The Observer, March 21, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 21
Tyler Perry hopes to please again with Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns (March 21, 2008)
Directed by: Tyler Perry
Starring: Angela Bassett, Tyler Perry, Rick Fox
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If you still don't succeed, then you are Tyler Perry. However, if you refuse to quit, continue to persevere, and eventually become a wildly successful producer, writer, and director, you are also Tyler Perry. Meet the Browns is director/writer/producer/actor Tyler Perry's new film, also starring Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett and former NBA star Rick Fox. The premise of the film revolves around the story of single mother Brenda (Bassett) living in inner city Chicago, who struggles to make ends meet as the sole bread-winner for three children. When she is laid off from her job, she begins to despair and starts to lose hope, deciding to take up the invitation home to Georgia for the funeral of a father she never knew. As she adjusts to a crazy family she isn't familiar with, she also finds a brand-new romance that just might change the course of her life.
This type of story is typical for Tyler Perry. His writing style follows the struggles of African-American characters who usually find redemption through perseverance, hope, and family. Perry found success through many struggles himself, beaten by his father as a child and growing up in poverty in New Orleans. Dropping out of high school at age 16, he bounced around most of his life trying to make it in any field of work. He began writing letters to himself to ease the pain of his troubled childhood, deciding to compose plays while working as a used car salesman and at a restaurant in 1992. It wasn't until 1999, with his play Woman Thou Art Loosed, that he finally became a success, earning $5 million in the first few months of shows. Since then, he has written and produced highly successful plays targeted at African-Americans, with Meet the Browns originally written as a play in 2004.
Since crossing over into film in 2005, Tyler Perry has done very well at the box office, and Meet the Browns will certainly be an uplifting and entertaining treat for the weekend.
Meet the Browns will be screening at every major theater in Cleveland, including Regal Severance Town Center, Shaker Square Cinemas, Cinemark at Valley View, and Regal Cinemas Richmond Town Square.
