Madea's Witness Protection (2012)

Madea's witness protection was pretty funny in some scenes. But then in others I found myself wishing it would just move along and get on with it. So I sort of have mixed feelings about the film as a whole. It's funny at times, but then dull other times. So basically it has a good and bad side to it. The acting was good, no bad acting here. The dialogue and script was pretty good as well. Not really gonna suggest it, but I'm not necessarily saying don't see it. You'll just have to decide for yourself. There are funny jokes and funny goings on that do occur in the film. 6/10 for madeas witness protection. I hope you enjoy it a little more than I did. This is the only madea film I've seen, so maybe I need to go see some more of them and review them, hopefully I'll enjoy them a little more.

I was amazed when I saw the trailer for this film and the cast came up! Eugene Levy! Doris Roberts! Romeo Miller! Tom Arnold! John Amos! Marla Gibbs! WOW! That was amazing! I saw the movie on DVD, and I was very impressed! This is a totally different take for Tyler Perry, and for a Madea movie! It was pretty good! I really like this movie! This is the first straight comedy by Tyler Perry, and this movie is funny! The Needleman family find themselves victims of a Ponzi scheme, and they have to stay undercover in the most unlikely place where anyone would find them: Madea's house. A White Jewish family now has to stay with Madea and Joe for a while. That alone is hilarious! While that's going on, we see a subplot where the matriarch of the Needleman family, Barbara, had a rendezvous with Joe many years ago, and now Joe may be George Needleman's father. I love this subplot! It is funny as all get out! You can't imagine the jokes that come out of this situation! It's really good! On top of that, it has a nice moral about valuing your family. The lesson is different here in the sense that it's something you just have to take. No one really says anything about it. My sister keeps complaining that she doesn't see a moral here; I can see why she says that, but in all truthfulness there is a moral in this movie.I would be lying if I said there isn't anything in this film I dislike. There are 3 things that really bother me in this movie. First of all, Romeo can't act. I'm sorry. I really like Romeo! He's such a positive person, and I love the work he and his father does to promote education and positivity in the hip-hop culture...but the man can't act. I didn't even think he could act back when he had his own show on Nickelodeon all those years ago. Secondly, WHERE WAS MARLA GIBBS IN THIS MOVIE?!? I was really excited to see her, and she was on screen for 30 seconds! WHAT?!? This bothers me because Marla Gibbs is a legend! She's paved the way for so many people, and she's done so much in the entertainment business! And, besides, she's in a Madea movie! The two are really funny - could you imagine the possibilities of those two together? But no, she has that quick moment as Madea and the children leave for school. But, oh wait, there's one other moment we see her again: at the end when there's a shot of the congregation in church. She's standing in the front row. But you wouldn't know she's there unless someone told you! WHERE'S THE REST OF HER?!? Why cut all her scenes out?! OK, here's my last problem with the movie: I think that the entire has a pretty good pace and runs pretty smoothly...until the last fifth of the film. From the time Madea gets dressed to the time George meets with Brian in his office, it moves pretty slowly. We see every event that takes place with the characters: they go through airport security, they get on the plane, they fly to New York, they go to their hotel room, they drive to where Madea's supposed to get the money - it's just way too slow! There are some funny moments that come out of some of these scenes, but they do move pretty slowly.On top of that, I think the element of using the "Ghost" movie is kind of a cop-out. I liked where the story had led us to, but then its way out of the situation comes through another movie. And with that, the ending isn't as suspenseful as I was hoping it would be. I would have accepted the slower pace if it was leading up to something suspenseful. Madea spends hours in the office getting this money, and she asks for the 13 accounts instead of the 12...but it's not suspenseful. She goes in, and she comes out. The deed is done, and we move on to the resolution of the movie. Yeah, I wish it was so much more than that.Those are my only problems with the movie. But, despite those things, I still love this movie. The stuff that's good outweighs the stuff that doesn't work. It's new, it's different, and it's funny! I really enjoy this movie! I enjoy it, and you should too! BOOYIKA!

Tyler Perry took the film industry by storm when he introduced Madea in his first film Diary of a Man Black Woman. The stories were always filled with comedy, but surrounded by an emotional story that made them so much more. Over time, the idea stayed intact, but Madea has stepped more into the forefront and they have been losing their serious side. With the latest Madea's Witness Protection it seemed to be another with more comedy than drama, but with an all-new twist taking this story outside the norm with the introduction of a white family into Madea's world.Madea's Witness Protection follows an investment banker who is caught up in a Ponzi scheme to take the fall for the Wall Street firm he works for. In exchange for a lighter sentence he decides to work with the District Attorney's office and is put into witness protection in the home of Madea, the District Attorneys aunt. This is probably one of the weakest of all the Perry movies to date. While it's not horrible, it has almost completely lost all of the dramatic aspect that made these movies so effective. There are a few aspects for this family to grow, but it's played up more on the comedy side instead of the usually powerful drama. The cast is fine with the direction of the film, but really the only truly funny moments are that of Madea and Joe both played by Perry himself. They are the kind of characters that if you like them are really funny if you don't then the entire film falls flat. The story is fine even though the reasoning for them being there is a bit far-fetched, but if you can let that go the movie is pretty fun.In the bigger picture you are either a Perry fan or not. If you like his films then you will enjoy this one despite the lack of the drama; if you don't then you will most likely not see it anyway. The Madea character is one that has become one of those characters that fans love and others are annoyed by. No matter what you feel of the character or these films you cannot deny Perry's ability as a filmmaker and his creativity on bringing her back to the big screen. This is probably not her last appearance, but let's hope he heads back to his roots to find the passion and drama to team up with the comedy to deliver another powerful movie like the one that started it all.

The beginning of this movie started really slow, and although I only paid $5 to see it, I was a little concerned. Tyler Perry's last movie ("Madea's Big Happy Family") wasn't good at all, but I have enjoyed all of his plays so whenever he releases a movie, I never quite know what to make of it. His plays always seem to outshine his movies. With that said, this one was a delight after you got over the hump, and that's mainly because I got to see more of Joe.Most folks love Madea (and I have a couple of relatives who act like her, one in particular -- especially on the plane ride -- comes to mind), but I am smitten with Joe, Madea's brother. He's a mix of perverted, comical, cool, mean and charming. Now I know some Madeas, but I know a lot more Joes, and if you don't know any, stroll into a barbershop and hang around. You'll meet one. Joe stole the entire movie for me, especially with "My baby mama went left." The basic plot of the movie is a guy named George Needleman (played by Eugene Levy) gets caught up in a Ponzi scheme and finds out that he's about to be in some serious trouble with the mob and charities if he gets mixed up in their money. Tyler Perry's character Brian plays the lawyer that's over the case and is told to hide George's family. Now I knew Levy was funny in "American Pie," but he didn't have a thing on Doris Roberts' character Barbara (who plays George's senile mother). A Betty Boop tattoo leads to a hilarious connection between Joe and Barbara, and I honestly just waited to see scenes with those two together. That is, when she wasn't randomly shouting "negros" when she meant "negro spirituals." I know this movie sounds slapstick, and if anybody else had made it, I wouldn't have given the film a chance but I think Tyler Perry's scripts are almost always funny, even the more controversial jokes. And he always knows how to bring out the funny in other people.Cindy (played by Danielle Campbell) played the usual bratty teenage girl that Madea wanted to check. Personally I felt like she could've been left out of the movie altogether and just make room for Howie (played by Devan Leos) solely because of his "connection" to Joe. Of course there were the moments when characters used slang to try to be funny, but I had a big eye roll for that considering how predictable it is.The rest of the movie is about the adults trying to crack the Ponzi scheme case, but I just kept wiping tears out of my eyes every time Barbara or Joe made an appearance. This movie was much funnier than I expected it to be because of those two. Kudos to Tyler Perry and cast!