The latest installment of writer/director/actor Tyler Perry's Madea movies continues his now-familiar formula: a feel-good melodrama using Madea as comic relief. Perry's films certainly succeed as light, mildly amusing entertainment (and each are a good 90 minute distraction from midterms). If viewers loved the past movies in this series, then they should watch "Madea Goes To Jail." But if viewers are interested in anything besides an extremely generic Perry movie, then they should avoid this new film at all costs.
In this installment, Perry reprises the role of Madea, a troublemaking but loveable grandma whose antics have caught the attention of two prosecutors. Although Madea initially avoids jail, her anger management issues eventually catch up with her and help land her in the slammer. Meanwhile, the prosecutors, Joshua (played by Derek Luke) and Linda (Ion Overman), attempt to assist Joshua's old friend Candy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), a prostitute whom Joshua wants to help break away from the streets.
The flaws in this movie become obvious as soon as the terribly constructed plot gets underway. Do not be fooled by the title; this is not a movie about Madea or about Madea in jail. Instead, the film jumps back and forth between the unhappy prosecutors and their drama and the zany high jinks of Madea.
These plots don't intertwine until the end, which strongly undercuts the movie's foundation. Most of the time, it is unclear what is going to happen next, not because the movie has unpredictable twists (it doesn't), but because everything feels so unrelated; it's like Perry took discarded lines from his previous movies and pasted everything together.
These deep-rooted flaws could have been avoided if the movie had more interesting, dynamic characters. Unfortunately, Perry's Madea shines in only one small scene, during a cameo by Dr. Phil. Otherwise, she remains exactly the same as in the previous movies. Perry must have decided that any attempt at character development would somehow hurt his series, because Madea encounters nothing that challenges her in any way. As a result, any scene with her in it features Madea either doing something zany or getting congratulated for doing something zany.
The prosecutors' storyline has slightly more promise, but still ultimately fails. For the most part, the characters and their lines are one-dimensional, unbelievable and do not give the audience any reason to care about the ensuing comedy and drama.
There are moments when the actors almost break free of their wooden roles and show real emotion, though. Luke and Overman especially try to capture the drama of their traumatic past that slowly comes to light over the course of the movie, and with a little more help from a less predictable script, they might have succeeded.
But despite their efforts, all attempts to discuss serious themes seem disingenuous because Perry does not seem interested in the real emotion that comes from fleshing out characters and plot. After all, that would involve telling a real story — one that would probably have both more drama and more humor.
Instead of portraying real people dealing with the aftermath of violence, Perry only offers props that seem to exist solely to drive home the movie's wholesome, happy little message. When "Madea" tries to be funny, it fails; when it tries to be melodramatic, it fails even more miserably; and when it tries to instill a lesson behind everything, it topples over into a poorly made mess.
But none of these problems matter to Perry, and who can blame him? He has found a formula that gets him money and an audience, and his feel-good, zany Madea movies are not any worse than anything else coming out of Hollywood. The trouble is, they aren't any better, either.
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