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Meet the Browns - quick review
Tyler Perry returns with a film that has some relation to his bread-n-butter character, Medea, albeit in a very limited way, but features Angela Bassett as Brenda Brown, a mother of 3 who just lost her job in Chicago and received a letter telling her that her father's funeral is in a few days. The letter also contained almost enough bus tickets for her and her children. Brenda didn't know her father, so the letter is somewhat of a shock and surprise, but event conspire to make the trip down south to Georgia.
Brenda's son Michael is a high school standout in basketball, and Rick Fox plays Harry, a former NBA player who now does some scouting of talent, and he meets Michael and his family on one of his recruiting trips, but the encounter is short and curt. Later when Brenda and her family are in Georgia, Harry shows up, and in coincidences of all coincidences, Harry is actually from the same area that Brenda is visiting for her father's funeral. Harry does his best to court Brenda, but she is very wary of relationships given her track record with men in her past.
Now that's most of the dramatic stuff, which is just tepid is most parts, and somewhat predictable, replete with Tyler Perry's pontificating that men need to stay home and support their children, and not run away from the situation. It's a common theme in many of his films.
What Tyler does well is show the support that broken families give one another in getting by when times are rough. The new family that Brenda is introduced to in Georgia is caring, funny, and also cynical in spots. When the film is funny, it's very funny, with David Mann's Leroy Brown (from previous Medea films) stealing every scene and providing hilarity when needed. Even Medea makes an appearance that sticks out like a sore thumb.
For the most part, the film is very uneven and sloppily written when it comes to the Brenda's family subplot, but I suspect most will be entertained by the Browns of Georgia, so it's hit or miss for most of its running time. But, the film does feature some great outtakes during the closing credits.
I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.
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