“Don’t go gospel gangster on her baby!”
Meet the Browns the play was written by Tyler Perry, a one-man cottage industry in this series of plays/films, to highlight the hilarious Mr. Brown. What’s odd is that the Brown clan is pushed to the background and a new set of characters is given the forefront of the show (not that Mr. Brown isn’t highly visible with his deranged fashion sense).
Brenda (Angela Bassett) is a single mother living in inner city Chicago with her three kids and trying hard to make ends meet. On the way to work with her friend Cheryl (Sofia Vergara) she finds that the factory where she works is being moved to Mexico, on payday no less so that means no pay (in fact the owners are packing up and skeedaddling as the workers watch on the other side of a locked fence).
Things are now very dire for Brenda, but she gets a letter in the mail that her father as died. Since she’s never known who her father was, she’s not that depressed about his death, but decides to use the bus tickets in the envelope and head to Georgia for the funeral. There she meets the family she never knew she had.
She’s picked up at the bus stop by “Mr.” Brown (David Mann), who looks like a bad seventies exploitation film wardrobe truck exploded on him, and his daughter Cora (Tamela Mann).
Once they get to the house, no thanks to Brown’s crazy driving, they meet the rest of the Brown clan, L.B. (Frankie Faison), Brown’s brother, and the ex-baby of the family, since Brenda is much younger, the bombastic Vera (Jennifer Lewis).
Brenda also discovers that her son Michael’s (Lance Gross) basketball coach from Chicago, Harry (Rick Fox), also hails from the same town and knows the Brown family.
The Brown family is about as aware that Brenda is related to them as she knew that she had a daddy, that is until L.B. tells everyone since the deceased Mr. Brown confessed all his dalliances (and there were many!) before going to his reward including the existence of Brenda.
So now both families get to know each other, but when Brenda returns to Chicago she finds times even harder and has to again turn to her new family and finds that they might be the blessing that she never knew she had.
Tyler Perry is a corporation all to himself. In 2006 he parlayed a film based on his play that he made for 5.5 million called Diary of a Mad Black Woman into a mega-hit that made over 65 million.
Since then there’s been no stopping him, as his films tend to keep repeating that moneymaking trend. His latest is based on his play as well and was made to highlight the character of Brown as played by David Mann.
Mann was playing Brown on stage on one coast while Perry was playing “mad black woman” Madea on the other coast in Madea goes to Jail. When the time came to make Meet the Browns into a film Perry decided to put Brown a bit in the background (not that the nutty Brown would stay there) which seems a bit odd.
When you look at clips of the play on the special features you see that the play was mainly Mann’s. Now it seems that the movie focuses on Angela Bassett’s character and that might make some fans of the play wonder what’s going on a bit. Especially since Bassett’s storyline feels a bit too much like a Lifetime movie but she certainly has angels looking out for her.
I had to guffaw when a character is shot and the bullet miraculously misses every vital organ, as the ER doctor tells Bassett. The film can’t seem to decide whether it’s going to be a serious tale about the bad life in inner city Chicago or a full out comic assault by Mann. So the two halves don’t seem to gel together well.
I think I would’ve much preferred to see it more like what the play appeared to be than what the film turns out to be. There’s a short cameo by Madea (Tyler Perry in drag) that previews the events of the upcoming Madea in Jail film, but he’s mostly behind the camera for this outing.
This is my first time viewing one of Perry’s films and I did find it funny. I just wish he’d stuck more with the comedy that the play appears to have and not put so much drama in it.
Meet the Browns is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.78:1). Special features are all in high-def and include the 11 minute “Meet the Manns” that highlights David and Tamela who are married in real life but play father and daughter in Perry’s plays and films.
The 3-minute “Mr. Brown’s Fashion Breakdown” has David touring the wardrobe van of the fashion challenged Brown. The 7 minute “Angela and Rick: Meet the Lovebirds” looks at Bassett and Fox’s characters. The 5-minute “Music of Meet the Browns” looks at just that.
The 7-minute “The Browns are Born” has clips from the play and talks about the evolution of the character and play. The 5-minute “Jennifer Lewis Unleashed” sets down with the funny woman.
The 6 minute “Bakin’ it and Shakin’ it” has Mr. Brown showing you how to cook come good homecookin’. There are also some previews of other Lionsgate films, but they’re in standard definition.
A second disc has a downloadable copy of the film for your iPod, PC, or other portable device.
It’s too bad that the focus was taken off of them and put on some stock characters whose story feels a bit worn. The target audience will love it though. I just wished there was more meeting of the Browns than what we got.
Meet the Browns [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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