Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		1.5

A Madea Christmas Blu-ray Movie Review

My personal Christmas wish: no more Madea movies.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 24, 2014

One of my smart aleck sisters thought she was being clever one Christmas and asked Santa Claus for coal. Imagine her surprise when each and every beautifully wrapped package that year (all different shapes and sizes) contained nothing but pitch black sedimentary rock. Even her stocking, hung with such care by the fireplace, was stuffed full of little obsidian carbon nuggets. My parents thought it was hilarious—my sister, not so much. (She did end up getting her “real” presents after this little lesson was handed out for everyone’s edification.) It might be tempting to view A Madea Christmas as Tyler Perry’s own personal lump of coal delivered to rapt Perry believers far and wide, for even longtime fans of this Energizer Bunny of filmmakers may be hard pressed to find much to enjoy here. Expectedly raucous and filled with Perry’s own patented (and prefab) version of “saving grace,” A Madea Christmas is nonetheless a largely emotionless piece that fails to grasp what makes most iconic holiday movies work—a surfeit of heart, rather than raunch (Bad Santa notwithstanding).

Madea (Tyler Perry) has rather improbably been hired to man the customer service desk at a tony downtown department store because— well, it gives Tyler Perry the chance to go all “high and mighty” on an unsuspecting elderly customer looking to buy lingerie. Right off the bat, A Madea Christmas strains credulity to the breaking point, with Madea’s supposed longtime friend (and evidently distant relative) Eileen Murphy (Anna Maria Horsford) recommending her for the job because—well, just because. Of course that turns out to be a complete disaster, but in the meantime Eileen has become suspicious after a phone call with her daughter Lacey (Tika Sumpter) convinces her that something’s wrong.

Lacey works at a school in a (hopefully fictional) town where as is stated late in the film they’re not afraid to put the “Christ in Christmas,” but evidently have a similar lack of fear to ignore the United States Constitution’s separation of church and state. This is a town where the school and indeed the local government are resolutely, unapologetically Christian. There is an almost Stepford Wives homogeneity in at least the religious attitudes depicted in the film.

The school is evidently run out of the Mayor’s office, and when an angry mob of residents complains about the cancellation of the town’s Christmas Jubilee for lack of municipal funds, one helpful citizen suggests the school budget be cut, upsetting principal Nancy Porter (Lisa Whelchel, erstwhile cast member of The Facts of Life and Survivor). The school is already in desperate financial straits, but Lacey’s ex-boyfriend Oliver (JR Lemon) has a plan to infuse some serious cash into the facility. Lacey is also concerned about a sweet little boy named Bailey (Noah Urreah), who sings like an angel but may have problems at home.

Eileen and Madea show up in the town to investigate Eileen’s lingering suspicions about Lacey’s well being, when yet another sidebar is added to the mix. Lacey has married a white man named Conner (Eric Lively), a marriage Lacey knows will upset her contentious (and maybe slightly racist) mother. That leads the couple to mislead Eileen into believing that Conner is a farmhand assisting Lacey. Madea, of course, sees through the ruse, even as Eileen foists Oliver off on Lacey, hoping that their scuttled romance can be rekindled.

As if these building blocks weren’t enough for Perry to extract as much “hilarity” and “emotion” as possible into the mix, there’s also a subplot involving the troubled parents of Bailey (played by Chad Michael Murray and Alicia Witt), part of which has to do with water rights and a dam having cut off water to the town. Yes, that’s right, folks, Tyler Perry is going all Chinatown on us, albeit in drag.

The large cast also includes Kathy Najimy and Larry the Cable Guy as Conner’s parents, who help Conner and Lacey present their case for marital bliss to Eileen. It’s no huge surprise to hear everyone ends up in their own version of happily ever after, but for once Perry doesn’t end his film with a gospel drenched church scene. Nope, he’s versatile, that Tyler Perry. This time he ends his film drenched in a contemporary Christian tune (specifically “Mary Did You Know”) in an outdoor Christmas Jubilee scene. Who said there's nothing new under Tyler Perry's sun?

A Madea Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Madea Christmas is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Whatever one may or may not think of the actual content of any given Tyler Perry film, his productions usually have a professional gloss to them that often includes rather good visuals. Even that proclivity is inconsistently attained here. While there's nothing horrible about either the look of the film or its high definition transfer, this is decidedly on the bland side, with a lack of pop, where even Madea's red Christmas dress seems to look just a little tired. Digitally shot with the Arri Alexa, the film has a suitably sleek appearance, with good fine detail in close-ups and some decent if not overwhelming depth in outdoor shots. But there's nothing here that really screams "high definition" in any meaningful way. This is a good, competent transfer of a visually uninspiring film. There are no issues with compression artifacts or other anomalies.

A Madea Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with most Tyler Perry outings, A Madea Christmas has quite a bit of music in it, and that helps open up the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1's mix to provide some decent immersion. Otherwise, this is a pretty talky affair, with virtually all dialogue anchored front and center. There are occasional moments of ambient environmental effects dotting the surrounds, and a couple of crowd scenes, including two in the mayor's office, where dialogue is splayed and directional. Fidelity is fine and there are no problems of any kind to warrant concern.

A Madea Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "Jolly Follies" Featurette (1080p; 10:06) is a quasi-EPK with interviews with Perry and some outtake material.


• Introducing Tyler Perry's Madea's Tough Love (1080p; 7:37) previews the upcoming animated Madea outing. No, that's not a typo.

A Madea Christmas Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The marketplace has spoken, and quite obviously there are more Tyler Perry lovers than can be counted easily. That still doesn't equate to actual quality, and A Madea Christmas is a really lackluster affair that doesn't even have the smattering of laughs that most Madea outings manage to eke out of relentlessly predictable proceedings. Perhaps surprisingly, given Perry's emphasis on spirituality in his films, there's not even much of a meaningful message here, only Madea's foul mouthed rants about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket. For those with a hankering for more Tyler Perry in drag, technical merits on this release are very good if not especially mind blowing.