Is it Just me?

Am I the only one that didn't think that Tyler Perry's latest offering (Meet the Browns) wasn't all that great of a movie? It seemed to be about 30 minutes too long and had a certain after-school-special quality to it. Shoot...I daresay it was almost like a Singleton flick.

I'm not going to sit here and act like I didn't laugh more than a few times, but other times I was shaking my head and asking "Why?" First of all, the Madea scene had absolutely no place in the movie whatsoever. It wasn't necessary. It was funny enough that Madea's daughter was such a level headed and wholesome character in the movie. They should've left the funeral scene in and not relegated it to the outtakes during the credits.

It's nice that he keeps the same core group of actors for his movies, and that he keeps the underlying religious theme going, but it just seemed to be hastily put together and a little far-fetched. I mean really. At least when Morris Chestnut gets shot in Boys N The Hood, we know he's definitely not going to play any more football, or anything else. Singleton did get that part right, jerking at our heart strings and letting us feel the pain and sorrow of that dramatic moment as he dies in his brother's (Ice Cube) arms. Tyler has this kid going to the pros straight outta high school after he gets shot! And speaking of that, I didn't like that message either. Why couldn't Rick Fox have encouraged the kid to be about his books along with the ball?

Furthermore on ol' Rick. This sure wasn't the Oz, or even the He Got Game Rick Fox. He acted about as well as (allow me to duck and cover as all the ladies hurl bricks and yell HATER at me) Morris Chestnut does in his roles. Maybe it was just one of those things, like during his playing days when you can sometimes slip into "playing down" to the level of the competition. It wasn't like this movie had Oscar potential, but you would think that Angela Bassett could've carried it. I mean, sista-girl has been Oscar nominated. She was better in Vampire in Brooklyn than she was in this. I'm sorry. I just can't get behind this one. I laughed a little bit, but I just wish that I had those 2 hours of my life back.

Another funny thing is that this movie came highly recommended from a friend of mine at church. In fact, he even said that I could take my kids and that its a good family movie. I think not. Sadly, more people probably saw this movie than saw The Great Debaters. Why, black people...why!?? Why can't we support good projects sometimes instead of always going to see the mindless dribble. (No pun intended).