I’ve come to the realization that I don’t hate the Madea character. She can be rather entertaining in small doses as an exaggerated caricature of an immoral woman with moral values. Everybody knows someone like Madea: a preacher who breaks all of her moral codes. She praises the Lord, but constantly takes his name in vain and cracks wise at the Bible’s expense (there’s an amusing remark made about Moses’ burning bush that had me rolling). She knocks others for being violent and breaking the law, despite bragging about putting a whooping on people and having a track record a mile long. Despite all of this, she always winds up being the voice of reason.
My issues with the “Madea” films, I’ve discovered, is that she doesn’t belong in them. She’s a side character that gets top billing, sans “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” She’s always engaging in slapstick antics amidst tragedy. Madea goes to jail and hilarity ensues…oh, and here’s a husband beating his wife. The juxtaposition between the comedy and drama was always uncomfortable, with the marriage between the two feeling forced. Madea’s connection was flimsy, usually either a relative or a family friend. She’d set everybody straight, make a few more jokes, then the credits rolled. It was awkward and uncomfortable, going against the comedy and diminishing the drama.
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Tyler Perry finally strikes the right balance between the two in “Boo! A Madea Halloween.” He does so by making the film Madea’s, not just giving her the namesake. There’s a moral message to be had, but it ties in directly to Madea. The drama isn’t overbearing or too heavy. There’s no physical abuse to be had to grind the film to a halt. Only a tinge of emotional abuse ala an affair, with most of the focus being on today’s lackluster parental unit.
Tyler Perry does hint at ulterior motives, teasing a rape angle to draw a moral message from. Two underage girls attend a frat party, with the implication that one may be coerced into intercourse against her better judgment while the other is willing (but again, underage). Once the frat boys find out they’re underage, however, they run for the hills in comical fashion. It’s a refreshing relief from the norm of these films, with kudos being given to Perry for understanding the criticisms lodged against him and playfully working around them.
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The underage girls are Tiffany (Diamond White) and Aday (Liza Koshy), the former a rebel and the latter the preacher’s innocent daughter. Tiffany walks all over her father, Brian (Tyler Perry), and plans on sneaking out of the house to attend the frat party. Enlisted to watch over her is Madea (Tyler Perry) and her entourage, Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis), Hattie (Patrice Lovely), and Brian’s father, Joe (Tyler Perry, once again). What develops are numerous long sequences in which Brian argues with the elderly over parenting, both sides of the argument purposely exaggerated. The old school is represented as short-tempered and violent, bragging about beating their children and throwing them off the roof. The new school is represented as weak and timid, wanting to be friends with their children as opposed to authority figures. The humor comes from their exaggerations, never once believing the elderly’s stories and seeing the truth in the new school bastardized for comedic effect. While these scenes do outstay their welcome, they’re not without their fair share of laughs.
Where the film finds its comfort zone is in the pranking. Tiffany and Aday trick their babysitters into thinking the house is haunted, scaring them into their rooms so they can sneak out. Once Madea catches on, she crashes the party and shuts it down. In return, the frat play pranks on them, such as zombie runs, paranormal activity, and unintentionally topical clown stalking. The latter gets the biggest laughs as Madea constantly beats on the clowns out of fear. It’s actually soothing to coulrophobics suffering from clown sightings, as all they have to do is imagine Tyler Perry in drag bitchslapping them to alleviate their fears.
“Boo!” is the most lightweight of the “Madea” films, a comedy through and through. It’s a cross between college comedies of old and “The Nutty Professor,” with Tyler Perry in drag portraying cartoon characters. Joe is an ignorant drunk who gets laugh at the expense of the frightened women. Hattie is his overly sexual girlfriend who makes a fool out of herself at the frat party. Aunt Bam is a trickster who feigns an injury to get a medical marijuana prescription and steals candy from trick or treaters. And Madea is Madea, the cantankerous grandmotherly type who insults a child for wearing a cow costume, then blames the parents for her actions. She’s at her funniest here as the outlandish tone matches her own.
Maybe it’s the downplaying of the drama, the Halloween setting, or Stockholm Syndrome, but I thoroughly enjoyed “Boo!” It overstays its welcome, even in isolated sequences, but is too energetic and inspired to be boring. I laughed a helluva lot more than I expected to, especially once the pranks were kicked into high gear. Even the crueler moments, such as the mockery of the aforementioned cow-costumed kid, is worthy of a few chuckles. The morality is understated, at least for a “Madea” film, and fits in line with the story. Madea is no longer the supporting character, but the star she’s been positioned as, and it surprisingly works.
Final Rating: B