This year filmmaker Tyler Perry is retiring his long-standing character, Mable “Madea” Simmons. In her movies, Madea often acts as superhero without a cape, answering the distress signal of any damsel bound to an abusive marriage or worse, a dark-skinned antagonist. Madea’s powers don’t stop there; she can also straighten out even the most misbehaved children, hide a white family in the middle of Atlanta, or just have Christmas dinner with Larry the Cable Guy.
Whether you’ve seen every movie in the Madea Cinematic Universe or have avoided them like the plague, here is a definitive ranking of every Madea movie made.
10. Boo! 2 A Madea Halloween (2017)
This follow-up to Boo! A Madea Halloween gives the audience more groans than laughs. The plot to Boo! 2 is even looser than its predecessor’s. Between the slapstick jokes and sloppy editing, Boo! 2 easily ranks as the worst Madea movie.
9. Madea’s Witness Protection (2012)
This film was much more enjoyable than Perry’s second attempt at a black-family-meets-white-family tale (see: A Madea Christmas.) However, Witness Protection was shot early in the Madea series, before Perry mastered capturing all of the characters he plays in one shot together. So scenes where Brian, Madea, and Joe (all played by Tyler Perry) share the screen are visibly awry. And the transitions when those characters exchange dialogue are choppy, at best. That lands this otherwise funny flick near the bottom of the ranks.
8. A Madea Family Funeral (2019)
What I expected to be a gathering of Madea’s family to mourn her, or one of her elderly companions, turned out to be another off-handed family drama with Madea thrown on top of the script. Infidelity, emotionally abusive men, and a family that just needs Madea’s tough love to straighten them out, once again completes the Perry formula. Family Funeral was disappointing but ranks higher than the final two entries because it at least has decent editing and cinematography.
7. A Madea Christmas (2013)
Imagine any cookie-cutter Hallmark holiday movie, then add Larry the Cable Guy and Mable Simmons. The product is somewhere between heart-warming and heart-wrenching. But who doesn’t love a hokey tale of reverse racism, right?
6. Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016)
As nonsensical as this movie may be, I’m nearly ashamed at how many laughs it elicited from me. While Boo! is one of Tyler Perry’s weakest directorial performances, it is somehow one of Perry’s best box office performances. Even with the weak script and inexplicable casting decisions, Boo! is still pretty funny. For that reason, Boo! comes in at number six.
5. Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
One of Perry’s better executed tales of Madea rehabilitating a lost soul, Goes to Jail comes in at the number five spot. This plot has a lot of moving pieces: Madea’s arrest, a forbidden romance between a lawyer and a sex worker, and somehow Sofia Vergara making a boob joke. All in all, Goes to Jail is worth a watch.
4. Madea’s Big Happy Family (2011)
Perry pulls together a charming cast in this movie about pulling together a not-so charming family. Loretta Devine, and surprisingly, Bow Wow deliver noteworthy performances in this predictable, yet enjoyable family movie.
3. Madea’s Family Reunion (2006)
While there are Madea films with better developed characters, more logical plots, and less problematic messages, there are few Madea films that are as fun to watch as Family Reunion. The nostalgia of open picnic spaces filled with a never-ending roster of “cousins” puts this dramedy at number three.
2. I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)
Children that need a new home, a no-good man, and a dying matriarch complete the plot formula for another classic Tyler Perry film. Perry delivers a satisfying comeback story in I Can Do Bad, where Taraji P. Henson plays a wayward woman who ultimately gets her act together to care for her sibling’s children.
1. Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)
Diary is Madea’s film debut, and a classic woman-finds-a-new-man tale from Tyler Perry. Madea’s character is a pleasant balance of humorous and outrageous, while sprinkling in the right amount of preachy platitudes. Kimberley Elise’s compelling performance of the titular “mad black woman” deserves a special mention, as well. This is the quintessential Madea movie.
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