But, because Tyler Perry seems to just not know when to say no, he throws on a whole heaping of extra subplots that start with a bang before whimpering into the ether - forgotten about by film’s end. Untrusting of men since a traumatic childhood incident brought on by her mother’s cruelty, Vanessa slowly begins to have her emotional barriers chipped away at once she meets Frankie, a sensitive painter/bus driver played by Boris Kodjoe.īetween Vanessa and Lisa’s stories, Tyler Perry has enough emotional swamp to wade through for the film’s nearly two hour running time. Vanessa is a single mother of two who has been living with Madea. Played by Lynn Whitfield, Victoria is an even more over the top villain - with a long history of emotionally manipulating Lisa and her sister Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson). Pushing Lisa into the wedding despite the young woman’s reluctance is her mother, Victoria.
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A quiet yet dominating brute, Carlos is every Lifetime Original Movie villain wrapped in a suave shell with a thick coating of charm ready at the moment’s notice. Lisa and Carlos are engaged to be married and everything looks rosy, except for the small detail Lisa keeps hidden from her family: Carlos beats her regularly.Īs per usual in Tyler Perry movies, Madea’s Family Reunion features villains that rival Disney cartoons in their antagonists’ outlandish despicableness. Rochelle Aytes stars as Lisa Breaux, a beautiful young woman who seems to be in a magical relationship with Carlos (Blair Underwood), a financially successful investment banker. Even Madea, Perry’s signature role as a giant grandmother with a smart mouth and a quick temper, seems to be on Prozac for the film - dialing down her often annoying antics and taking a pronounced back seat to the film’s parallel love stories featuring two sisters in drastically different relationships. Madea’s Family Reunion, Tyler Perry’s second feature film and his big screen-directing debut, is a much more somber and subdued movie than most of Perry’s usual melodramedies.