Click to read the article
Comment
08/19/09
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
28
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:12
Rotten:31
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: Divided between sincere melodrama and populist comedy, Madea Goes to Jail fails to provide enough laughs -- or screen time -- for its titular heroine.
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Multitalented screenwriter, director, playwright, and actor Tyler Perry delivers yet another comedy feature from his popular MADEA film series. Largely concerned with African American family life,... [More]
Starring: Tyler Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, David Mann
Director: Tyler Perry
Reviews for Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
Click to read the article
04/23/09
The best parts of Madea Goes to Jail are the title character's motormouthed harangues. The rest of it is a fairly clumsy tale of sin and redemption.
02/23/09
Top CriticTyler Perry knows how to push his audience's buttons. It's just disappointing that the most successful African-American filmmaker of this generation refuses to try any harder than that.
02/20/09
Not everything Madea says is gold, and yet the storyline will literally stop so we can hear the crazed crone go off for no particular reason.
02/20/09
Perry brings his own sensibility to every movie he makes and has enjoyed great success by following his own path. But he leaves you wanting more.
02/23/09
Wouldn't be Perry if the film wasn't outrageously irrational, flimsily edited, acted with rafter-quaking severity, and scripted with Magic Markers. I'd feel cheated at this point if he actually made a concentrated effort to maintain a steady dramatic tone
02/20/09
Madea is the antithesis of the moralistic soapbox Perry's movies stand on, which is why she is usually the enjoyable ingredient in his films.
07/03/09
Obviously Perry's fanbase will turn out to support his latest morality play, but don't expect Madea Goes to Jail to bring any new converts to the Church of Tyler Perry.
02/20/09
It's a patented Perry formula to cram as much as possible into one movie, but Madea Goes to Jail proves the strategy remains as artistically dubious as ever.
02/20/09
Two movies for the price of one, but the comedy smashed against the drama makes the whole thing less entertaining
02/24/09
if it doesn't work quite as well as some of Tyler Perry's previous efforts, it certainly isn't for lack of trying.
03/11/09
would have been so much better had he simply left Madea behind to clown around in another film.
02/25/09
Parental Content Review
02/21/09
[Tyler Perry's] talent, however heedless and untidy, is real...it's clear that he can make better movies than Madea Goes to Jail. The pity is that, with the enthusiastic audience he's already found, he may never feel the need to.
02/26/09
It is, in short, not nearly as funny as Madea's Family Reunion, Perry's benchmark for freewheeling, low humour.
02/27/09
The law of diminishing returns catches up with the mega-successful multihyphenate in this wildly uneven effort.
02/23/09
Top CriticMadea does go to the slammer in Tyler Perry's latest. Problem is, the time she serves isn't nearly as outrageous it might have been.
02/20/09
Stick Robin Williams in his Mrs. Doubtfire dress and have him join the cast of General Hospital and you'd have Madea Goes to Jail.
02/20/09
Hokey and ham-fisted, cheaply made and appallingly edited. Even good actors like Derek Luke and Viola Davis are at a loss to get past the dialogue and the characters.
02/24/09
Latest News for Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
March 08, 2009:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Watchmen Scores $55.7 Million Opening
The adult-themed superhero film Watchmen seized control of the North American box office posting the biggest debut of the year with an estimated $55.7M in ticket sales over the... More...
March 01, 2009:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Madea Schools Jonas Bros., Chun Li
Despite the arrival of rocking teens, Tyler Perry enjoyed a back-to-back stint at number one with the hit comedy Madea Goes to Jail which led a sluggish frame despite suffering... More...
February 22, 2009:
Box Office Wrapup: Madea Crushes The Competition
THIS WEEKEND Tyler Perry once again showed why he is the King (and Madea his Queen) of the box office as Madea Goes to Jail slaughtered the competition this weekend. Holdovers... More...
February 21, 2009:
Tyler Perry back in drag for another modern morality play. 
More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds