I normally cannot stomach Tyler Perry’s work on or off screen.  What he cooks up, with him dressing like an old lady on screen or loud annoying clichés off screen, he just doesn’t fulfill what I am looking for.  His appetizer this year was Meet the Browns, a dry tasteless treat that almost made me wish I wasn’t black.  Although left unsatisfied, I decided to go back for the main course, The Family that Preys.  To my surprise I enjoyed every bite to the very end.  For dessert, he served the Madea Goes to Jail trailer, which I almost threw up looking at a man in drag trying to be funny.

The Family that Preys has a great cast consisting of Alfre Woodard, Sanaa Lathan, Taraji Henson, Robin Givens and Kathy Bates.  Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard make a great team playing great friends, one rich, white and full of life, the other struggling, black and living for others.  Sanaa plays the perfect b**** (I’ll leave it there so I will not give to much away) and of couse Tyler Perry plays the perfect husband on the right side of things.  The story is about life and what one does to gain what they want out of life I think, or is it about living life to the fullest no matter what it takes?  As most Tyler Perry movies do, it has many points.  This time he does a great job of pulling it all together in a nice package full of comedy, drama, tragedy and that typical ‘oooo dang’ moment that has the theatre clapping and laughing well into the next scene.  I normally would tell you all to wait till Tyler Perry’s films come on TBS (because he pretty much owns that network now) but I actually will go see this one again.  If you want to get a good one in before he ruins his name again with Madea Goes to Jail (set for spring 2009), go see The Family that Prey, you will be one satisfied customer.

Later