Madea Goes to Jail Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Madea Goes to Jail Blu-ray Movie Review

If only she had stayed there.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 31, 2011

Tyler Perry seems intent on taking over show business, and evidently there’s no stopping him, at least judging by the enormous extent of his output. He’s also saving lots of time by combining genres. Has there ever been a writer-director (co-star) who has so bizarrely combined lowbrow humor with melodrama? These odd shifts in tone might have been written off as early missteps by a nascent talent, but in film after film, Perry goes both to schtick laden supposed hilarity and to eye rolling inducing drama, sometimes at the drop of a hat and quite often within the confines of any given scene. His over the top, gun totin’ Grandma character, Mabel, known affectionately as Madea, was a featured character in Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, where Madea’s antics with a chainsaw in the film’s trailer probably led a lot of viewers to assume: A) the film was a raucous comedy; and B) Madea was the titular mad black woman. Neither proved to be the case. Diary, like so many other Perry films, lurched inartfully between some admittedly funny bits and a divorce and reconciliation scenario that could have been a very special Lifetime movie of the week. That very seem bifurcation is part and parcel of Madea Goes to Jail, a film which by its advertising imagery—Madea in a lineup with a bunch of comically different characters—probably led at least some, those not yet attuned to Perry’s almost manic-depressive writing style, to assume the new film was a flat out comedy. In fact, Madea Goes to Jail is neither as funny as the funny bits in Diary, and it is even more appallingly melodramatic as it essays the story of an up and coming group of African American attorneys, one of whom reaches out to help an old acquaintance who has taken to a life of prostitution.

Tyler Perry, meet Tyler Perry.

The good news, if one is being charitable, is that Perry is as egalitarian in his depictions of various socioeconomic strata in the black community as he is in his genre combining. As in virtually all of his films, we get a huge gamut of African American “types,” from almost yuppie-esque aspiring attorneys to Madea and her brother, Leroy, who, were they of a paler race, might (if one were being charitable) be termed “white trash.” This aspect of Perry’s films is often the most interesting, as Perry seems bound and determined to portray the entire spectrum of the black experience. In Madea Goes to Jail our up and coming group includes the main romantic couple, Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke) and Linda Davis (Ion Overman), two Assistant District Attorneys in Atlanta who are planning their impending marriage. Linda is a daughter of privilege while Joshua has pulled himself up by his bootstraps to get out of the ghetto. The ghetto comes back to visit him in the form of childhood friend Candy (Keshia Knight Pulliam, about as far away from Cosby land as it’s possible to get), a rough and tumble girl who has taken to a life of prostitution.

As in most Perry films, it’s instantly obvious that there’s some back story which will be revealed down the line which somehow unites Joshua and Candy, but the bulk of the melodrama in Madea Goes to Jail is given over to Joshua’s repeated attempts to aid Candy even as she seemingly spirals out of control. This altruism does not sit well with Linda, who goes to rather ridiculous extremes to make sure Joshua and Candy stop seeing each other, however innocent that seeing may be. Playing out against all of this emotional hoo-hah is the ostensibly more comic story of Madea, who, after her Meet the Browns run-in with police, finds herself back in front of several “real life” (as in “reality television”) judges, including Mablean and Mathis. Madea’s continuing anger management issues finally get her a one on one session with Dr. Phil, in what is arguably the funniest bit in the film. Even Dr. Phil’s down home rubrics (which Madea parrots right back at him, driving the good doctor slightly mad—in both senses of the word—himself) can’t help our violence prone Grandma, and she’s soon off to the Big House, where she interacts with a brownie cooking serial killer (Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara in a fun, if not particularly funny, cameo).

The problem with this film, as in virtually all of Perry’s canon, is that it is both predictable and interminable. Any viewer with half a brain is going to guess the ultimate outcome of the quasi-romantic trial between Joshua, Linda and Candy. And like so many (all?) of Perry’s films, salvation seems to be a foregone conclusion, if only enough soft focus photography and syrupy underscore can be slathered onto a scene. The melodrama in Madea Goes to Jail is so rote, so by the numbers, that it, in its own unintended way, turns out to be the really funny element of the film, as opposed to the Madea sequences.

There are, as in other Perry films, small saving graces. Madea is a funny character, that can’t be denied. Her malapropisms fly fast, sometimes so fast that the audience is a beat or two behind the punch line. And Perry does a creditable job with establishing a large and extremely dysfunctional community which surrounds Madea. What Perry really needs more than anything is an outside hand to come in and act as his muse and editor. What might really help Perry at this stage of his career is to go work for an A-list director himself, simply as an actor, to get a handle on how to improve his own craft. Too many of Perry’s films play like television movies. He’s to be commended for building a repertory company of some repute and for revitalizing the Atlanta film industry seemingly single-handed, but he outputs so much product so quickly that everything assumes a cookie cutter aspect that is not very challenging or ultimately even very satisfying.

All of this said, there is obviously a huge audience for Perry’s films, and they flocked to Madea Goes to Jail in droves. There’s something in these movies that attracts at the very least Perry’s target audience. But the best filmmakers, including the most popular ones, are those who don’t simply play to their built-in audience’s predilections, but who attempt to introduce those audiences to new ideas, concepts, and techniques. Perry has been playing it safe for too long, and that’s too bad, not only for the people who go to his films, but for this obviously extremely talented man himself.

Madea Goes to Jail Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Madea Goes to Jail arrives on Blu-ray with a generally fine looking AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. In fact the worst artifacting issue, and one of the only ones, happens right off the bat, so you can get it out of the way early. The opening credits feature a number of large fingerprint patterns which don't resolve correctly, shimmering slightly and in the worst cases devolving into moiré patterns. After that minor annoyance, things look very good to excellent throughout the rest of the film. This film is a bit darker than some of Perry's other work, and it could have benefited from slightly stronger contrast, but as it stands we have a nicely sharp and well detailed image with good grain texture and excellent color and saturation. Close-ups really reveal a wealth of fine detail, and while the overall color scheme here is fairly muted, when do get bright bursts of color, as in that sporty red convertible that meets its fate with Madea, things pop very nicely indeed. This isn't reference quality material by any stretch, but it does quite nicely within the confines of its own limited amibitions.

Madea Goes to Jail Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with so many Perry projects, Madea Goes to Jail began its life as a stage play, one which evidently used copious songs to augment its story. Perry ports over a wide variety of source music and his typically fairly nonstop underscore, and it's with those elements that the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix springs fitfully to life. Dialogue here is resolutely front and center, and in fact the surrounds are utilized mostly for the source cues, as well as the occasional large crowd scene. We do get a few bursts of LFE when Madea takes to her gun and also when she takes to a backhoe to dispatch a rude woman's behavior. This is not a flashy soundtrack, despite the pleasing use of music, but, much like the image quality, when taken within the confines of a quieter (at least when Madea's not on screen), dialogue driven film, the DTS track suffices perfectly well, with excellent fidelity and clarity.

Madea Goes to Jail Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A number of brief by the numbers supplements are included:

• Madea Is Back (SD; 6:48) gets us back in touch with our inner gun-totin' Grandma.
• Leroy 'Law' Brown (SD; 1:58) is a faux commerical featuring Madea's brother, sort of like those Ronnie Deutsch ads that run after Judge Judy episodes.
• Looking for the Big House (SD; 4:00) documents the filming at a real life Atlanta prison.
• You Have the Right to Remain Silent (SD; 3:57) offers a look at the big arrest scene, which included real life police and helicopters.
• Bringing in the Heavy Hitters (SD; 4:59) profiles the many cameo appearances which populate the film.
• Madea's Crazy (SD; 4:40) is a sort of fun look at the husky voiced female wrestling champ who portrays Big Sal, Madea's nemesis in the Big House.

Madea Goes to Jail Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tyler Perry is in desperate need of some sort of career intervention, despite what his burgeoning box office receipts might suggest. He obviously has incredible talent in a number of arenas, but he really needs someone to come into his inner circle who can give him a swift kick in the pants and get him out of his rut. This film, like so many other Perry opuses, simply has too many cartoonish elements built into its alternately slapstick and melodramatic fabric. If you're a Perry fan, you'll probably love this Blu-ray, which sports a decently sharp image and good audio quality. Otherwise, like any other sane person, you'll want to steer clear of Madea.