2 of 4

Helen (Kimberly Elise) takes her ex (Steve Harris) for a bit of a ride

Most characters don't get the chance to develop that much. For example, though Steve Harris plays a successful attorney as he did in the TV show The Practice, McCarter doesn't have the complexity of The Practice's Eugene Young. He's just the arrogant no-good husband we're supposed to hate, and he makes it easy. There's no hint about his motivation for treating his wife so badly for so long. As Helen mistreats him, he sits silently, occasionally crying comically. But he's paralyzed, not mute, and he hasn't held his tongue before. Why now? Tyson's Myrtle is an archetypal religious older woman, who, upon hearing about her daughter's situation, spouts a few platitudes about having "the strength God gave us women to survive" and "asking the Savior to help you," one day at a time (just before a chorus of "Yield Not to Temptation" is cued). None of these people are poor actors, but they are severely limited by the material. Characters frequently transform by way of sudden epiphany.

Thank goodness for Perry's Madea, who provides a sense of warm, sharp humor. Madea (whose name comes from the common merging of the words "My Dear" in reference to one's grandmother) stars in most of Perry's plays. The compassionate, cigarette-smoking, church-eschewing Madea calls things as she sees them and keeps the peace by brandishing an ever-ready pistol she packs in her worn black purse ("Peace be still? I got a piece of steel"). Perry plays her with warmth, affection and a lot of padding. When Madea learns about her granddaughter's situation, she heads to the McCarter home and leads Helen in a cathartic, hilariously destructive rampage, tearing up the mistresses' clothes, waving her gun at Charles and dividing their possessions—with a chainsaw.

Many viewers will be uncomfortable with Helen's romantic involvement with Orlando before her divorce is finalized, and although the voiceover diary entry makes it clear that they are not having sex, she sleeps at his apartment, which some will find inappropriate. There's some shaky theology that goes unexplored: for example, when Brian tells Helen that it's not good "to hold on to the things God is trying to tear apart" or when Myrtle reminds Helen that "God is a jealous God" after she confides that Charles was her whole life. Whether they mean what's implied (that maybe God destroyed the McCarter marriage, perhaps because Charles was Helen's "everything") isn't explored. It's careless at best, dangerous at worst.

Cicely Tyson plays the role of Myrtle

A little strange, too, is the retention of the play's original title for a broader audience. The play occasionally frames the McCarters' troubles as problems between a black woman and a black man. This doesn't really make much sense, because the story isn't an in-depth discussion of the implications being African-American might have for one's romantic relationships. After all, Helen isn't mad because she's black; she's angry because, well, her husband just threw her out of their house. Charles isn't a bad black man; he's a bad person.

Several elements of the play (for example, the voiceover diary entries and the schmaltzy music used to transition from scene to scene) don't always translate well to the big screen, but the story's end is both predictable and surprising, combining a series of very sweet, truly moving moments with a climactic, tear-inducing end and a little twist. It's a satisfying end, but it takes a lot of work—and a lot of suspended disbelief—to get there.

Talk About It

1. When a person is wounded by a divorce or the breakup of a dating relationship, how long should they wait before starting a new romantic relationship? How much of a role should a new relationship play in healing past wounds?
   
   
2. When she learns that Helen signed a prenuptial agreement giving Charles a financial advantage in the case of divorce, Madea tells Helen that women like her are "too busy out shopping when you should be looking at the [house] deed." What is the appropriate balance of trust and preventive self-protection in a Christian marriage?
   
   

next page... |  2 of 4

Related Elsewhere:

Catching the Spirit	Printer view
That's how rookie director Darren Grant describes part of the experience of filming Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which opened last week.