Diary Of a Mad Black Woman: a movie review

Diary Of a Mad Black Woman, a movie review.



Welcome back to the blog that has a tendency to steam roll over various things that were of some interests and were horrible for even existing. Today I would like to direct your attention towards the most dull, lifeless,   unoriginal trash to reach movie screens; Black cinema. I know some black folks will be mad about this, particularly the dumb ones who support almost anything that has to do with blacks no matter how bad it is. Poor delusional bastards.... Don't get me wrong, I used to praise black cinema for movies like: The Color Purple, Eve's Bayou, and more. movies like them were of a high caliber in both tone and quality, with brilliantly written scripts holding a level of complexity that was for a time, unrivaled. Damn, those were the days. Throughout the years black cinema lost it's edge, dissolving into a mere shell of it's former self as it was rendered hollow, tasteless and repetitive. What the hell happened?? Well, unfortunately it had become stuck in a box of it's own creation. What black cinema needed was something fresh, it needed to be expansive with  a reach for sci-fi and mystery, but instead it fell into the hands of a grown man whom's acting is far more believable when he dresses up like a woman than he does as a man. No, I'm not talking about RuPaul either. (on a serious note, I bet Ru could have done a better job with making some movies. I'd watch) I'm talking about Tyler Perry.

For those of you lucky people who haven't heard of him, Tyler Perry is a director, author, and playwright who has been known to jack clothes from his mother's closet and dress up as an old woman packing a pistol in his purse.

In the early 2000's I was introduced to one of Tyler's plays. Can't say I recall the name of it and frankly it wasn't something you would want to remember, unless you go for that crap where everyone breaks into song and every problem is resolved by black people going to church, because us blacks can't do shit without praying to an invisible man in the sky, to which there is no evidence for. Damn, that pretty much sums up the whole premise of both the plays and movies.... well, minus the stereotypes and the man bashing. The message he tries to get across is meant to empower black women, which I haven't ignored and do find that to be something praise worthy and admirable, but his work truly doesn't fulfill what he set out to achieve. They stereotype and victimize the women, making them appear weak, make black men look like a constant bully and aggressor, and makes a mockery of black people by misrepresenting them as ghetto with dreadful  religious overtones. On top of that, Tyler wants you to adhere to the moral philosophy of a pistol packing grandmother, his main character whom he plays, Madea.  *sigh* Why do I even bother? As a black man I am appalled by his performances.

Now on to the movie......

In 2005 one of Tyler's play's had been turned into a movie. That movie was the infamous, ever popular, Diary Of a Mad Black Woman. The major issue that killed this movie would have to be that damn Madea. Remember what I wrote above about the movies mostly making women appear weak, religious, and so on? Well, that's what this one does.... of course there are some strong females in the cast, but guess what? They're mostly loud, ghetto, ignorant interpretations of black women that continue to plague the media as well as TV and movies. No thank you, seriously don't need another one of those. One is bad enough. Which brings me back to Madea. After the main character of the movie, Helen, portrayed by the lovely actress Kimberly Elise, waiting for a romantic evening only to find her stuff all packed up oh so nicely by her husband of 18 years, whom she shared a perfect life with.(ON THE SURFACE, I mean duh, no marriage is perfect) To top it all off, Charles, the husband, portrayed by some bald guy I've never even heard of, Steve Harris? (who the hell is this no name guy?) Anyway, he leaves her for his mistress,*gasp*  who just so happens to be a white woman? No, not really, but that would have been funny. As it turns out the woman who was indeed black is just one of the many chicks he was screwing, but she was favored so highly that her position in Charles life had become solidified.Yup, she filed her application to become Helen's replacement and it was approved. Following these events, Helen seeks the help from her outrageous grandmother, (Tyler Perry) Madea after stealing a truck from the guy Charles had called to help her move out..... (Charles is a serious dick)
Not even 15 minutes pass of her being on screen and already we see a crackhead. Some time after, all hell has broken loose.

Madea gives her granddaughter advice on getting her half out of the marriage by pulling a buzz-saw out of her purse and ripping the furniture in half. No joke, that shit was really in the movie. Not quite sure how many people have a grandmother that would do that, hell I don't know what grown woman in her right mind would have even asked that loony for help. Oh, wait.... she wasn't in her right mind. Later on due to her grandmother's advice and willful display of destruction, they are both taken to court. Brilliant advice, I know.

By the time we hit the middle of this movie, Shemar Moore has shown up with the worst performance I had ever seen from him. You see, his character, Orlando was the guy she stole the truck from in the beginning. For some reason he falls in love with her despite her stealing the truck and treating him like crap.. please.

By the end of the movie Charles finally gets what's coming to him. *spoiler alert* He gets shot and is pretty much paralyzed from the waste down. His life continues to take a turn for the worst as the mistress eventually leaves him. (can't get jiggy with it when your johnson's not working properly) She also withdrew all of his money from his bank account and took it with her. There's even a scene where Helen, who at this point is the only person he can turn to slaps him and even attempts to leave him in a bath tub to drown. Apparently she doesn't of course.

What this movie has taught me is this: 1.watch out for black men with money, they're assholes.
2. I should take relationship advice from my grandmother who keeps a gun in her purse who has been to jail more than once.
3.if you're black and go to church magically your problem is solved no matter if they're equipped for your mental issues or not.
4. my knight in shinning armor will roll up like Shemar Moore.
5. the story is complete bullshit.

Final thoughts.....

In all honesty I have nothing against the man, he seems like an okay guy, but if you expect me to be happy for his success as a black man who rose up from a troubled past, you may as well label me a hater and kiss my ass while you're at it, which ever works for you, I have low tolerance for bullshit. He made it, but at what cost? . He may have had good intentions making his movies, but the truth of the matter is this: his interpretations of African Americans ushers in nothing more than a modern day minstrel show reminiscent of Black face. His depictions are overtly offensive, ignorant, tasteless, and disgraceful. His writing is so one dimensional that it hurts. A true director should at least have a sense of variety rather than making the same damn movie over and over again. He might gain my respect if he could successfully direct a sci-fi, without him playing any character in the movie. (not holding my breath)