Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - December, 2010

"Madea Goes To Jail" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by Chris Heinonen

Synopsis

A film adaptation of Tyler Perry's stage play of the same name, Madea Goes to Jail really focuses on two storylines that converge and diverge throughout the film.  The film's namesake is once again in trouble with the law from her inability to control her temper.  She initially gets off thanks to a technicality in court, but once released back into the general public, she remains unable to control herself and faces the prospect of a long time behind bars.  At the same time, District Attorney Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke) is successful and happy, with a fiancée who is a fellow DA (Ion Overman).  When a defendant comes before him that he knows from his past, is creates conflict with himself, and his fiancée, as he feels a need to help her out, while she wants him to let go of his past and move on.

Commentary

I'll admit that I came into this film without high hopes.  I've seen plenty of commercials for Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns on TV, and seen the trailers for his films before, and they just are a style of comedy that has no appeal to me at all.  Madea Goes to Jail attemps to combine that comedy element with a more serious story involving the DA and the defendant that he is trying to help, but I found many elements of that to be so clichéd and unbelievable that if it was a movie on it's own, it wouldn't have held my attention.  For someone that enjoys the style of comedy, this might be an enjoyable film, but for me it just didn't hit home.

Technical

While I didn't enjoy the film, Madea Goes to Jail did have a nice transfer.  There was good detail, good rendering of textures on clothing and objects, and good contrast and color.  I didn't notice artifacting or edge enhancement, and while not the best of the best, it was very good.  The soundtrack did a good job as well, using the surrounds when appropriate and with clear, intelligible vocals.

Extras

Six featurettes are included.

Class A

Interviews

Triode

Tubes