| Madea Goes to Jail | |
| Director: | Tyler Perry |
| Music: | Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography: | Alexander Gruszynski |
| Editing: | Maysie Hoy |
| Studio: | Tyler Perry Studios |
| Distributor: | Lionsgate |
| Runtime: | 103 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $17.5 million[1] |
| Gross: | $90.5 million |
Madea Goes to Jail is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tyler Perry, which was based on his 2006 play, and starring Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Ion Overman, RonReaco Lee, Sofía Vergara, Vanessa Ferlito, and Viola Davis. The film tells the story of Madea going to prison for her uncontrollable anger management problems as she befriends a young incarcerated prostitute that an assistant district attorney knows since college. The film was released on February 20, 2009. It is the fourth film in the Madea cinematic universe as it follows up from the cameo appearance of Madea in the previous film Meet the Browns and it features Cora and Mr. Brown from that film.
Madea Goes to Jail received negative reviews from critics and grossed $90.5 million worldwide.
A freeway police chase results in Madea being pulled over and arrested. Madea is brought before the judge, but Brian secures her release when it is revealed that the officers failed to read her Miranda warning. Unable to put Madea away, Judge Ephriam places her in an anger management course.
Assistant district attorney Joshua Hardaway is set to prosecute prostitute and drug addict Candace "Candy" Washington-Collins. Josh, who already knows Candace, asks his fiancée and fellow ADA Linda Davis to fill in on his behalf.
Josh then posts Candace's bond, and they eat at a diner. Josh keeps helping Candace to the point of rescuing her from pimp Arthur, who harassed her and her prostitute friend Donna. Josh brings Candace to his apartment, further angering Linda, who threatens to leave him unless he cuts Candace out of his life. Conversely, Candace sees right through Linda upon meeting her and tells Josh that it will never work between them since they are too different: Linda is a spoiled brat who considers people who have a lower status than her as inferior, while Josh actually cares about helping anyone he sees in trouble.
After getting arrested, Madea is sentenced for five to ten years after confronting a woman who stole her parking sport at Kmart. This resulted in Madea wrecking the woman's car with a forklift truck.
Josh runs into his friend Ellen, a former drug addict and prostitute who has become a minister and helps other women get off the streets. Josh convinces Ellen to help Candace get a job interview. However, the interviewer sexually harasses Candace, who attacks him and storms out.
At the DA's office, Josh's best friend Chuck discovers that Linda is falsifying Candace's file to get her sent to prison, a practice she engaged with other defendants too, including Madea. Linda blackmails him to keep his mouth shut, threatening to expose the fact that Chuck cheated on the bar exam to get his law license. Candace does not show up to her trial and is handed a seventeen-year prison sentence. Linda lies to Josh, saying that she "tried" to be lenient, but the case was too severe.
Josh and Candace were close friends from childhood, but during their college years, all of Josh's friends bullied Candace because of her background. Out of embarrassment, he started pushing her away. One night, Josh took Candace to a party, where his friends gang-raped her after he left to go on a date. Since then, Josh has harbored guilt for failing to protect her. Ellen says that he should not continue holding on to the guilt. Meanwhile, having returned to her prostitution lifestyle, Candace gets arrested.
While in DeKalb County Prison, Candace reunites with Donna and becomes acquainted with the other inmates including Madea, whom she befriends after Madea defends her from prison "boss" Big Sal's aggressive advances. The convicts attend a class taught by Ellen at the prison in order to have time reduced from their sentences. During a lesson about forgiveness, Madea notices that some inmates would play victim instead of taking responsibility for their crimes. She tells the class they need to stop seeing themselves as victims and forgive those who put them onto the bad paths they have been on, as they were not the ones who ended up in jail.
Moved, Candace confronts Josh during a visit and reveals that back when she was raped, she called his name repeatedly. She subsequently allowed her anger at him and the trauma from the attack to consume her, which led to her dropping out of school and becoming an addict and prostitute, but after everything she learned from Ellen and Madea, she decides to forgive Josh and resume a better life.
On Josh's wedding day, Chuck comes forward to Josh about Linda's scheme. Appalled, Josh tells the congregation, including their boss, the Mayor and the Governor what Linda has done and jilts her at the altar. At the prison, John professes his love to Candace and promises to help her restore her life. Josh publicly exposes Linda's crimes to the media, triggering a protest movement to set free those she wrongfully convicted. Linda is fired from her job, disbarred, and indicted on multiple charges including fraud, tampering, and providing false legal documents and faces arrest, trial and prison for her actions. Candace, Madea, and five other women have their convictions overturned and are released. Walking out of the prison together, Josh and Candace kiss in front of the press.
The film received negative reviews from critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 29% based on 52 reviews, and an average score of 4.90/10. The consensus says, "Divided between sincere melodrama and populist comedy, Madea Goes to Jail fails to provide enough laughs – or screen time – for its titular heroine."[2] Metacritic gives the film a score of 50%, based on 13 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A to F.[4]
Sam Adams of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5/4 stars and wrote that "if the movie is a mess, it's a purposeful mess, cannily, if not artfully, pushing all the right buttons to ensure Perry will be back for another round."[5]
According to a New York Times review,[6] the film gives Madea herself a much more central role than some of the previous Madea movies, in some of which she is merely a commentator on events.
The Boston Globe reported that "(Madea's) character epitomizes Perry's ongoing commitment to dramatizing as many rungs on the ladder of the black experience as he can. His aim never produces a completely satisfying or consistently competent-looking movie (his heart's in the right place, if not his camerawork)."[7]
On its opening weekend, the film opened at #1, and grossed $41,030,947 (2,032 theaters, $20,192 average), the biggest Friday to Sunday take since Twilight in November 2008. It broke Madea's Family Reunion weekend gross at $30 million as the highest weekend gross for a Tyler Perry film. It broke Saw IIIs record at $33 million for the highest weekend gross for Lionsgate Entertainment. "We were cautiously optimistic we could do 30-plus," Steve Rothenberg said.[8] On its second weekend, it dropped 61 percent, but remained at #1 grossing another $16,175,926 (2,052 theaters, $7,883 average), bringing the 10-day gross to $64,525,548.[9] The film closed on April 23, 2009 with a final domestic gross of $90,508,336.[10]
An exclusive preview was included on the cinematic release of Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys.
Madea Goes to Jail was released on June 16, 2009 on DVD in both fullscreen and widescreen editions. According to DVDTown, the DVD included six behind-the-scenes featurettes. As of July 12, 2009, 1,125,422 DVD units have been sold, gathering revenue of $18,223,621.[11] A Blu-ray version was released on November 23, 2010.