Madea's Family Reunion (DVD, 2006, Full Screen)

Tyler Perry is a handsome man of color who is so gifted as an actor, writer, and director of this film. The family reunion is not the mainline story of the movie: a young woman being physically and emotionally abused by a rich fiance' bully is.

Madea (Tyler Perry) is probably as conventional a sassy an "post menopausal" American black woman as can be characterized on the silver screen. Perry cross-dressed as Madea is so convincing that I don't even remember Madea is a man underneath the clothes and character.

She's flat out hysterically funny. Her husband is also a riot and too true to life, Perry is scripting them as quite typical for their age, class, culture, and situations.

If you've not seen a Madea movie, this is the one to view. You're really missing a work of art that sends amazingly real cultural and moral messages. In particular, Maya Angelou's and Cicely Tyson's performances are truly historical. Angelou's physical gestures are too rich in sarcasm and perfectly played. Her poetic self is true to her usual meticulous form. Cicely Tyson delivers the message of the movie with the finesse of one of the great actors. Her character is quite similar to Toni Morrison's "Baby Shug," in her Pulitzer prize winner, "Beloved."

The third and latest of Tyler Perry's Madea films is by far the best. I'm convinced that Madea could even straighten out the Middle East!