“Hellur”! Madea, the southern pistol-packing matriarch is back at it for Tyler Perry’s latest film, “A Madea: Homecoming.”
This time around, viewers can enjoy the wild yet lesson–packed antics of Madea welcoming her family home in celebration of her great-grandson Tim’s (Brandon Black) graduation from college – only buried family secrets threaten to ruin the homecoming.
Interestingly enough, just a few years ago we may not have seen the likes of the sassy southern grandmother grace our screens today. In 2018, Perry, the empire-building media mogul was ready to bid adieu to his iconic character Madea after his box-office hit “A Madea Family Funeral.”
Fast forward to March 2020: the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A frenzy of confusion. City-wide shutdowns. Unjust murders and lack of convictions, and most of all fear.
While Perry didn’t originally plan on moving forward with his infamous character and still says he “[doesn’t] know if she’s here to stay,” one thing he was certain of was that the world could use some humor in their lives.
“After the pandemic, the selection, the division, and social and civil unrest I wanted to do something that made us all laugh, Perry says. “My best tool in my toolbox to make us laugh is Madea so, it was a no-brainer to bring her out.”
A no-brainer indeed.
If there’s one thing Madea can do, it’s make an unforgettable entrance that will have you rolling on the floor laughing and simultaneously feel as if you’ve just been taught a valuable lesson.
“I wanted [Madea] to actually have something hard to say,” Perry says.
In reference to having Madea combine humor with hard-learned truths in his projects, Perry mentions that he “wanted to wrap comedy in it so that comedy could be the anesthetic and we could laugh but really leave thinking about some of the things she said.”
In short, it’s just the Madea way and as perry states, “that’s always been who she is.”
The blend of spiritual themes, the realities of life, and comedy is a mixture that Perry seems to have mastered quite well, and that isn’t lost on his audience either.
Amassing a total of 13 million followers combined on his Twitter and Instagram account, it’s become clear that Perry’s iconic character (among his other numerous box-office hit projects) is giving out exactly what they need to keep his fans tuned in.
“It’s been over two decades and they’re still coming, that for me is like, ‘woah,’ Perry says in awe.
It’s no doubt that audiences worldwide will keep coming to see Perry’s films, which do a superb job of addressing relatable, real-life events that occur in many families of all backgrounds – this is especially when it comes to “A Madea Homecoming.”
Viewers will find that “A Madea Homecoming” features its first-ever gay character in a Madea film in the form of Tim (Brandon Black), as he adjusts to life back home from college with his family.
In speaking at the purple carpet premiere recently in L.A., Black mentions that characters like his “exist in families, they’re in everybody’s family and we haven’t seen it yet,” and he’s “so happy to be the one to show it.”
Perry’s ability to tell stories that are relatable that many can find similarities is a reflection of his own life experiences.
“That’s how my life has been, Perry says about the Madea films.
“My whole life we go to church on Sunday, we deal with hell on Friday, Wednesday we’re laughing, Thursday we’re upset and crying about something so, it’s just art imitating life. Life imitating art. It’s the same moments that I had growing up that I just continue to write about. Those worlds are still rich and I still haven’t tapped the bottom of the well with all the stories that I have.”
As for Perry’s next story?
“I’m working on a Joe movie,” Perry says with a chuckle about the character he plays who happens to be Madea’s brother. “Joe take vegas. Yeah, Joe has got to have his own movie. I love that dude!”
Get into Tyler Perry’s, A Madea Homecoming today on Netflix!