‘Madea’ jams comedy and drama into one film

Film review: 'Madea' funny but uneven

If you have ever watched TV and flipped back and forth between two movies, you know the sensation of watching "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail."

On the one hand, you have a genuinely funny comedy, featuring one of the great and iconic comic characters of our time. On the other hand, you have a fairly ordinary drama that slides occasionally into melodrama.

And even though they are part of the same movie, these two stories have nothing to do with each other.

The problem is that the immensely popular playwright and filmmaker Tyler Perry is pulled apart by two competing impulses, and he doesn't realize they are in conflict.

His character Madea is a comedic marvel, a no-nonsense and sassy grandmother with a fondness for gunplay and extra-legal activities. She is even funnier because the six-foot-five Perry plays her himself, in drag.

But Perry is also a deeply religious man. He uses his plays and movies to spread the word of Christian morality. He wants his stories to teach a lesson.

"Madea Goes to Jail" suffers from an inability to blend his two conflicting impulses.

In the comedy section, Madea gets in trouble with the law for evading arrest in a physical way. She avoids jail on a technicality, but as the judge notes, she won't be able to stay out of trouble for long. Besides, the name of the film is "Madea Goes to Jail."

The dramatic section involves an assistant district attorney played excellently by Derek Luke and the prostitute he once knew, played by Keshia Knight Pulliam. The young assistant D.A. is engaged to another young assistant D.A., Ion Overman, who does not appreciate his sudden charitable interest in a hooker.

The Madea scenes are often convulsively funny -- Perry is a gifted comedian, verbally and physically. One scene where Madea is taken down by a couple of cops is particularly hilarious.

But Madea doesn't even meet or hear about the characters in the dramatic section of the film until more than an hour and 20 minutes have passed. She has maybe two or three scenes of casual interaction with Knight Pulliam's character, and then the movie ends.

Perry makes huge profits by shooting his movies on the cheap, and they look it. He is so successful at this point that it probably wouldn't hurt to hire a decent cinematographer, and maybe to hand the directing reins to someone else -- although his direction is beginning to show signs of wit and inventiveness.

But if he really wants to make a great movie, he really should stick to either comedy or drama.

Preferably comedy.