I have been intrigued with the career of Tyler Perry for several years now. (Several years ago I wrote an essay on faith and entertainment using him as an example). Despite frequent negative reviews, the playwright turned film director has scored a string of hits featuring melodramatic tales of the urban black community, frequently leavened by the slapstick antics of his signature character Madea, the pistol-packin’ senior citizen (played by Perry in drag). Perry’s stories, the most recent of which was his highest grossing film, Madea Goes to Jail, are steeped in issues of women’s abuse at the hands of men, the dysfuntions of the southern inner city and the cultural disjunctions between status-seeking successful African-Americans and those who draw their values from their Christian faith. It was a revelation to me when I attended my first Perry screening, Madea’s Family Reunion, the only white guy in the audience, heard the continuous laughter from the black attendees at the Madea’s broad comedic hijinks. There’s no question that Perry’s films are message movies, often with preachy dialogue and two-dimensional characters, but their box office success is explained by their unapologetic affirmations of traditional values like forgiveness and a guarantee of redemption.
Earlier this year, another film, with similar themes and situations was Not Easily Broken, based on the book by megachurch pastor T. D. Jakes who also produced it and who also has a small part in the drama. It clearly falls into the same genre of black domestic melodrama as Perry’s films, but has a significantly different tone and much improved directing and writing. But what it doesn’t have is Madea.
Dave Johnson (played by Morris Chestnut) drives an old van in his service business while his wife Clarice (Taraji P. Henson) is an ambitious real estate agent who keeps putting off having kids as she pursues the brass ring of financial success. But during an argument with Dave in their car, an accident injures Clarice and she must stop her upward progress, forcing both her and Dave to confront the weak foundation of their marriage. Directed by Bill Duke, a veteran actor and director with a script by Touched By An Angel writer Brian Bird, the film stays closer to conventional Hollywood dramatic form and style with actors allowed to present more realistic characterizations with little or no plot contrivances typical of Perry’s plots. The biblical message of marital love and commitment is more effective for being more understated. And Tyler Perry himself, ever the gracious man, said of it, “It’s a powerful movie.” But lacking the Tyler Perry brand, the $5 million film made just over $10 million. That’s not a failure by independent film standards, and I hope Jakes and company continue to make such films along other filmmakers who want to see faith included as part of screen stories that Perry’s success has helped pioneer.
