or more minutes before returning to the main conflict for no reason other than to have sassy people talk about how bad this generation is and how we should be whopping our kids when they misbehave.

This movie was like a PSA to whoop our kids and demean the modern generation for their problems. A majority of screen time talked about how children should listen to their parents and respect them. It's a good moral and one that a lot of children need, but if Perry wanted to lecture me on how I should raise children, the movie could've been condensed into a 30-minute short. This entire movie's plot could fit into an average episode on Lifetime and even remove the halloween aspect of it altogether. Seriously, you can still have the story be the same thing with a girl going to a party against her father's wishes and Madea getting pranked and it wouldn't feel like anything was missing.

Unlike Perry's older works, there was no real villain nor any real plot for that matter. It's about a teenager learning her lesson after going to a party. I mean, Perry tried to add in another element when the father and daughter had an "emotional" talk about their family issues, but that is so shoehorned in it's like Perry just threw it somewhere so critics can call his film, 'heartwarming and emotional' alongside 'hilarious and clever' which this film presents none of those adjectives.

Let me introduce a couple of other plots in his older films. In a 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman,' main character Helen spends the movie trying to find herself and embrace newfound love after her husband maliciously ends their marriage. In 'Madea's Family Reunion,' it follows the lives of two sisters and their individual conflicts involving relationships until they confide in each other and grow the confidence they need to love others and themselves again. This movie's plot pales in comparison to those (and so forth), but I could have forgiven it if the story wasn't constructed so poorly.

Scenes are mostly just Madea talking about how to discipline kids, how she was a stripper and making references that some people might not understand. She is uncharacteristically mean to people who don't deserve it, whereas in the past she was just cruel to those that hurt her or her family. In addition, Madea (and the gang) were extremely hypocritical, judging the new generation for not beating their children but not truly acknowledging the faults of their own generation. They literally describe in detail how abusive they were to Brain (Tyler Perry) to the point that they needed to take him to a hospital, and there is never a moment where they take a look at themselves and say, "You know what? I was too harsh on you and I'm sorry that it hurt you." 

Some fans of Madea may be thinking, "She would never do that! That's not how she acts!" Well if they're trying to hammer in how important it is to beat your kids when they are being disrespectful, at least make a point to mention to your audience that going as far as to throw them off a roof isn't justified either. I know...it's a comedy movie, people will get that they shouldn't take things seriously, but it really bugged me that Perry would go out of his way to basically point a finger at the new generation and say every 5 minutes, "Children like you these days are so disrespectful and you deserve to get beat!" and then not have his most popular character acknowledge her wrongdoings. It makes her look like a hypocrite! 

Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis) only jokes about smoking weed which gets very old and Hattie (Partrice Lovely) was so hard to understand sometimes with her high-pitched squeaky voice that I can't really say much about her. Joe's (Tyler Perry) character was exaggerated to the maximum. He was always known to crack offensive jokes and be an uncaring man on a lazy chair, but similar to Madea all he does is talk too much and spout offensive words just to say them, evening throwing out the N word a couple of times.

The worst characters in this movie by far though are Brian and Tiffany (Diamond White) because their characters were torn to shreds. In case you do not know, in 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman,' Brain was a part of a side plot involving his wife, Deborah who was a drug addict and he tried to make her rehabilitate herself so she would get better and not be a bad influence to their children, Tiffany being one of them. After a lot of hard work and perseverance, Deborah eventually got clean and became the loving mother and wife her family always wanted. 

So how does their story continue? Well Brian is now a timid and cowardice father who can't stand up to Tiffany and Tiffany is a brat who only cares about herself, treating her father like crap. 

I have so many comments about this...

First off, Tiffany was old enough to understand what her mother was going through in the other movie and for the most part, she was a well-behaved girl. Now I'm not saying that good kids can't turn into brats or have tendencies where they are rude to their elders, but this film gives the audience a drive-by reason as to why Tiffany behaves the way she does and that's not sufficient. 

Knowing that their family story was so tumultuous, full of hysteria from having to deal with a drug addicted family member, you would think that after all of those years the father and daughter would have bonded more and the daughter especially would relate to how stressed her father must have been and would ease up on him a bit. 

It's terrible to re-introduce characters that Madea fans grew to love and have them become nothing like their old selves. It puts a bad light on the other movie they came from because no matter what you might have thought of Brian and Tiffany then, they will turn into the Brian and Tiffany now and for me that left a bad feeling in my stomach. Now I probably can't re-watch DOAMBW without sneering at younger Tiffany, knowing how awful of a human being she'll become.

The frat boys and their leader, Jonathan (Yousef Erakat) were comical and non-threatening in the slightest and while they did have a few funny moments, I feel like the movie could have strengthened this story by actually making them a dangerous threat. Since Tiffany is trying to hang out with them and the film is trying to point out how that is bad for her, the frat boys can show how they don't really care about her and put her in serious danger on purpose or even try to assault her. 

I know that last part was rather dark, but I mentioned it because Madea movies usually discuss issues like sexual assault, abuse and rape; going down that dark route would make this more of a movie that people can care for because someone is actually in trouble, they can really go through a life-changing experience that makes them become stronger. 

Referring back to DOAMBW, Tiffany's mother was a drug addict for years and Tiffany was probably around 12 or 13 during that time, so Perry could have made Tiffany encounter peer pressure and have people try to force her to do drugs and her father could reference her mother's struggle with drugs. But none of what Tiffany-or anyone else-goes through is super life-changing for them, and I don't think the lesson they learn will stick in their heads. 

There was barely any songs in the film, just some funny music that played in the background which upsetted me too. I keep comparing this film to Perry's older works, but his stuff back then really was more impactful. I remember loving the music that would play during montages, it was a perfect song that would fit with the moment. But here, almost everything is meant to be taken comically. 

If Perry wants to apply his Madea character into more humorous stories where she doesn't deal with big issues, then okay, but don't expect that just because characters joke about smoking weed and go around punching people that you'll get a genuine laugh out of everybody.

I did laugh a few times watching this, because it was funny seeing Madea and the gang freaking out over nonsense and their sharp jabs at one another, but it becomes very annoying when it goes on for too long and it feels forced. This movie is either a lecture to the younger people or like a comedian who ran out of jokes so he keeps repeating his jokes and prolonging his standup to see if anyone would still laugh.

What made the old movies so great is that you could feel the effort put into the work, it was a feature filled with love and gave you that heartwarming feeling in your chest when you would see the troubled main character survive through their problems and make it out on top, all while Madea was their wacky but listening advisor and friend. 

All movies have flaws, minor or major, and I'm not saying that the old Madea films are a Godsend, but they did show great amount of effort in them. Try comparing a Madea movie from the past to this one and you'll get a better idea of how disappointed I am that his creativity declined so immensely.

I love your work Tyler Perry, but I feel like you're playing it safe and are only doing these Madea movies now to make a quick buck. You think just because your name is on the cover, people will see it and they will. I went to see it and the theater was full of people of all ages; we have faith in you and we want you to succeed, but it order to make a huge impact, you need to do these movies more for love, not more for money.

Overall, I found 'Boo! A Madea Halloween' to be incredibly dumb, annoying and boring. The characters are either annoying or so mean-spirited, there is no real threat in the film that you need to worry about the characters and I really don't know if I will take a chance on watching another Madea movie again. I give this a 1 out of 5 stars.

BONUS: WHAT I CONSIDER TYLER PERRY'S GOOD MADEA MOVIES & BAD MOVIES

Good

Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Madea's Family Reunion
Meet the Browns
I Can do Bad all by Myself

Bad

Madea's Big Happy Family
A Madea Christmas
Madea's Witness Protection
BOO! A Madea Halloween

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
(Note: The following contains comments that I thought of throughout the film. They are in chronological order)

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Hi FouseyTube.

The Brian from 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' would never act this way.

This is totally far off from the Tiffany in DOAMBW. Even though she is older and the typical teenager, she should still have some respect for her dad knowing that he was looking after her mother when she was trying to quit drugs. I mean, even the son is being disrespectful to the dad. What kind of family is this?

Brian is not that pathetic. Knowing that he had to deal with a drug addicted wife and his kids were decently behaved, he had to handle them himself and therefore, there is no possible way that he should be this cowardly when dealing with his daughter.

Deborah and Brian divorced? I guess that makes sense, not all happy endings stay happy. Besides, all of that stress from trying to get her clean must have tired Brain out. Also, why couldn't they mention Deborah more? After all, she was the person who caused the family divide in the DOAMBW.

I am so sure Madea would not be insulting a boy to his face like that. She would talk about his weight to her friends sure, maybe tell the parents in private about it, but I think she would have common sense to not insult a kid and possibly ruin his halloween experience.

This scene about Madea and the gang talking about how abused Brian got as a kid went on for 10 minutes, I'm sure. Can we get back to the task at hand?!

Okay Perry, why did you have to include the N word? 

Why is Tiffany talking like Madea wasn't a big component in her life? Maybe she could insult the other people and not get as much hate, but Madea was there for her during one of the toughest times in her life. She hosted get-togethers and always found a way to share love within the family. Why is Tiffany acting like she only just met Madea? Just because she's mad at her father for not being with her mother anymore, doesn't excuse her being mean to people just because.

Stereotypical religious girl, but I like her. I hope they don't hurt her.

It was a horrible idea having Tiffany be a main character. There is no redeeming quality to her, I almost want her to get hurt just to feel good seeing her in pain.

Why couldn't Perry include a scene where Tiffany does get kicked out of the party for being 17 and causing drama? That would make her open up about how she feels about being accepted in a popular crowd.

Tiffany is too mean. It's not funny to me, because there are people who act just like her and it would have been better to make her a side character or even a minor character. Every time I saw her, my stomach hurt, my eyes rolled, my mouth sighed. She's not enjoyable to watch and it really ruins the movie.

So Deborah the mother had an affair? Why do you hate your father then, Tiffany?! If anything, you should hate your mother more, she had an addiction and she cheated on your dad. She's the bad guy and you're going to get mad at your father for not fixing their relationship? What are your morals, Tiffany?!

I'm positive Perry re-used the scene of Tiffany looking down and about to cry when she was "arrested" for the murder of her religious friend. They use it right after she's told she's going to jail, and then again when Brian tells her that he cannot help her out of the situation. It may go unnoticed to some people but if you do spot it, it feels really awkward.

I really don't think Tiffany will change. Her apologies always sounded half-assed and even when she realized her friend is alive, the first thing she can say is, "What you did was wrong" before apologizing. She always has to put the blame on somebody!"