Meet the Browns 2008

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It's Tyler Perry's aesthetic in a nutshell: strong, suffering female protagonists, no-good men, clear-cut ethical quandaries, schizophrenic tonal shifts handled as gracefully as bumper-car collisions, and a complete absence of moral ambiguity. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Meet the Browns, the latest Tyler Perry film, has a good heart. But it's a mess of a movie. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: An adaptation of one of his stage plays, Meet the Browns gives off the distinct feeling that Perry is treading water or at the very least is content to satisfy his audience with the minimum. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The importance of faith, church, kin, staying off drugs, sharing food, repenting from sin, forgiving sinners, appreciating a good black man, rejecting a bad one, and honoring black matriarchy is enumerated with typical, reassuring Perry broadness. Read more

Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail: While Bassett's performance deserves a better forum than Perry can provide, she gives his latest movie a sense of dignity its predecessors lacked. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Meet the Browns is saddled with the usual quotient of phony snafus and entanglements that are easily untangled. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Eventually something's got to give, and the slapdash feel of Meet the Browns hints that [Perry] might need to give himself a break. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Whatever progress the man was making, Browns is a Madea-sized big fat step backward. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It'd be nice if [Perry] took more time to think about lighting and staging a scene -- but hey, he really doesn't have to. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Meet the Browns is packed with raucous dinner-table banter and broad double takes; sometimes the gags are funny, but usually they're just trying too hard. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: There are a few laughs and some touching moments, but nothing you couldn't get by watching episodes of Good Times and Little House on the Prairie back to back. Read more

Philip Marchand, Toronto Star: It would take a stony critic to dismiss entirely the movie's tribute to the virtues of perseverance and generosity. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns often plays more like Tyler Perry's Greatest Hits as it recycles various elements from the writer-director's earlier works. Read more

Aaron Hillis, Village Voice: Unlike Diary, the drama here is buoyant enough to handle the contrast of its too-silly slapstick. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: To appreciate Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, there's really only one requirement: Loosen up. Read more