A Madea Family Funeral

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

A joyous family reunion becomes a hilarious nightmare as Madea and the crew travel to backwoods Georgia, where they find themselves unexpectedly planning a funeral that might unveil unsavoury family secrets.

WHAT WE THOUGHT: 

After finding out that A Madea Family Funeral would be the final movie released by Tyler Perry under his Madea franchise, I buckled myself up for one last wild ride with this crazy character. 

The 11th in the franchise, the film follows Madea and other favourites like her brother Joe and nephew Brian (all played by Tyler Perry) as they take a trip to their upscale relatives Anthony (Derek Morgan) and Vianne (Jen Harper) to help celebrate their anniversary. 

Joy quickly turns to tragedy when Anthony succumbs to a heart-attack at the hands of one of his many mistresses during a sexual encounter. The same mistress also turns out to be a close family friend (dun, dun, dun!).

The death sees the seemingly perfect family begin to unravel as everyone’s secrets slowly start coming to light. All of this craziness ensues as they try to plan a funeral with Madea at the helm. 

If you’re a fan of this franchise, then you should find this movie enjoyable. I’ve always been impartial to the character, but having seen a few other Madea movies, I must say I was hoping that the franchise would go out with a bang.

The film followed the sequence of pretty much every Madea movie I’ve seen – there’s cheating, couples who just cannot seem to get it together, inappropriate family members who say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and towards the end, it all comes together in a heart-tugging scene where someone gives a powerful speech while holding back tears. 

While the formula is one that has worked for Perry for a number of years, it was not quite the curtain call that I was hoping for.

But if you’re someone who just cannot get enough of Madea and her antics, then this one will still be a fun watch.