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ACTOR
Kimberly EliseSteve HarrisTyler PerryCicely Tyson
DIRECTOR
Darren Grant
SYNOPSICS
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) is a English movie. Darren Grant has directed this movie. Kimberly Elise,Steve Harris,Tyler Perry,Cicely Tyson are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) is considered one of the best Comedy,Drama,Romance movie in India and around the world.
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Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) Reviews
I Love this Move and these Characters
If you're looking for full on Tyler Perry comedy, don't watch this one. Every time I watch this movie, I laugh and I cry. I've known women who've been cheated on, and it changed them from sweet and happy, to vindictive people who trust no one. I've known families torn apart by drugs and alcohol, and the pain I see in Diary of A Mad Black Woman is dead on. Yep, I know older ladies who carry a pistol in their handbags. Maybe that's why I am so attached to this film. I know these people. DOAMBW is rough on the emotions. The pain is palpable, and we need Madea to break up the hard parts. It's like when you have sickness and death in the family, and you get punchy and silly. You have to laugh to keep from crying. The pretty people in this movie are really beautiful. Who could ever get tired of looking at Kimberly Elise and Shemar Moore? When I hear the voice-over of Kimberly Elise reading the diary entries, it's so realistic. It's the exact things you think when you are falling for someone and trying not. I've read a lot of negative reviews about this movie, but I just don't see the problems. It isn't a documentary after all.
Several Wildly Different Movies Crammed into One.
The McCarters are one of the many marriages of convenience that form the thread of high society. Helen McCarter, in a voice over, even says so herself: husband Charles is a man in love with appearances. It's confirmed right after his award has been given to him and has dropped her in their enormous Atlanta mansion: he orders her to get out of the car and she does. So how couldn't she see his abandonment coming? How could she not know that seeing all her items boxed outside was a sign that something terrible was about to happen? How could she confuse the new clothes in her closet rack as being hers, and go one step further to lovingly wait for Charles to get back and spend a quiet romantic night? I found it shocking, but not surprising, when he comes home with his mistress and in a violent scene, throws her out of the house and into an uncertain future. If Tyler Perry had built upon this premise and had Helen find herself and her feminist voice without resorting to the gimmicks he gives us here, DIARY would have been a complex character study. Once this prologue is over, the movie shifts into a completely different gear and in having Helen being driven to her Aunt Madea's house. Anyone who is acquainted with the outrageous Madea will know that for a movie relating to issues such as spousal abuse, she is NOT a character who could bring anything to the story. I can understand that a drama like this needs some outlet for humor to avoid maudlin, but Madea? The moment she storms onto the screen DIARY screeches to a halt. Sure, Madea teaches Helen to get in touch with her anger -- after all, she's the wife and was so for 18 years (implausible seeing how young both Kimberly Elise and Steve Harris look), and is entitled to half of Charles' assets. She even takes a chainsaw into play and saws Charles' belongings, each and every one, stressing her point. Not before doing a bad parody of Faye Dunaway in the wire hanger scene from MOMMIE DEAREST as she rips the gowns Charles has bought his new paramour, and I wondered why? I answered myself that maybe Perry loves MOMMIE DEAREST that much and felt that it suited Madea. Oh, it did -- just not for this movie. And this isn't the only bad decision turn DIARY makes. There's the inclusion of Madea's foul-mouthed brother Joe. There's Brian, Helen's cousin, also unhappily married to Debrah, a drug addict trying to Do The Right Thing. And there's the shady dealings of (a not so law-abiding) Charles who filmed in deep shadows resembles an episode of LAW AND ORDER and makes the movie change drastic tones again because it seems out of place in Helen's plight. And speaking of Helen, her story takes not one, but two awful left turns that are completely inconsistent to character. First, she begins working as a waitress and reluctantly accepts the courtship from hunky factory worker Orlando (who drove her to Madea's house at the start of the movie and happens to be associated with Brian via friendship, a little hokey, and another mistake from Perry), but once Charles gets shot in court (also unlikely, but with the recent Atlanta events in which the judge was killed, plausible) and becomes paraplegic, she becomes vindictive. Consistent? Well, from the viewer's point of view, yes. Considering the way she was dragged from her hair out into the cold at the start of the movie, yes. That her revenge is equally dragged on for too long? Absolutely. (Not to mention the blatant mention of MISERY, as if we the viewer did not catch the visual reference.) The second inconsistency comes when Christian values are introduced and the need to forgive in order to move on comes into play. Suddenly we're flooded with images from a gospel choir, Charles experiences a miracle, and Brian's wife comes walking in singing of rebirth, no doubt a device which can work in a stage play (and can give the first of three climaxes), but not here. When all this is done, we can see the ending coming a mile away, and even that seems as fake as fake fur, but necessary for a happy ending appealing to a large audience. I also feel that the actors try to handle the material even though it seems to me they're all miscast. Elise and Harris are too young to play a couple married for close to twenty years -- Angela Bassett and Denzel Washington would have brought their characters' natures out more easily but probably were unavailable. Shemar Moore plays his role as if he were back in THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, but then again, his part was written to fit a romantic triangle much in the style of old Hollywood soaps a la Franchot Tone, patiently waiting for his woman. Tamara Taylor brings pathos to her characterization of Debrah but does not belong in this story. Cicely Tyson has two small scenes and reaffirms her welcome back to the acting business. Tyler Perry is the star of DIARY as writer, producer, and playing three roles (the ubiquitous Madea, Joe, and Brian). I can appreciate his movie in segments and respect its honesty, but as a whole, it's all over the place. (And including what looks like a skit in which Judge Mayblean Ephraim calls upon Bobby Brown for an offense and we hear 'Whitney' shrieking "Bobbay! I love you Bobbay!" in the background doesn't help.) He clearly loves camp movies and spells them out to us. Paring a story down to its bare essentials, however, makes a perfect, air-tight viewing, instead of packing too much into two hours. Perry has a lot going for him, and I think he'll create better scripts instead of focusing on one caricature which as a secondary player was overbearing.
Movie Sends Out a Message
Too many critics are taking this movie TOO seriously and I believe it is not Mr. Perry's intent. The movie is to keep the audience attracted by inserting comical twists and turns throughout - therefore, the use of Madea. Additionally, the movie explains issues within the black family while applying a spiritual message and lesson. Although it is apparent that the target audience was the black family who has additionally supported Mr. Perry's theatrical career, MY family and I equally enjoyed it and feel it could be applied to our culture and ethnic group as well. I am now interested in seeing more Tyler Perry movies and plays with my family. The issues that face our society are not color blind.
Wonderful...
All I have to say is that, despite all the negative 'reviews', I loved it, as did everyone else that filled the theater. I laughed, cried and was angry, all simultaneously. Anytime I can show that much emotion during one film, I'm impressed (and I'm not, too often, impressed). I'm not all that keen on the plays, but, to me, the movie was excellent. Not even the critics have soured my views on the film. I'd go see it again. Tyler Perry's characters were hilarious! And the 'find yourself' theme was apparent, which was good, because I hate to watch a movie through to the end and still have to 'guess the plot.' Overall, I give it a few thumbs up!!!
Mad about "Mad"
First of all, let me lay my cards on the table. (Poker, anyone?) I am white, male, nonchristian, over 40, college-educated, and live in the northeast. I'm old enough to remember the original "Diary of a Mad Housewife" and when "Miss Jane Pittman" first aired, and I have done the electric slide, lived in the south (never been to Atlanta, but love Georgia), and have attended barbecues--but know very little about the "chitlin circuit." Yet I (and the two white friends I went with) loved this movie! As I see it, people who have witnessed this movie can be divided into two camps: 1) reviewers (probably mostly white) who disliked the movie even when they tried to like it and 2) ordinary people (mostly probably black, as many tell us) who loved it. So why do many apparently white viewers not "get it"? Why did I see it in my mostly white area with only about five other people in the audience? Well, a lot of people didn't like "Showgirls" or "Carwash" or "Lonely Lady" when they first came out, and now those are cult hits, even "classics." "Diary" is only like those movies in that it is similarly over-the-top, unapologetic, irony-free, awkward, amateurish (that is, not slick), and yet so intrinsically watchable you can't take your eyes of the screen for a split second. I must admit that I probably laughed at some "inappropriate" moments, but then so did Madea. The whole faith-based initiative Christian-values quasi-Republican "message" might have made me wince or even gag in another context, but is delivered so sincerely here you can't help but forgive just as Jesus (or Helen!) would. One could only call this movie operatic or "Shakespearian." Wait--I'm not trying to sound pretentious, only trying to point out that like Shakespeare this movie mixes high melodrama with "low" comedic relief, music, and spectacle. The comic actors comment upon and undercut the ultra-seriousness or piety of the rest of the story--and so we can only enjoy it more when the plot rides another twist on its emotional roller-coaster. Tyler Perry is obviously a man with a vision--he doesn't have the finesse of Eddie Murphy, perhaps, but I admit I was halfway through the movie before I realized he was playing both Madea and old Joe AND Brian. My fear is now that he will be sucked in by Hollywood, the executives will convince him to deliver what they think white people want or "need," and he will lose his rough but raucous magic. So when Hollywood comes knocking, please don't answer, Mr. Perry! When I went into this movie I was grumbling that ticket prices had gone up to ten dollars, but since we are given about five films for the price of one, I consider it a very good deal. It is simply one of the most astonishing movies I've ever seen.