Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (Lionsgate)
Tyler Perry makes critics seem unnecessary. That's not easy to admit but it's true. Since his first theatrical film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman back in 2005, he has proven that he doesn't need coverage from the mainstream -- and mostly white -- media in order for his films to do well. His recent films -- Daddy's Little Girls, Why Did I Get Married? and the new Meet the Browns (opening March 21 in limited released in San Diego) -- did not even screen for the press here in San Diego and in a number of other cities. Yet Perry's films do well, exceedingly well, at the box office. Perry, who gained fame and fortune on the urban theater circuit, has smartly built a large and loyal African American following. It's an audience that mainstream Hollywood rarely caters to directly. But Perry knows that community well having accumulated hit after hit, first on stage, then on direct-to-video, and now on the big screen. While it's not nice to feel unnecessary, there's something I genuinely admire about the way Perry repeatedly bucks the establishment to make exactly the kind of films he wants. His films often take wild emotional swings moving from broad comedy (mostly with the hilarious Aunt Madea that Perry himself plays) to family drama to questions of faith and religion. His latest film has attracted the talented Angela Bassett and the former Lakers star Rick Fox. Meet the Browns concerns a single mom (Bassett) who falls upon hard times and ends up taking her family to Georgia for the funeral of a father she never knew. Once there she gets introduced to her raucous new family. I'll have to catch up with this film after it opens, and I'll have to wait and see if Perry can continue his streak of box office scores. But since his major competition at the box office this weekend -- Drillbit Taylor and Shutter -- don't have a single African American character, you can bet he has a good chance of scoring big with his fan base. Perry's success outside the traditional Hollywood system is inspiring, even if it might make what I do obsolete.
Companion viewing: Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Woman Thou Art Loosed, This Christmas &
