Perry’s predilection for being a “one man band” most likely accounts for his film’s deficits. He not only wrote, directed, produced, and scored it, he also plays three characters (Madea, Uncle Joe, and Nephew Brian). His comedic characterization of Madea, a woman equally outlandish and believable, rises to genius level, but on all other counts Perry is in dire need of some collaboration.
The direction feels flat and plodding, and the characters suffer from the kind of underdevelopment that can, for some reason, go unnoticed on the stage (where Reunion debuted) but is glaringly obvious on film. However, where Reunion fails most is in its lack of focus.
So many plots and sub-plots trip over each other—we jump from one niece’s abusive relationship, to the other’s inability to love, to Madea’s attempts to straighten out a wayward foster girl, to the impending family reunion—that none receives proper attention.
Vanessa’s story needs a film of its own, so it’s a major letdown when she delivers one of the most romantic, tender monologues in recent cinematic history that we don’t know more about her or the man who inspired it.
Similarly, when Cicely Tyson and Maya Angelou make cameos to deliver sage advice to the gathered family (and, it appears, to the black community as a whole), their words sound a moving call away from arms. But it feels as though the script was written for the purpose of their speeches and not their speeches for the script.
It’s time for Tyler Perry to solicit some input from his film industry peers. Not so that they will undermine his fresh, funny and uniquely Christian vision that manages to touch audiences in spite of being presented in ungainly material, but so they will enhance it and provide it the setting it deserves.
The fact that Perry’s movies bring in impressive box-office numbers despite their shortcomings is yet more proof that audiences are clamoring for films that edify while they entertain.
After two bonafide hits with little financial backing (Family Reunion cost only $6 million compared to the supposedly low-budgeted Brokeback Mountain’s $14 million), maybe now Perry will finally get the Hollywood support he’s earned.