Pluskylang Great Film overall

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Steve Pulaski Meet the Browns is a tolerable albeit thoroughly bland effort by Tyler Perry, that manages to touch on sensitive, vital issues in the black community but also shortchange a great deal of those involved in the community into broad forgettable caricatures. Concerning the Brown family, as the title suggests, the film follows single-mother Brenda (Angela Bassett) living in Chicago with her oldest son Michael (Lance Gross) in high school and her two young daughters.One day, Brenda receives a death notice that states the father she has never met has died. Upon losing her job after the executives decide to pull the plug on her business's entire operation, Brenda packs up the kids and sets off for Georgia, quickly discovering the side of the family she never knew existed. Brenda is welcomed with open arms to meet a good-natured clan known as the Brown family, which also provide her with a release from Chicago's hectic environment and introduce her to the slower ways of Georgia.Meet the Browns is sufficient for both basic cable entertainment in addition to Tyler Perry's filmography, which always seems to find ways to incorporate more and more questionable film entries in there. If anything, the basic structure I just gave you is what the film manages to set up best; what it unfortunately does is squander relationships in the film in favor of too many pale and broad plotstrands that do nothing but muddle themes. There are various characters in Meet the Browns and they're all drawn very broadly, and their problems are never narrowed down to fit something that feels more human. Perry paints in broadstrokes here when he should be refining detail.Having said that, Meet the Browns does a nice job at telling us (or maybe reminding some) that there is a vicious cycle in the black community that is sad but true. It's the cycle of a teenager dropping out of school for momentary income to support a family but only getting wrapped up in a dirty, gritty business that seems to be trying to find new ways to kill you or finding themselves living paycheck-to-paycheck. This cycle is acknowledged when Michael, the ambitious basketball player who is in the middle of being hounded and recruited to college teams, offers to get a job while working in high school. Brenda, however, worries that his hours and paycheck will overshadow the importance of education and studies and he'll fall down this path of directionless behavior.When Perry finds underlying issues in the black community to bring up is when he's strong; when he's busy generalizing the community is when he's weak. Perry always seems to mean well but finds ways to dilute, skew, or completely contradict his own intended message and that has been his drawback from day one. However, with Meet the Browns, he hit a goldmine in terms of popularity, eventually incorporating the film's premise and characters into Perry's second sitcom, which went on to do solid numbers on Television. People obviously see things in Meet the Browns and its comedic/dramatic leverage that I have yet to find; wouldn't be the first time.Starring: Angela Bassett and Lance Gross. Directed by: Tyler Perry.

Benjamin Black As I said in my review for "Madea's Family Reunion: The Movie," I was really excited to see Brown in a movie. In March 2008, I finally got that chance! "Meet the Browns: The Movie" was released, exposing the world to the character Mr. Brown, hilariously played by David A. Mann! How did I like it? Well...I have to be honest, of all of the Tyler Perry movies at the time, this one felt like the weakest.Now, that's not to say this movie is bad at all! It's really good! For me, personally, there was just one thing holding this movie back from being as good as it could be. But, sadly, it's a big thing, one of the most important things you could have in any story: the exposition. We get the exposition of Brenda and her family: Brenda Brown lives in a poor, urban community in Chicago, Illinois. She has three children and works hard to take care of them all. She seeks help from Michael, Sr., the father of Brenda's oldest child, Michael, Jr. Michael, Sr. doesn't want anything to do with Brenda, his son, or Brenda's family. While we get to know Brenda and her story, we don't get to know Brown. Now, I know that sounds weird for all of us who are familiar with Tyler Perry's plays; we've seen Brown in, what, 5 of Tyler Perry's plays? He's famous to us! But that's the problem. What about the people coming to this movie who don't know who Brown is? The audience for Tyler Perry's productions began when he was touring his theatrical plays, but they grew when he began making movies. A lot of people have yet to meet Brown. Here, he's just being shown to the people who have been waiting for his film debut. Why is that a letdown? Because the jokes don't work here like they do in the play. In the play, we knew why it was funny Cora was both Madea and Brown's daughter; a gun-toting, pot-smoking granny once had a child with a religious, over the top deacon?! And on top of that, they've been quarreling for a long time and don't figure it out until years later? That's insanely hilarious! In the movie, we can't laugh at that because we don't know who Brown is. In the play, it's funny thinking a man like Brown comes from this type of family. In the movie, we don't know who he is, so we can't laugh at that. We get that he can't dress or talk, but those are just characteristics of this funny character. What about the man himself?Also, here's a nit-pick, what is Lamman Rucker doing in this movie? He has no reason to be here! Was it just to get us ready for the TV show? Something else that I've heard people talk about is that this movie is not spent enough on Brown or his family, it's about Brenda. Rather than meeting the Browns, we're looking at Brenda's story. Since I've heard from more than one person, maybe it's a problem. I always thought of it as Brenda being as low as she can go until she finds faith and hope by meeting the family she never knew about, the Browns. By meeting the Browns, she's able to get strength and courage back and stand on her feet again. That's what I got out of it. But I do understand where the other people are coming from. In Brown's first movie, I really would have liked to see a lot of him! The scenes he has is funny, but there aren't that many of them. For the most part, we're looking at Brenda and her family; it's a great dramatic story, but where's Brown? Or if Brenda is going to be here, even the dramatic scenes out with some comedy provided by Brown; I think this comedy-drama is more dramatic than comedic.I do have to say that what makes this film good is the realness of it. I know, I keep saying Tyler Perry's stories and characters are so very realistic, but that's because it's true! Listen to the way these characters talk, it's so life-like! When I was in the theater watching the scene where Brenda told Michael, Jr. not to hang out with his friend Calvin because he sold drugs, I stopped and turned to look at my own mother! Brenda talked exactly how my own mother would have talked to me and my siblings! This is what keeps me coming back: a production that displays life stories that we're often not able to see anywhere else. Where other productions include stereotypes just to have stereotypes or for the sake of a laugh, here we actually see characters - I'm sorry. Not characters, but people. Realistic people who we're used to seeing everyday. Only now, we see them on the big screen.Like I said, the movie is good. The story is really good; the characters are really good; the drama is good; the comedy is good. For me, I just wanted that exposition for the people who were seeing Brown for the first time. I'd highly recommend it, but only after you see Tyler Perry's other plays; productions like "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," "Madea's Family Reunion," "Madea's Class Reunion," "Meet the Browns," and "What's Done in the Dark." After you've seen those, take a look at this movie. BOOYIKA!

smooth_op_85 I give this film a 7 because as a fan of the plays, I really didn't get much of the story. Now, I watched it on YOUTUBE but the fact is that I've already seen this material so it's really like 'Great, you put a compilation of what you've already done just established more in the film' I feel that the family could have been highlighted a little more because of the fact of the Title Meet The Browns. I do feel as if this is not the worst that he's ever done, but it is one of the ones I would put down there with Diary Of A Mad Black Woman the Play.As far as Brown, I don't think that he should be in movies. I talked to one of my directors a while ago and she said that there is a world of difference between a movie actor and a stage actor. I am not in film but I do know that in a play there is a certain suspension of reality that is expected but in a movie, it is expected to be as real as possible while being fictional enough to entertain you. This movie kinda flirts between the two, Any of the playgoers you may see some of the interplay between the plays Meet The Browns and What's Done In The Dark. This is really not what I expected, also Angela Basset does a great job that I almost believe that she's a young woman though I think they should have cast a younger actress, I think that Kimberly Elise could have played this part very convincingly The film opens up with Brenda getting her 3 kids off to work and her sidekick Cheryl making sure the bus doesn't leave without her. She makes it. Then Brenda opens some mail to see that a Father she never knew died and that she's unemployed--talk about a bad day. She comes to her son's basketball game and he shows some promise (Michael) so much so that a recruiter tries to get Brenda to sign him up, she flat out refuses.She tries to bounce back when her lights get cut off and at one point a daycare woman played by the great Irma P Hall says 'I'm not gonna take your child in if you don't pay' but she makes a change of heart when she realizes what kind of woman she is.Needless to say she gets down to GA and gets a house. Now, there is a lot of wackiness but if you've seen the play you know what it is ad nauseum. So, the new part is the HO scene (Youtube: Meet The Browns 5). Funeral, Brown acts a fool, etc. then the house and it looks like it should be torn down, She goes back to Chicago and then suffers seeing her child get into selling dope when his Father doesn't want anything to do with him. He gets shot and is okay and ends up being a great basketball player while attending college.Back in GA, the house is now great and something comes to light about Rick Fox--he was a gambler and may only want to have Michael around for a pay load so he can pay them off, this is revealed to be unfounded as Rick paid them off. They make up and it's roses in GA, however, the one point that's left open is: Did Brenda get a job or does she depend on her child now? I mean, I wondered about this but Michael did say that he is going to take care of his Mom and Sisters I just thought that Brenda would get herself a good job in GA.This was my perspective on the movie. Overall it was nice but Tyler Perry needs to stop using the old material from his plays as he did with WHY DID I GET MARRIED AND DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN AS WELL AS MADEA'S FAMILY REUNION. Those were excellent and it didn't depend so much on the plays for its material.Thanks

theskulI42 Yes folks, Tyler Perry is back, with all the wifebeating, moralizing, home cookin' and inappropriate jokes about drugs and assault that his target audience (y'know, churchgoin' black folk) has come to expect and cherish (albeit with diminishing returns) from his films.Surprisingly here, he had a solid cast and a decent enough script that it could have been just as touching and funny as Madea's Family Reunion unexpectedly was, if he could just avoid the maudlin twists of melodrama, the manufactured strife that continually frustrated the film's otherwise successful attempts at ingratiation. Just when everything is going good, when you're touched even as the manipulation shows its seams, the find finds something to bring you down, be it a dredging of past, a miscommunication or even a preposterously-timed shooting, there's just something that makes you go, "Why?" Leave it be, it's working." The acting is not impeccable (that there's not a lot of subtlety or nuance involved in the proceedings goes without saying), but it has a charming down-home vibe to it; these characters feel lived in, even if they're obvious constructs. Tyler Perry's doppleganger Madea is featured on the cover and the menu screen, but really, other than a character attesting to being her daughter, Madea gets a whopping *one scene*, and it's completely, 100% superfluous to the story (she's getting chased by the cops while her flamboyant ex-husband watches on the local news), and at that, feels hideously tacked on.One point that intrigues me about the psyche of Tyler Perry, which, as stated in the Madea's review, is full-on for all to see, is his seeming distrust of full-blooded, dark-skinned black men. In all three films I've seen, the three major, romantically-involved, dark-skinned black male characters have been: a wifebeater, a wifebeater, and a man who threatens to beat his wife when she has the audacity to request long-overdue child support. While on the flipside, the women all find true love falling into the arms of genial, light-skinned black men of more caramel complexion, and I have to wonder if somewhere in his mind, there's some deep-seated rejection as the lighter skin is somehow "better", but he can't have her fall in love with a white man. Just something to think about.The film, like all of Perry's, is easy to watch and never becomes a chore, but where Diary of a Mad Black Woman was an ungainly monster that gave you whiplash in its genre shifts, and where Madea's Family Reunion managed to put it all together, Meet the Browns is situated right in the middle, with enough success to be pleasant, but enough mistakes to make you wish it was better.{Grade: 6.25/10 (high C+) / #19 (of 57) of 2008}