Madea Goes to Jail 2009

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Crowd-pleasing African-American filmmaker Tyler Perry has been heralded as an entrepreneur, a populist, and an expert on the wants of female audiences, but none of that would have been possible if he weren't also an expert drag performer. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Perry's playing-to-the-cheap-seats drag shenanigans hijack a morose street melodrama every 15 minutes and haul it into places even Flavor Flav fears to tread. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Perry brings his own sensibility to every movie he makes and has enjoyed great success by following his own path. But he leaves you wanting more. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The women's prison dramedy I wanted never really happens. Read more

Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times: If the movie is a mess, it's a purposeful mess, cannily, if not artfully, pushing all the right buttons to ensure Perry will be back for another round. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Tyler Perry's latest soul operetta lives up to the mischief promised by its title. But that isn't nearly enough of the time. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Adapting his own play, Perry has pared the plot way back while giving his law-breaking matriarch more room to run free. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The best parts of Madea Goes to Jail are the title character's motormouthed harangues. The rest of it is a fairly clumsy tale of sin and redemption. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: As an alternative to the Hollywood mainstream, which doesn't provide many good roles for African-American actors, Perry's movies are at least a stopgap solution. It's just too bad they're not better. Read more

Monika Fabian, Time Out: Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: The law of diminishing returns catches up with the mega-successful multihyphenate in this wildly uneven effort. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: As ridiculous as his films frequently are, Perry, a shrewd yet benevolent showman, knows and loves his audience. Read more