MeetTheBrowns Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Phew! For a second there, I thought there wasn't going to be any footage of Madea in this new trailer for Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns. But if you're at all familiar with Perry's play Meet the Browns, you know she's not actually featured in the story. So, why was I expecting her to show up in the trailer? Well, IMDb mentions that she's in the movie, which is reportedly very different than the play it's based on. Plus, it's been too long since fans have seen Madea. She's like Tyler Perry's Jay & Silent Bob. Even though she shouldn't be continually milked as a cash cow for Perry's career, it's not smart box-office-wise to let her go. Anyway, that shot of Madea at the head of a police chase may be a lead-in for Perry's eventual film version of Madea Goes to Jail, which he has announced is in the works.

In case you couldn't tell from the trailer, which seems to give every bit away, the plot of Meet the Browns follows the story of Brenda (Angela Bassett), a single mom living in Chicago with serious financial woes, who finds out her father, who she's never met, has just died. She heads to Georgia with her kids and meets her father's other family, The Browns, many of whom, such as Cora Brown (Tamela J. Mann), have starred in previous Perry movies. As we can definitely tell from the trailer, Brenda inherits a house, finds a man (Rick Fox), deals with her son's venture into dope dealing and has a grand time settling in with her new Southern family. Meet the Browns arrives in theaters March 21.

I'm excited enough that Rod Lurie is returning to politics with Nothing but the Truth, a film loosely associated with the story of Valerie Plame. But I'm becoming more excited that it will feature a wide range of talented actors, from Kate Beckinsdale to Alan Alda to Matt Dillon to Vera Farmiga to David Schwimmer to Edie Falco to Harry Lennix to the just-announced Angela Bassett and Noah Wyle. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Basset and Wyle join the ensemble as supportive figures. Bassett is to play editor-in-chief to Beckinsdale's reporter and Wyle is to play the lawyer defending Beckinsdale's character, who ends up in jail for not revealing a source.

More than 13 years after being nominated for an Oscar (for What's Love Got to Do with It), I'm happy to see Bassett getting more meaty roles. In addition to this part, which will probably be too small to garner too much recognition, she is set to star opposite Don Cheadle as the titular wife in the biopic Toussaint, and she's sure to be seen by millions and millions in Tyler Perry's next movie, Meet the Browns. Wyle, too, is deserving of making his mark on the big screen now that he's done playing Dr. Carter on E.R. Coming up for him is a father role in the 1963-set coming-of-age film Boy of Pigs and his directorial debut, a romantic comedy titled Prince Test.

The interesting thing about Nothing but the Truth is it somewhat seems to combine Lurie's The Contender (possibly my favorite political film ever), which also focused on a woman under heavy scrutiny, and his recent box office disappointment Resurrecting the Champ, which similarly dealt with the world of journalism. For the sake of this great cast, I hope Nothing but the Truth is closer to the success level of the former.

When you mention the name Tyler Perry around Lionsgate Films, dollar bills begin to immediately fall from the sky. Of course, that's fictitious, but Perry's worth to the Lionsgate empire is magnificent. The first three films Perry conceptualized, wrote and directed made the company over $200 million in box office sales and their worth in DVD sales is in the millions as well. It only makes sense then that Perry would be given the opportunity to film his fifth project with Lionsgate called Meet the Browns.

Meet the Browns was originally a play written by Perry that is similar thematically to his previous films. A single mom, understandably exhausted both with family life and a hope for something greater, is rejuvenated by meeting the father she never had. After finding her father, she spends quality time with him and his joyous, high-spirited family, thus obtaining a newer understanding of her own life. The storyline sounds sweet and inspiring, especially for those enduring the same struggles.

Tyler Perry created Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, and most recently Daddy's Little Girls starring Gabrielle Union -- another single parent, family-themed film that raked in audience members last February. (Granted, not as many people showed up for that one as they did for his previous big-screen efforts, but that's not stopping Lionsgate from taking more and more chances on the man.)

Clearly, Perry is an inspiration to those seeking success in doing what they do best. Perry's love for writing and connecting with the souls of his audience members is clear. Those qualities attribute to much of his success as a playwright and also helped him acquire his own film studio in Atlanta. His strong character driven storylines about overcoming the odds also relate beyond skin tone and gender, and are purely uplifting for all. Meet the Browns will start filming this summer as Lionsgate hopes to promptly release it after his fourth film with them, Why Did I Get Married?