Madea Goes to Jail
Encyclopedia
Madea Goes to Jail is a 2009 comedy-drama
film adaptation
written and directed by Tyler Perry
, which was based on Perry's 2006 play of the same name. The play and the film deal with Perry's recurring character Madea Simmons going to jail for her uncontrollable anger management
problems. The play starred Tyler Perry
as Madea, Cassi Davis
as Ella Kincaid and Cheryl Pepsii Riley
as Wanda.
) in front of Judge Mablean
, her trial is short-lived because the police officers did not mirandize Madea causing the judge to place Madea in an anger management
course. After the trial, Brian (Tyler Perry) drives Madea, Mr. Brown (David Mann
), and Madea's daughter Cora (Tamela Mann
) back home from the court. After returning home, Madea finds a party taking place in her house by her brother, Joe (Tyler Perry). Madea uses a machine gun to scare the party goers away. Meanwhile, assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke
) is on the fast track to career success. But, Hardaway lands a case too personal to handle - prosecuting a young prostitute and drug addict, Candace Washington (Keshia Knight Pulliam), whom he is already acquainted with. Hardaway asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Davis (Ion Overman
) to fill in on his behalf. But when Josh takes Candy out to eat and gives her his card in case she needed any help, Linda fears Josh may be cheating on her. Linda doesn't want Josh spending time with Candy, threatening to leave Josh and telling him he shouldn't be helping people like Candace. Linda believes Josh should only socialize with upper-class people.
In the car, Cora, who is driving, told Madea about her anger management resolutions. During the middle of the conversation, a Cadillac CTS
cuts ahead of them. After both of vehicles cross the intersection, Madea smashes her daughter's Chevrolet Uplander
into the car ahead, causing it to deviate sharply to the right into the church site. At Dr. Phil's office, Madea consults with him for anger management course, but the consultation came to a bad ending when Madea answered a question with a same question he asked. Back in Madea's house, Madea called Cora to talk about sitting in the beauty salon
for over 5 hours. While on the phone, Cora asks for some time with herself, causing Madea to get angrier than before. After Madea hung up the phone, Joe warned her that she will get into trouble if she go to the store, but Madea ignores him and goes anyway. After another incident occurs at a K-mart store involving Madea fork lifting a Pontiac Solstice
that took her parking space, Madea gets away from the store as the woman calls her husband, who is a cop, about the incident that Madea had caused. A couple of hours after Madea ruined the woman's car with the forklift, the SWAT
team is dispatched to Madea's house and they arrest her. Madea returns to court with Judge Mathis
presiding over her case. After he discovered that Madea had a dangerous record, he finally sentenced Madea to prison
for 5 to 10 years. Outside the court house, Ellen (Viola Davis
) asks Joshua how he knows Candace. He tells Ellen that they were close friends from childhood through college, until one night when he took her to a party. He accidentally ended up leaving Candace behind at the party, where a group of his friends gang raped her, causing Joshua to feel heavily sorry for his mistake. Joshua asks Ellen if she could try to help Candace out. She agrees and gets her a job interview in which the interviewer sexually harassed her and she ends up kicking him in the groin and storming out his office.
At the district attorney's office, Joshua's friend, Chuck (RonReaco Lee
), another lawyer, runs into Linda, whom he discovers is falsifying Candace's file to deliberately get her sent to jail, and apparently has been doing this with other defendants as well, including Madea and Candace's friend Donna. Linda tells him to keep his mouth shut or she'll tell the head ADA that Chuck cheated on his bar exam to get his job.
Candace runs away from Josh's apartment and is back on the streets working as a prostitute until she gets picked up by an undercover cop. When Candace ends up in jail, she discovers Donna (Vanessa Ferlito
) and Madea are in jail. While in jail, Madea befriends Candace, protecting her in a "motherly" way, and fights with Big Sal (Robin Coleman
) who always flirting with and sexually harassing Candace. Candace, Madea, and Donna all attend a class taught by Ellen at the jail, mostly to get time off of their sentences.
On Joshua's wedding day, Chuck, who is Joshua's best man at the wedding, tells Joshua that Linda had falsified Candace's file to get her sent to jail and away from Joshua. During the wedding ceremony, Joshua tells the entire congregation with their boss in attendance what Linda did. Josh leaves Linda at the altar while still in his wedding tuxedo. He then rushes to the jail where he kisses Candace and admits that he loves her. Because of the now-revealed news of Linda's tampering with client files, there is a public outcry and a protest movement gains momentum to set Madea, Candace, and the others free. Candace, Madea, and some other women that Linda prosecuted have their convictions overturned and are released, and it is revealed that Linda will go to jail for her crimes. Madea goes home with Mr. Brown, Cora, and Brian along with Candace going home with Joshua.
reported that 28% of critics gave positive reviews based on 42 reviews with an average score of 4.9/10. Another review aggretator, Metacritic
gave the film a 50 approval rating out of 100 rating.
Sam Adams of the Chicago Tribune
gave the film 2.5/4 stars and wrote that "if the movie is a mess, it's a purposeful mess, cannily, if not artfully, pushing all the right buttons to ensure Perry will be back for another round."
According to a New York Times review, the film gives Madea herself a much more central role than some of the previous Madea movies, in some of which she is merely a commentator on events.
The Boston Globe reports that "(Madea's) character epitomizes Perry's ongoing commitment to dramatizing as many rungs on the ladder of the black experience as he can. His aim never produces a completely satisfying or consistently competent-looking movie (his heart's in the right place, if not his camerawork)."
in November 2008. It broke Madea's Family Reunion
weekend gross at $30 million as the highest weekend gross for a Tyler Perry film. It broke Saw III
s record at $33 million for the highest weekend gross for Lionsgate Entertainment. "We were cautiously optimistic we could do 30-plus," Steve Rothenberg said. On its second weekend, it dropped 61 percent, but remained at #1 grossing another $16,175,926 (2,052 theaters, $7,883 average), bringing the 10-day gross to $64,525,548. The film closed on April 23, 2009 with a final domestic gross of $90,508,336.
.
Madea Goes to Jail was released on June 16, 2009 on DVD
. According to DVDTown, the DVD included six behind-the-scenes featurettes. No Blu-ray
version was released. As of July 12, 2009, 1,125,422 DVD units have been sold, gathering revenue of $18,223,621.
", "Madea's Family Reunion
", and "Madea's Class Reunion
" then it shows Madea being chased by cops. When the play officially begins, we see Vanessa, a woman with a nasty temper and treats her husband, the child of Madea's deceased sister, Irene, Sonny Andrews, who works two jobs to pay Vanessa's way through school and take care of their child. Then, Ella Kincaid , Madea's best friend and her next door neighbor, enters the house and asks for Madea (Tyler Perry), who unknown to her, Vanessa, and Sonny, was arrested at Conia's for not paying for her gas. Sonny, from upstairs, is constantly asking Vanessa about her shirt while she is trying to study for a big exam at school, Ella helps her find it and Vanessa becomes "trifling", not wanting to iron the shirt for him. Vanessa later gets upset when Sonny asks her to cook breakfast for him (she even gets a temper with her own child, who was obviously asleep). Ella explains that Vanessa needs to learn the proper way to treat a man, even though she herself doesn't have a man. Later, Sonny, who came down the stairs shirtless noticed Ella was staring at his chest, as she saw a cross, as he was potting his shirt on. Later, Nate, who is also Sonny's Jamaican boss, shows up later and offers to drive Sonny to work. Later, Vanessa gets a temper with Sonny (because he kept asking her where his shirt was), Ella (because she wouldn't go home after she told her Madea' wasn't here), and Nate (because she didn't know why he was here), claiming that they were driving her crazy and they need to leave her alone, later Sonny offers to make it up to Vanessa, and he and Nate leave. Then, thanks to a phone call, we find out that Madea is in jail (in other words, the police got her).
Meanwhile, at the jail, we see Sonny getting ready for work where he sees long time friend, Wanda, who is now the head Defense Attorney at the prison and she and Sonny had a bet on a game and she won and he never paid up, because Wanda and Sonny quit calling each other (Wanda stopped calling Sonny because she was making a lot of money and Sonny quit calling her because he started going out with Vanessa), Wanda wanted to know what ever happened to Vanessa and Leo (LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis's husband, who appeared in Tyler Perry's House of Payne as Curtis Payne) revealed that he married her, Wanda later explained about she and her husband got divorced 3 years ago, but it was okay because she got saved and he wanted to be free, so she freed him. After Wanda left, Leo explained that all the ladies, except Madea, were all calm. Madea, later, came in the jail after being left in the yard and tells Sonny that Leo was trying to rape her. She tells Sonny about the conya's incident, and about the envolope that has enough money for her bail that is written "Seal-it, Pasta Pead-it" and he go gets the envolope to pay for her bail. She later meets Chico, a woman with 3 boys (one in jail, one "strung out", and one dead) that she didn't care about and they didn't care about her and with no hope, and Katie (Judy Peterson, who appeared in Madea's Class Reunion as Cora's friend, Diana) who has been in jail for nine years because of her ex-husband (Ron Andrews), who is a pimp that tried to hurt his and Katie's daughter (Anndretta Lyle) and Katie stabbed him, but now that since she's in jail, her daughter has been continuously jumping from foster home to foster home. Katie's daughter, Toni, comes to visit and is shown to have a nasty attitude and when she gets one with Madea, she stabs her with her cigarette. Ella comes by and right after Toni leaves, she, Madea, and Katie play a game of cards. Later, we see Jeremy and Katie's ex-husband,Pete the Pimp, and after bail is made for Madea she decides to take care of Toni until Katie gets out of jail.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
written and directed by Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
, which was based on Perry's 2006 play of the same name. The play and the film deal with Perry's recurring character Madea Simmons going to jail for her uncontrollable anger management
Anger management
The term anger management commonly refers to a system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger & aggression can control or reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state...
problems. The play starred Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
as Madea, Cassi Davis
Cassi Davis
Cassandra "Cassi" Davis is an American actress. She is mostly known for her role as Ella Payne in Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Davis has done extensive work with director and writer Tyler Perry, and has played many roles in his various productions...
as Ella Kincaid and Cheryl Pepsii Riley
Cheryl Pepsii Riley
Cheryl "Pepsii" Riley-Grace is an American R&B/gospel singer and actress, best known for her 1988 ballad, "Thanks for My Child."-Life and career:Cheryl Riley was born in Brooklyn, New York...
as Wanda.
Plot
After a high-speed freeway chase (as seen in Meet the Browns) puts Mabel "Madea" Simmons (Tyler PerryTyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
) in front of Judge Mablean
Mablean Ephriam
Mablean Deloris Ephriam, Esq. served as the judge on the courtroom series, Divorce Court from 1999 to 2006. She was replaced by Judge Lynn Toler....
, her trial is short-lived because the police officers did not mirandize Madea causing the judge to place Madea in an anger management
Anger management
The term anger management commonly refers to a system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger & aggression can control or reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state...
course. After the trial, Brian (Tyler Perry) drives Madea, Mr. Brown (David Mann
David Mann
David Mann is the name of:*David Mann , American stage actor*David Mann , British molecular biologist at Imperial College London*David Mann , American artist...
), and Madea's daughter Cora (Tamela Mann
Tamela Mann
Tamela J. Mann is an American actress and gospel singer, known for her role as Cora in Tyler Perry's plays, including I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, Madea's Class Reunion, Meet the Browns, and What's Done in the Dark...
) back home from the court. After returning home, Madea finds a party taking place in her house by her brother, Joe (Tyler Perry). Madea uses a machine gun to scare the party goers away. Meanwhile, assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke
Derek Luke
Derek Luke is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher, directed and produced by Denzel Washington.-Early life:...
) is on the fast track to career success. But, Hardaway lands a case too personal to handle - prosecuting a young prostitute and drug addict, Candace Washington (Keshia Knight Pulliam), whom he is already acquainted with. Hardaway asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Davis (Ion Overman
Ion Overman
-Life and career:Overman and made her acting debut in the 1995 movie The Walking Dead. In 2000, she was cast as Gabriela Garza in the daytime soap opera General Hospital, a character who also appeared in the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles...
) to fill in on his behalf. But when Josh takes Candy out to eat and gives her his card in case she needed any help, Linda fears Josh may be cheating on her. Linda doesn't want Josh spending time with Candy, threatening to leave Josh and telling him he shouldn't be helping people like Candace. Linda believes Josh should only socialize with upper-class people.
In the car, Cora, who is driving, told Madea about her anger management resolutions. During the middle of the conversation, a Cadillac CTS
Cadillac CTS
The Cadillac CTS is a mid-size car manufactured by the Cadillac marque of General Motors currently available in three body styles: Sedan, Coupe, and Sport Wagon. It was introduced in 2002 as a sports sedan, replacing the Cadillac Catera. The CTS and the supercharged CTS-V variant have been named...
cuts ahead of them. After both of vehicles cross the intersection, Madea smashes her daughter's Chevrolet Uplander
Chevrolet Uplander
The Chevrolet Uplander is a minivan produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. It replaced the Venture and Astro. Although introduced for the 2005 model year, it overlapped with the final model years of the Venture and Astro. It was built on the same platform as the Saturn Relay, Buick...
into the car ahead, causing it to deviate sharply to the right into the church site. At Dr. Phil's office, Madea consults with him for anger management course, but the consultation came to a bad ending when Madea answered a question with a same question he asked. Back in Madea's house, Madea called Cora to talk about sitting in the beauty salon
Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for men and women...
for over 5 hours. While on the phone, Cora asks for some time with herself, causing Madea to get angrier than before. After Madea hung up the phone, Joe warned her that she will get into trouble if she go to the store, but Madea ignores him and goes anyway. After another incident occurs at a K-mart store involving Madea fork lifting a Pontiac Solstice
Pontiac Solstice
The Pontiac Solstice is a small sports car from the Pontiac division of General Motors. Introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, the Solstice roadster began production in Wilmington, Delaware, starting in mid-2005 for the 2006 model year. The exterior styling of the...
that took her parking space, Madea gets away from the store as the woman calls her husband, who is a cop, about the incident that Madea had caused. A couple of hours after Madea ruined the woman's car with the forklift, the SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
team is dispatched to Madea's house and they arrest her. Madea returns to court with Judge Mathis
Greg Mathis
Greg Mathis is a retired Michigan 36th District Court judge and syndicated television show judge. His show Judge Mathis is produced by Telepictures Productions, and distributed by Warner Brothers. It is seen five days a week in most television markets in North America...
presiding over her case. After he discovered that Madea had a dangerous record, he finally sentenced Madea to prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for 5 to 10 years. Outside the court house, Ellen (Viola Davis
Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
) asks Joshua how he knows Candace. He tells Ellen that they were close friends from childhood through college, until one night when he took her to a party. He accidentally ended up leaving Candace behind at the party, where a group of his friends gang raped her, causing Joshua to feel heavily sorry for his mistake. Joshua asks Ellen if she could try to help Candace out. She agrees and gets her a job interview in which the interviewer sexually harassed her and she ends up kicking him in the groin and storming out his office.
At the district attorney's office, Joshua's friend, Chuck (RonReaco Lee
RonReaco Lee
RonReaco Lee is an American television and film actor.-Television:Lee began his acting career in 1983 as the host of the short-lived television show Kids Beat...
), another lawyer, runs into Linda, whom he discovers is falsifying Candace's file to deliberately get her sent to jail, and apparently has been doing this with other defendants as well, including Madea and Candace's friend Donna. Linda tells him to keep his mouth shut or she'll tell the head ADA that Chuck cheated on his bar exam to get his job.
Candace runs away from Josh's apartment and is back on the streets working as a prostitute until she gets picked up by an undercover cop. When Candace ends up in jail, she discovers Donna (Vanessa Ferlito
Vanessa Ferlito
-Personal life:An Italian American, Ferlito was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father died when she was three. Her mother and stepfather own a hair salon in Brooklyn...
) and Madea are in jail. While in jail, Madea befriends Candace, protecting her in a "motherly" way, and fights with Big Sal (Robin Coleman
Robin Coleman
Robin Coleman is an American actress with backgrounds in figure competition, rowing, professional strongwoman, and former female bodybuilder....
) who always flirting with and sexually harassing Candace. Candace, Madea, and Donna all attend a class taught by Ellen at the jail, mostly to get time off of their sentences.
On Joshua's wedding day, Chuck, who is Joshua's best man at the wedding, tells Joshua that Linda had falsified Candace's file to get her sent to jail and away from Joshua. During the wedding ceremony, Joshua tells the entire congregation with their boss in attendance what Linda did. Josh leaves Linda at the altar while still in his wedding tuxedo. He then rushes to the jail where he kisses Candace and admits that he loves her. Because of the now-revealed news of Linda's tampering with client files, there is a public outcry and a protest movement gains momentum to set Madea, Candace, and the others free. Candace, Madea, and some other women that Linda prosecuted have their convictions overturned and are released, and it is revealed that Linda will go to jail for her crimes. Madea goes home with Mr. Brown, Cora, and Brian along with Candace going home with Joshua.
Cast
- Tyler PerryTyler PerryTyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
as Madea / Joe / Brian - Derek LukeDerek LukeDerek Luke is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher, directed and produced by Denzel Washington.-Early life:...
as Joshua Hardaway - Keshia Knight PulliamKeshia Knight PulliamKeshia Knight Pulliam is an American actress. She is most recognized for her childhood role as Rudy Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Currently, she appears as reformed con artist Miranda Lucas-Payne on the TBS comedy-drama Tyler Perry's House of Payne.-Personal life:Keshia...
as Candace "Candy" Washington-Collins - Tamela MannTamela MannTamela J. Mann is an American actress and gospel singer, known for her role as Cora in Tyler Perry's plays, including I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, Madea's Class Reunion, Meet the Browns, and What's Done in the Dark...
as Cora Simmons - Ion OvermanIon Overman-Life and career:Overman and made her acting debut in the 1995 movie The Walking Dead. In 2000, she was cast as Gabriela Garza in the daytime soap opera General Hospital, a character who also appeared in the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles...
as Linda Davis - Sofia VergaraSofía VergaraSofía Margarita Vergara Vergara is a Colombian actress, comedian, television hostess and model.Vergara had been widely known for co-hosting two TV shows for Univisión in the late 1990s. Her TV career opened up for her a window of exposure to North American audiences prior to her first notable...
as T.T. - Viola DavisViola DavisViola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
as Ellen - Vanessa FerlitoVanessa Ferlito-Personal life:An Italian American, Ferlito was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father died when she was three. Her mother and stepfather own a hair salon in Brooklyn...
as Donna - David Mann as Mr. Brown
- RonReaco LeeRonReaco LeeRonReaco Lee is an American television and film actor.-Television:Lee began his acting career in 1983 as the host of the short-lived television show Kids Beat...
as Chuck - Jackson Walker as Mr. Brackman
- Leon LaMar as Oldman
- Robin ColemanRobin ColemanRobin Coleman is an American actress with backgrounds in figure competition, rowing, professional strongwoman, and former female bodybuilder....
as Big Sal
Cameos
- Al SharptonAl SharptonAlfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
as Himself - Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
as Herself - Sherri ShepherdSherri ShepherdSherri Evonne Shepherd is an American comedienne, actress, and television personality. She is one of five co-hosts on the ABC daytime talkshow, The View, as well as being the current host of the Newlywed Game and having a recurring role as Angie Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock...
as Herself - Elisabeth HasselbeckElisabeth HasselbeckElisabeth Hasselbeck is an American television talk show host and television personality. She was a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback and is a current co-host on the daytime talk show The View .-Early life:...
as Herself - Joy BeharJoy BeharJosephina Victoria "Joy" Behar is an American comedian, writer, actress, and a co-host of the talk show The View. Behar has a commentary program, entitled The Joy Behar Show, on CNN's sister network, HLN...
as Herself - Tom JoynerTom JoynerThomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.-Early life:...
as Himself - Steve HarveySteve HarveyBroderick Steven "Steve" Harvey is an American actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author. He is best known as the star of the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy...
as Himself - Michael BaisdenMichael BaisdenMichael Baisden is an American author, motivational speaker, host of the TV One talk show Baisden After Dark, and host of his own nationally-syndicated radio show.-Career:...
as Himself - Frank SkiFrank SkiFrank Ski is an American DJ, journalist, philanthropist, and public forums host.-Career highlights:As a journalist, he conducted the final interview with Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr...
as Himself - Phil McGrawPhil McGrawPhillip Calvin McGraw best known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality, author, former psychologist, and the host of the television show Dr. Phil, which debuted in 2002...
as Dr. Phil (Himself) - Greg MathisGreg MathisGreg Mathis is a retired Michigan 36th District Court judge and syndicated television show judge. His show Judge Mathis is produced by Telepictures Productions, and distributed by Warner Brothers. It is seen five days a week in most television markets in North America...
as Judge Mathis (Himself) - Mablean EphriamMablean EphriamMablean Deloris Ephriam, Esq. served as the judge on the courtroom series, Divorce Court from 1999 to 2006. She was replaced by Judge Lynn Toler....
as Judge Mablean (Herself)
Critical reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 28% of critics gave positive reviews based on 42 reviews with an average score of 4.9/10. Another review aggretator, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the film a 50 approval rating out of 100 rating.
Sam Adams of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
gave the film 2.5/4 stars and wrote that "if the movie is a mess, it's a purposeful mess, cannily, if not artfully, pushing all the right buttons to ensure Perry will be back for another round."
According to a New York Times review, the film gives Madea herself a much more central role than some of the previous Madea movies, in some of which she is merely a commentator on events.
The Boston Globe reports that "(Madea's) character epitomizes Perry's ongoing commitment to dramatizing as many rungs on the ladder of the black experience as he can. His aim never produces a completely satisfying or consistently competent-looking movie (his heart's in the right place, if not his camerawork)."
Box office
On its opening weekend, the film opened at #1, and grossed $41,030,947 (2,032 theaters, $20,192 average), the biggest Friday to Sunday take since TwilightTwilight (2008 film)
Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series...
in November 2008. It broke Madea's Family Reunion
Madea's Family Reunion
Madea's Family Reunion is a 2006 comedy-drama film adaptation of the stage production of the same name written by Tyler Perry and sequel to Diary of a Mad Black Woman. It was written and directed by Perry, who also played several characters, including Mabel "Madea" Simmons...
weekend gross at $30 million as the highest weekend gross for a Tyler Perry film. It broke Saw III
Saw III
Saw III is a 2006 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Leigh Whannell and story by James Wan and Whannell. Wan and Whannell directed and wrote Saw and Bousman wrote and directed Saw II. It is the third film in the seven-part Saw film series and stars...
s record at $33 million for the highest weekend gross for Lionsgate Entertainment. "We were cautiously optimistic we could do 30-plus," Steve Rothenberg said. On its second weekend, it dropped 61 percent, but remained at #1 grossing another $16,175,926 (2,052 theaters, $7,883 average), bringing the 10-day gross to $64,525,548. The film closed on April 23, 2009 with a final domestic gross of $90,508,336.
Home media
An exclusive preview was included on the cinematic release of Tyler Perry's The Family That PreysThe Family That Preys
The Family That Preys is a 2008 American drama written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry. The screenplay, focuses on two families, one wealthy and the other working class, whose lives are intertwined in both love and business....
.
Madea Goes to Jail was released on June 16, 2009 on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. According to DVDTown, the DVD included six behind-the-scenes featurettes. No Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
version was released. As of July 12, 2009, 1,125,422 DVD units have been sold, gathering revenue of $18,223,621.
Plot (play)
The play starts with the scenes of the townthe play was being shot from and scenes from the plays "I Can Do Bad All By Myself", "Diary of a Mad Black WomanDiary of a Mad Black Woman (play)
Diary of a Mad Black Woman is an American stage play written and directed by Tyler Perry, which opened in the spring of 2001. It features music by Tyler Perry and Elvin D. Ross. The production starred Marva King, Tamela Mann and Tyler Perry.-Synopsis:...
", "Madea's Family Reunion
Madea's Family Reunion (play)
Madea's Family Reunion is an American play written by Tyler Perry. It stars Tyler Perry as Mabel "Madea" Simmons, Quan Howell as Reverend Lewis, Sonya Evans as Lisa, D'Atra Hicks as Jackie and Tamela Mann as Cora.-Synopsis:...
", and "Madea's Class Reunion
Madea's Class Reunion
Madea's Class Reunion: The Class That Had No Class is a 2003 U.S. teleplay directed, written, and starring Tyler Perry. The live performance that was released on DVD was taped in Detroit.-Plot:...
" then it shows Madea being chased by cops. When the play officially begins, we see Vanessa, a woman with a nasty temper and treats her husband, the child of Madea's deceased sister, Irene, Sonny Andrews, who works two jobs to pay Vanessa's way through school and take care of their child. Then, Ella Kincaid , Madea's best friend and her next door neighbor, enters the house and asks for Madea (Tyler Perry), who unknown to her, Vanessa, and Sonny, was arrested at Conia's for not paying for her gas. Sonny, from upstairs, is constantly asking Vanessa about her shirt while she is trying to study for a big exam at school, Ella helps her find it and Vanessa becomes "trifling", not wanting to iron the shirt for him. Vanessa later gets upset when Sonny asks her to cook breakfast for him (she even gets a temper with her own child, who was obviously asleep). Ella explains that Vanessa needs to learn the proper way to treat a man, even though she herself doesn't have a man. Later, Sonny, who came down the stairs shirtless noticed Ella was staring at his chest, as she saw a cross, as he was potting his shirt on. Later, Nate, who is also Sonny's Jamaican boss, shows up later and offers to drive Sonny to work. Later, Vanessa gets a temper with Sonny (because he kept asking her where his shirt was), Ella (because she wouldn't go home after she told her Madea' wasn't here), and Nate (because she didn't know why he was here), claiming that they were driving her crazy and they need to leave her alone, later Sonny offers to make it up to Vanessa, and he and Nate leave. Then, thanks to a phone call, we find out that Madea is in jail (in other words, the police got her).
Meanwhile, at the jail, we see Sonny getting ready for work where he sees long time friend, Wanda, who is now the head Defense Attorney at the prison and she and Sonny had a bet on a game and she won and he never paid up, because Wanda and Sonny quit calling each other (Wanda stopped calling Sonny because she was making a lot of money and Sonny quit calling her because he started going out with Vanessa), Wanda wanted to know what ever happened to Vanessa and Leo (LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis's husband, who appeared in Tyler Perry's House of Payne as Curtis Payne) revealed that he married her, Wanda later explained about she and her husband got divorced 3 years ago, but it was okay because she got saved and he wanted to be free, so she freed him. After Wanda left, Leo explained that all the ladies, except Madea, were all calm. Madea, later, came in the jail after being left in the yard and tells Sonny that Leo was trying to rape her. She tells Sonny about the conya's incident, and about the envolope that has enough money for her bail that is written "Seal-it, Pasta Pead-it" and he go gets the envolope to pay for her bail. She later meets Chico, a woman with 3 boys (one in jail, one "strung out", and one dead) that she didn't care about and they didn't care about her and with no hope, and Katie (Judy Peterson, who appeared in Madea's Class Reunion as Cora's friend, Diana) who has been in jail for nine years because of her ex-husband (Ron Andrews), who is a pimp that tried to hurt his and Katie's daughter (Anndretta Lyle) and Katie stabbed him, but now that since she's in jail, her daughter has been continuously jumping from foster home to foster home. Katie's daughter, Toni, comes to visit and is shown to have a nasty attitude and when she gets one with Madea, she stabs her with her cigarette. Ella comes by and right after Toni leaves, she, Madea, and Katie play a game of cards. Later, we see Jeremy and Katie's ex-husband,Pete the Pimp, and after bail is made for Madea she decides to take care of Toni until Katie gets out of jail.
Cast
- Madea - Tyler Perry
- Wanda - Cheryl "Pepsii" Riley
- Ella - Cassi Davis
- Leo - LaVan Davis
- Katie - Judy Peterson
- Vanessa - Chantell Christopher
- Sonny - Christian Keyes
- Nate - Ryan Gentles
- Jeremy - Brian Hurst
- Toni - Anndretta Lyle
- Chico - Crystal "Crissy" Collins
- Pete - Ron Andrews
Musical numbers
- "How Does That Feel?" - Ella
- "Wait Till I Get Home Tonight" - Sonny
- "Down on My Luck" - Ella, Katie, Madea, Leo, Chico
- "We Need a Word" - Wanda
- "Whaddaya Know About Jesus?" - Ella, Wanda, Leo, Sonny
- "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" - Chico
- "Ain't No SunshineAin't No Sunshine"Ain't No Sunshine" is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album Just as I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass guitar and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, as well as Withers on lead vocals and guitar. The song was released as a single in September...
" (Bill WithersBill WithersWilliam Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
) - Sonny - "A House is Not a HomeA House Is Not a HomeA House Is Not a Home may refer to:*A House Is Not a Home , a 1953 autobiography by Polly Adler*A House Is Not a Home , a 1964 American film...
" (Luther VandrossLuther VandrossLuther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
) - Madea - "Give to Me Too" - Madea
- "It Takes a Fool" - Madea
- "Clean Up WomanClean Up Woman"Clean Up Woman" is a song by Betty Wright from her second studio album, I Love the Way You Love . Written and produced by Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke, it was released in 1971 as a 7" single with "I'll Love You Forever" on the B-side, reaching number six on the U.S. Pop Singles chart—where it...
" (Betty WrightBetty WrightBessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...
) - Ella - "Sweet ThingSweet Thing (Chaka Khan song)"Sweet Thing" is a soul single that was first a hit with Rufus featuring Chaka Khan when they recorded the song in 1975 eventually reaching number-one on the R&B singles chart and number five on the pop chart...
" (Chaka KhanChaka KhanChaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
) - Wanda - "Let's Get It OnLet's Get It OnLet's Get It On is the twelfth studio album by American soul musician Marvin Gaye, released August 28, 1973, on Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during June 1970 to July 1973 at Hitsville U.S.A. and Golden World Studio in Detroit, and at Hitsville West in Los Angeles...
" (Marvin GayeMarvin GayeMarvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
) - Leo - "Before I Let Go" (MazeMaze (band)Maze a soul / quiet storm band, also known alternately as Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Frankie Beverly and Maze, was established in San Francisco, California in the early 1970s.-Career:...
) - Jeremy - "His Name is Jesus" - Jeremy
- "I Want to Be Free" - Katie
External links
- Madea Goes to Jail on MovieSet