Tyler Perry definitely speaks to a certain segment of the populace. He talks the language of parents frustrated, elders unheard, husbands and wives unhappy, and the saved struggling to keep the faith in an often godless world. Ever since he came on the scene, his combination of low comedy and high (melo)drama has favor within the always under-served African American populace. While never striving to stretch into the mainstream, he's always recognized a need to entertain as well as enlighten. Now, after 12 stage plays and 10 films, he's finally found the proper balance between manipulation and madcap humor. Madea's Big Happy Family is his first wholly realized dramedy, and like his last effort, For Colored Girls, speaks to a filmmaker finally growing comfortable within his creative skin.
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