Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

callanvass (Plot) Shirley (Loretta Devine) gets devastating news about her health, and wants her family to come together for it all. The problem is the family is in complete disarray, and they are ignorantly oblivious to everything going on around them. I have yet to see Madea's Witness Protection, but this is by far the worst Madea movie I have seen. Tyler Perry has assembled a cast that isn't up to past standards of Madea movies. He brings in some key players from Meet The Browns such as David Mann (Brown) but it all just felt slightly phony to me with nowhere near the passion as a lot of the other Madea films. Even Madea's act feels tired here, and I usually find Madea to be a lot of fun. The problem here is the plot. I realize Perry writes characters that are morally corrupt a lot of the time, and amps up the melodramatics for emotional effect, but it was overkill here. I get the message Perry was going for in this one, but he should have toned it down a LOT. Some of these characters are written so reprehensibly (Not in an effective way) It was extremely unpleasant to witness and ruined the viewing experience for me. We get the typical Perry ending where the despicable characters wind up feeling copious amounts of guilt for how they've acted and want to be better. I just didn't care one iota about it. Loretta Devine is the most sympathetic character in this film, but that isn't saying much. She's forced to be the most sympathetic because she is the one with the terminal illness. It's a solid, if unmemorable performance. Tyler Perry does his thing as Madea, and I wasn't feeling it this time. Maybe it's because I was so annoyed with my viewing experience, but he just wasn't funny this time around; though. Admittedly, his "Old ass whips the new ass" line was gold. Bow Wow doesn't embarrass himself. That's all I really have to say about him. He was OK as Byron. Cassi Davis has her moments as Aunt Bamm. Shannon Kane should be the most despicable character in this film, but she isn't… That dubious honor goes to Teyana Taylor. Who in their right mind thought calling somebody's name with exaggerated theatrics (BYRONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN) was funny? Rest of the cast does OK, but most of them annoyed me by being too weak or too overbearingFinal Thoughts: Maybe I'm being too much of a stickler, but as a Madea fan, this movie annoyed me to no end. I was so disappointed with it, and its flat presentation. I really hope this series isn't running out of juice, but this was utterly terrible and wildly unfunny. Next up is Madea's Witness Protection & Madea Christmas (Later on this year). I hope you can redeem yourself, Tyler3/10

Marc Davis Why not just go ahead and call this movie Soul Food 2? Only this rip off of that nicely done comedy-drama from 1997 is not even close. The brilliantly funny Loretta Divine, who first stole the show in Waiting to Exhale (1995), can't even save this movie. Here Divine play Shirley, a dying matriarch of a very dysfunctional family (just like Soul Food). But the movie never really takes off like Soul Food did. The film is infused with director/producer Tyler Perry's brand of comedy for one thing, which has become way past tired and stale.There were a few good laughs, but overall, the movie just wasn't that funny when it tries so hard to be and all the high family drama is so predictable in Perry's movies to the point that we just don't feel sorry for these individuals when we should because, quite frankly, Perry uses the same formula over and over and over again. He always has these extreme cases of domestic violence or verbal abuse in his movies, only for everything to work out like roses in the end. And to top that off in this movie in particular, there is a high amount of overacting and bad acting. At least in his previous films there was pretty much good performances by the cast. That was the only thing that saved his movies. Not this time.And the whole Medea routine, it's been played to the hilt. I hope Perry realizes soon that there's no more in the tank. Retire the Medea routine. Show us that you are more than a one trick pony. Come up with something new please! Along with Tyler Perry and Loretta Divine, the movie also stars Chad "Bow Wow" Moss, and Lauren London. The rest of the cast is really not worth mentioning. Just think about the characters and plot of Soul Food when you watch this. Or better yet, skip this movie all together and just go rent Soul Food.

tavm I have now seen two Tyler Perry movies in their entirety but this is the first time I've watched him as Madea for an entire picture having previously seen her in brief clips of Tyler's other films. This was perhaps the most embarrassing of Perry's movies I've watched yet but his wasn't the most humiliating character. That goes to this Sabrina (Teyana Taylor) woman who's the ex-girlfriend of this young man character who's unfairly blamed by her for dealing drugs. There's some amusing scenes in the beginning and some nice drama near the end but it's a huge mess in the middle and what a mess! So on that note, Madea's Big Happy Family is only recommended to fans of Tyler Perry and his Madea character and no one else.

Ryan_MYeah I have to make a confession. I watch Tyler Perry's Madea films. OK, JUST HEAR ME OUT! Now, I think they're all FAR from perfect films, but at the very least, I do enjoy watching the portions featuring Madea. Such was the case of my latest viewing, Madea's Big Happy Family. It's a bit embarrassing to say, but let's just get down to my review.First of all, we have a tangled web of subplots. The mother of a family, Shirley, is devastated to discover that her case of cancer has worsened, prompting her to plan a family dinner to tell her children about her condition. This includes her daughters, Kimberly and Tammy. Kimberly is a secretive woman (Improperly focused character #1), and Tammy is having trouble with her marriage, and her two disobedient children. This also includes Byron, a man on an unlucky streak, having served jail time for selling drugs, and behind on paying child support to his insufferably obnoxious ex-girlfriend. There's also some drama between Cora and Mr. Brown. But leave it to Madea to set things straight, and not be afraid to beat the living hell out of anyone who steps out of line.This movie is textbook Tyler Perry. As always, he gathers together a cast that could have been quite good, with good material, but their characters are inconsistently written, and their focus tends to blur because the script is overly cluttered with subplots. It's not a problem because they're hard to follow (They really aren't), but it's because it doesn't give these characters all the attention they deserve.This isn't even mentioning Tyler Perry's ubiquitous switch in tone. His rhythm moves as comedic scene, dramatic scene, comedic scene, etc. I think the comedy portions are better than the dramatic portions, but the flip flopping between the two makes things feel dull. At the end of the day, I didn't emotionally connect with the story like I feel I should have. For once, I wish Perry would construct a film that's sure of what it wants to be.I give it ** out of ****