Meet the Browns is a tolerable albeit thoroughly bland effort by Tyler Perry, that manages to touch on sensitive, vital issues in the black community but also shortchange a great deal of those involved in the community into broad forgettable caricatures. Concerning the Brown family, as the title suggests, the film follows single-mother Brenda (Angela Bassett) living in Chicago with her oldest son Michael (Lance Gross) in high school and her two young daughters.One day, Brenda receives a death notice that states the father she has never met has died. Upon losing her job after the executives decide to pull the plug on her business's entire operation, Brenda packs up the kids and sets off for Georgia, quickly discovering the side of the family she never knew existed. Brenda is welcomed with open arms to meet a good-natured clan known as the Brown family, which also provide her with a release from Chicago's hectic environment and introduce her to the slower ways of Georgia.Meet the Browns is sufficient for both basic cable entertainment in addition to Tyler Perry's filmography, which always seems to find ways to incorporate more and more questionable film entries in there. If anything, the basic structure I just gave you is what the film manages to set up best; what it unfortunately does is squander relationships in the film in favor of too many pale and broad plotstrands that do nothing but muddle themes. There are various characters in Meet the Browns and they're all drawn very broadly, and their problems are never narrowed down to fit something that feels more human. Perry paints in broadstrokes here when he should be refining detail.Having said that, Meet the Browns does a nice job at telling us (or maybe reminding some) that there is a vicious cycle in the black community that is sad but true. It's the cycle of a teenager dropping out of school for momentary income to support a family but only getting wrapped up in a dirty, gritty business that seems to be trying to find new ways to kill you or finding themselves living paycheck-to-paycheck. This cycle is acknowledged when Michael, the ambitious basketball player who is in the middle of being hounded and recruited to college teams, offers to get a job while working in high school. Brenda, however, worries that his hours and paycheck will overshadow the importance of education and studies and he'll fall down this path of directionless behavior.When Perry finds underlying issues in the black community to bring up is when he's strong; when he's busy generalizing the community is when he's weak. Perry always seems to mean well but finds ways to dilute, skew, or completely contradict his own intended message and that has been his drawback from day one. However, with Meet the Browns, he hit a goldmine in terms of popularity, eventually incorporating the film's premise and characters into Perry's second sitcom, which went on to do solid numbers on Television. People obviously see things in Meet the Browns and its comedic/dramatic leverage that I have yet to find; wouldn't be the first time.Starring: Angela Bassett and Lance Gross. Directed by: Tyler Perry.

This movie does not deserve the rating it has. Any more I can't go by the ratings here on IMDb because I must have a different taste in movies than everyone else. The acting in this was a toss up. Some of the actors/actresses were , imo, not very good. Angela Basset was terrific as well as Rick Fox. The Leroy Brown character was funny at first and then he just got annoying. Same goes for Vera. The story line was very good and very touching. I'm sure there is a lot of single parents, not just mothers, out there that have felt or do feel the same as Brenda does. I don't want to go in to the movie that much because I don't want to spoil it, but Brenda is a single mother that is struggling with money and finds out that her father that she never knew had died. She takes her kids to GA for the funeral and meets family she never knew she had. In the will he leaves a house for her that needs some TLC. Since she doesn't Have the money her new Family helps restore it without her knowing. Some of the previews may be misleading. It is not completely about basketball although it has some in it. It is a very touching story and I recommend it ton anyone. But like i said. Everyone has their own opinions on movies.

For creating some of the biggest pieces of crap in the history of film. Actually, it's not even a film, it's just him -- taking a giant dump on everyone's faces when they watch this movie and making at least 50 mill. every time he does it.Please stop watching this crap, for the love all that is good, please stop. Note: This movie is already in the bottom 100. And his other movies are competing to get in. Every movie is the same tired old story written straight from the book, with different settings to appeal to the black community. Which they themselves should find insulting, it reeks of stereotypes and belittles the whole ethnicity.

I believe Tyler Perry is a talented writer and producer. His DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN and WHY DID I GET MARRIED are well written; they are also good looking movies. MEET THE BROWNS was just plain bad. I gave it a five in respect for the talented cast that includes the always wonderful Angela Bassett.The dialogue was poor, the character of Brown did not translate from the stage to film. He was not funny. The movie looked as if $2.50 was spent. And as much as I love Angela, she was too old for the character. Part of the running theme was that she was a young mother (having had her children in her teens). She is a beautiful woman who looks like she is in her late 40's. That means she had her children in her 30's. Not such a young mother. And the outtakes were the worst I had ever seen, ever.Tyler's other movies are in between DIARY/MARRIED and BROWN. I hope he can find a way to be consistent. His positive themes and characters are desperately needed and appreciated. But, quality is important.