‘Boo 2! A Madea Halloween’ is Not the Worst Thing Ever

220px-BooMadea2PosterAlways refreshing when a movie is exactly what the trailers and cast imply it’s going to be.

“Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” is the sequel to last year’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” (very clever naming going on here) and the 10th installment of Tyler Perry’s series. The film features Perry again playing several characters, including the titular one while rocking drag, and follows Madea and her friends trying to rescue her niece from a haunted lake. Perry writes and directs.

Last October, my friend and I saw the first “Madea Halloween” on a whim following the bad taste left in our mouth following “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” and it was a blast. After they announced a sequel, I was ironically excited because the first film was so trashy yet funny and was a great theater experience. And I wasn’t disappointed, as “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” is lazy, juvenile and fundamentally flawed and it was everything I wanted it to be.

From a filmmaking perspective, the “Madea” films aren’t very sound. The cinematography is uninspired, the editing drags and the writing is barrel-scraping. Nothing is new here, with the film looking like one that was made for just $25 million in Georgia.

Everything that was an issue with the first film remains here, with scenes lasting for far too long and the plot running out of steam about halfway through the 100 minute runtime. Perry writes all the best lines for himself and leaves scraps for the rest of the cast, so whenever Madea, Brian or Uncle Joe aren’t delivering dialogue, expect it to be exposition or a cringe-inducing swing-and-a-miss joke.

Also, as with the first time around, Patrice Lovely’s character is gratingly annoying with her slurred speech and twisting hands and facial features. I didn’t find her amusing the initial go-around and it didn’t work for me here.

Perry has said that he initially submitted the film and it received an R rating so he did some edits to get it down to PG-13. Those changes are very noticeable, as there are parts where the characters mouth the f-word or say “bullcrap” but their mouths clearly are being dubbed over the original dialogue. Once or twice is fine, most movies have audio glitches, but this occurs about ten times during the film and it was distracting when it did.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “David, you said you enjoyed the film, why are you knocking it so hard?” And that’s because I have to do my job as a critic and be honest with you; this film is not that good.

But.

The audience and my friends and I were laughing hysterically throughout the show, and as with the first one this is a film that demands to be seen with either alcohol or in a crowded auditorium. From Perry’s Uncle Joe character continuously saying “bruh” to his sister to just the physical sight gag of a grown man in a dress and wig getting in a verbal confrontation, there is just something endearing to me about how dedicated Tyler Perry is to his films (it helps motivate you when your annual salary is $80 million, but).

 

If you can the forgive flaws of basic plots and scenes that run on for far too long with seemingly no purpose, then as with the first film I really do think that this is a fun time at the movies. The critic in me wants to tell you to stay away and spend your time checking out something like “Only the Brave” or “The Meyerowitz Stories” but then my 23-year-old mind takes over and realizes that at the end of the day, flaws or no flaws, we see movies to be entertained. And for one reason or another, “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” does just that.

 

Critics Rating: 5/10