Madea Goes to Jail

Madea Goes to Jail is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry, which was based on his 2006 play, and starring Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Ion Overman, RonReaco Lee, Sofía Vergara, Vanessa Ferlito, and Viola Davis. The film tells the story of Madea going to prison for her uncontrollable anger management problems as she befriends a young incarcerated prostitute that an assistant district attorney knows since college. The film was released on February 20, 2009. It is the fourth film in the Madea cinematic universe as it follows up from the cameo appearance of Madea in the previous film Meet the Browns and it features Cora and Mr. Brown from that film.

Madea Goes to Jail
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTyler Perry
Written byTyler Perry
Based onMadea Goes to Jail
by Tyler Perry
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAlexander Gruszynski
Edited byMaysie Hoy
Music byAaron Zigman
Production
company
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • February 20, 2009 (2009-02-20)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$17.5 million[1]
Box office$90.5 million [2]

Madea Goes to Jail received negative reviews from critics, but was a box office success, grossing $90.5 million worldwide against a $17.5 million budget.[3]

Plot

A high-speed freeway police chase (seen in Meet the Browns) results in Madea (Tyler Perry) being pulled over and arrested. Madea is then brought before the judge, and Brian (Tyler Perry) is able to secure her release when it's revealed that the police officers failed to read her Miranda warning. Unable to put Madea away, Judge Ephriam instead suspends her already suspended driver's license and places her in an anger management course.


Assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke), a rising star within the office, is set to prosecute a young prostitute and drug addict, Candace "Candy" Washington-Collins (Keshia Knight Pulliam), before Judge Mablean Ephriam. However, Josh is already acquainted with Candy, so he asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Davis (Ion Overman) to fill in on his behalf.

Josh then posts Candace's bond and tries to catch up with her while the two ate at a diner, however Candace becomes hostile and wary of Josh's intentions. Linda then encounters the two, feeling somewhat insecure of their interaction. Although Josh tries to assure her that he is only trying to help an old friend, Linda tells him that it was Candace's own fault for being who she is and that he should only socialize with a higher class of people. Conversely, Candace sees right through Linda upon meeting her and tells Josh that it will never work between them since they are too different: Linda is a spoiled brat who considers people with a lower status than her as inferior, while Josh actually cares about helping anyone he sees in trouble.

Despite Linda's advisement, Josh keeps helping Candace to the point of rescuing her from a fellow pimp, Arthur (Benjamín Benítez), who harassed her and her fellow prostitute friend Donna (Vanessa Ferlito). He brings her to his apartment, further angering Linda, who threatens to leave Josh unless he cuts Candace out of his life for good.

Madea consults with Dr. Phil McGraw for anger management, but does not cooperate at all. Dr. McGraw tells Cora that he'll be filing this report to the judge. Madea eventually gets arrested and is sentenced for 5 to 10 years after getting a confrontation with a woman who stole her parking sport at Kmart, which ultimately resulted in Madea commandeering a forklift truck to remove the woman's car from the space, wrecking it in the process.

Josh later runs into his friend Ellen (Viola Davis), a former drug addict and prostitute who has now become a minister who helps other women get off the streets. After Josh asks Ellen to help Candace, she gets the young woman a job interview, but when the interviewer sexually harasses her, Candace kicks him, tells Ellen about the harassment, and storms out, resorting back to her prostitution lifestyle, missing out her court date. Candace eventually gets arrested by an undercover detective.

At the district attorney's office, Josh's best friend Chuck (RonReaco Lee) discovers that Linda is falsifying Candace's file to deliberately get her sent to prison and away from Josh, a practice she has engaged with other defendants as well, including Madea. Linda blackmails him to keep his mouth shut, threatening to expose the fact that Chuck cheated on the bar exam to get his law license. Linda then later informs Josh that Candace was handed a seventeen-year prison sentence, lying that she "tried" to be lenient, but the case was too severe. Chuck overhears this and nearly tells Josh the truth, but remain quiet because of Linda's threat.

The next day, Ellen later asks Josh how he knows Candace. He tells her that they were close friends from childhood through college, but during their college years, all of Josh's friends mistreated and bullied Candace because of her background and he started pushing her away out of embarrassment. He breaks down when he talks about one particular night when he took her to a party at his friends' insistence, where they gang-raped her after he left to go on a date. Since then, Josh has harbored deep-seated guilt for leaving her behind and failing to protect her. Ellen comforts him and tells him that he shouldn't continue holding on to the guilt and that it was never his fault, especially since Candace already had personal troubles beforehand.


While in DeKalb County Prison, Candace reunites with Donna and becomes more acquainted with the other inmates including serial killer T.T. (Sofía Vergara), prison "boss" Big Sal (Robin Coleman) and Madea, who she befriends after Madea defends her from Big Sal's aggressive advances. Candace, Madea, T.T., Big Sal, and Donna later attend a class taught by Ellen at the prison in order to have time reduced from their sentences. During a lesson about forgiveness, Madea notices that some of the inmates would rather play victim instead of taking responsibility for their crimes. She tells the class they need to stop seeing themselves as victims and forgive those who led them onto the bad paths they've been on, as they weren't the ones who ended up in jail.

Moved by Madea's words, Candace confronts Josh during a visit from him; she reveals that back when she was raped at the party he took her to, she called his name repeatedly, yet he never came. She confessed that she subsequently allowed her anger at him and the trauma from the rape to consume her, which led to her dropping out of school and becoming a drug addict and prostitute but after everything she learned from Ellen and Madea, she finally decides to forgive Josh and pick up the pieces of her life.

On Josh's wedding day, Chuck, serving as best man, finally comes forward to Josh about Linda's scheme. During the ceremony, an appalled Josh tells the congregation, including Fran, the Mayor and the Governor what Linda has done and jilts her at the altar, to Chuck's satisfaction. He then rushes to the prison where he professes to Candace that he loves her and will help her get out of jail and restore her life. Josh publicly exposes Linda's tampering with client files to radio shows, The View, and other mainstream media, triggering a mass protest movement to set free those she wrongfully convicted. Candace, Madea, and five other women that Linda prosecuted have their convictions overturned and are released. Madea dances gleefully as she celebrates her freedom while Candace and Josh walk out of the prison together and share a kiss in front of the press.

During the credits, there are more scenes with Madea and Dr. Phil, again with zero progress in changing Madea for the better; Dr. Phil eventually concludes the interview by wearily uttering a classic Donald Trump quote: "You're fired."

Cast
  • Tyler Perry as:
    • Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a tough old lady.
    • Joe Simmons, Madea's brother.
    • Brian Simmons, a lawyer who is Madea's nephew and Joe's son.
  • Derek Luke as Joshua Hardaway, an assistant district attorney.
  • Keshia Knight Pulliam as Candace "Candy" Washington-Collins, a prostitute and former friend of Joshua.
  • Ion Overman as Linda Davis, an envious assistant district attorney and Joshua's fiancé who secretly commits illegal activities like fraud, evidence tampering, and providing false legal documents involving some of the people she prosecuted.
  • RonReaco Lee as Chuck, an assistant district attorney and Joshua's friend.
  • Sofía Vergara as Terry "T.T.", a female serial killer that becomes Madea's cellmate.
  • Vanessa Ferlito as Donna, a prostitute and Candace's friend.
  • Viola Davis as Ellen Holmes, a minister who used to be a prostitute.
  • Tamela Mann as Cora Simmons, Madea's daughter.
  • David Mann as Mr. Brown, Cora's father.
  • Bobbi Baker as Tanya, Linda's friend
  • Aisha Hinds as Fran, the head assistant district attorney who is Joshua, Linda, and Chuck's boss.
  • Leon Lamar as an old man at Joe's party.
  • Benjamín Benítez as Arthur, a pimp that harasses Candy.
  • Jackson Walker as Mr. Brackman, a man who interviews Candy for a job.
  • Robin Coleman as Big Sal, a tough inmate and prison "boss" that runs afoul of Madea.
  • Karan Kendrick as Watson, a prison officer at DeKalb County Prison.

Cameos

Release

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews from critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 29% based on 52 reviews, and an average score of 4.90/10. The consensus says, "Divided between sincere melodrama and populist comedy, Madea Goes to Jail fails to provide enough laughs – or screen time – for its titular heroine."[3] Metacritic gives the film a score of 50%, based on 13 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A to F.[5]

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."[6]

According to a New York Times review,[7] 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 reported 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)."[8]

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 Twilight 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.[9] 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.[10] The film closed on April 23, 2009 with a final domestic gross of $90,508,336.[2]

Home media

An exclusive preview was included on the cinematic release of Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys.

Madea Goes to Jail was released on June 16, 2009 on DVD in both full-screen and widescreen editions. According to DVDTown, the DVD included six behind-the-scenes featurettes. As of July 12, 2009, 1,125,422 DVD units have been sold, gathering revenue of $18,223,621.[11] A Blu-ray version was released on November 23, 2010.

References
  1. The Hollywood Reporter, 19 February 2009, p.26.
  2. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  3. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  4. "Madea Goes to Jail (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. CBS.
  5. "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
  6. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail' stars Tyler Perry, Derek Luke, Ion Overman and Keshia Knight Pulliam". Chicago Tribune. 20 February 2009. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  7. Scott, A. O. "Plus-Size Matriarch's Stretch in the Slammer", The New York Times, 20 February 2009.
  8. Morris, Wesley. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail: Once again, Perry has his moments in 'Madea Goes to Jail'", Boston Globe, 21 February 2009.
  9. "Madea Goes to Jail Makes Out Like a Bandit". E! Online. 22 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
  10. "Weekend Box Office Results for February 27-March 1, 2009". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  11. "Madea Goes to Jail (2009) - Financial Information".
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