[Wolfman]

Just saw the 'Madea Goes to Jail' DVD last night with my wife. It was hilarious!!!! And we saw the 'Why did I Get Married' DVD video recently also. A lot of people think Tyler Perry's plays and movies are too low brow and stereoptypical; but I have another perspective: his plays and movies speak to struggling people who confront all kinds of dysfunction in their lives and their communities--things we all experience in some way but don't talk about. He gives black people (and others) a place and a space to laugh, cry,meditate and pray about the pains and traumas in life, from a Christian perspective. But it's not a self-righteous, overbearing treatment, but one which is empathetic and challenging, told from the perspective of Madea, the wise, irreverent, caring, loving matriarch. His plays fill the gap between the "street" and the "church" that place where people tend to live double lives or the church is not being real about the struggles of the average person in the community. In this sense, Perry is an "evangelist" and a genius.