Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I am editing and re-posting my review of this terrible, terrible movie here because some delicate-as-a-flower troll reported my last one as "abuse" for some reason and I don't want the hassle of having to respond to IMDb every time they start to cry because my dislike of this stinker of a movie hurts their precious little feelings. That said, this movie really is garbage! The writing is terrible (if there even was any), the acting is somehow even worse, and Tyler Perry is so annoying, desperate and hammy that he makes me never want to see another movie again in my life! He has to be the worst writer-performer I've ever seen in a "real" Hollywood movie. Every single joke was awful and I didn't smile a single time. I actually felt angry when it ended because I forced myself to sit through the entire thing, hoping it would get better, when it never did. Tyler Perry owes me an hour and a half of my life back! I don't see why you would report me for my review, which contained no swearing or anything offensive. It simply featured me saying how bad I thought this movie was in colourful and entertaining ways.And guess what? This movie really is that bad, so why object to my review? Have you not read any of the other reviews of this tragedy of a film here or in any of the newspapers across the country? I hate to tell you but if you read any of the message boards about film that I have visited, the way people are talking about this (and every single other Tyler Perry movie) there would make your head spin until you vomit all over yourself.This movie is so awful that I feel like I want to rip off my own face and pull my eyes out so that I can't be forced to ever see it again and then take my eyes and shove them as far as I can inside my ears so that I can't ever hear the awful movie again or any other piece of garbage Medea movie or any of this man's awful movies at all. Then I feel like I will set those eyes and ears on fire to make sure they can't ever be put back then I'll jump off a building while eating eat gallons of poison and right before I hit the ground head first I feel like I will fire both barrels of a twelve gauge shotgun in my mouth up through my head to blow it right off. That is what I feel like doing whenever I think of this awful awful awful awful movie.

I don't like men dressing up like women. It's creepy. Also I don't like Eddie Murphy in drag and I am also not a fan of Mrs. Doubtfire either. When a black man dresses up like a woman he demeans and stereotypes black people. Period. I say this in all sincerely as I am "white". Worst movie of this "gender" has to be "White Chicks". Also not a fan of redneck-bashing movies like "Dumb and Dumber". Even the Naked Gun Series insults several minorities. Either I have no sense of humor, or I know what I don't like. "Blazing Saddles" was a break-though movie in this area, but it also opened up "Pandora's Box". The Christmas story here is actually better than expected, but the movie is not really that funny. What's funny about racial hatred? Best caught on cable next year or at Redbox. Save your money.

Let me preface this by saying I absolutely love the Madea series of films, and most of Tyler Perry's work, but this film nearly put me to sleep.Like most of Perry's films, there are great jokes (though not enough of them) and moral lessons, but where this film falls through is its numerous intertwined plot lines, all of which become muddled as the story takes its turns. What also weakens this film is the odd lack of screen time for the title character, as Madea is obviously the star of the show.And, unfortunately, Cicely Tyson isn't around this time to add life to a very stale film. Though there are some fun cast members (Kathy Najimy was a nice surprise) it's not enough to make this entertaining.Wait for it on cable, folks.

Once again Madea does many crazy mean things in this movie, such as steal from the job that she was fired from and hang a small child to a cross in the classroom for stealing. Anna Maria Horsford has been type-casted as a silly, whiny, obnoxious woman in every thing that she plays in! Tika Sumpter plays a teacher in a very small school. Larry The Cable Guy plays the redneck father. This movie mixes comedy with serious messages. Interracial marriage. Corruption. Keeping family secrets. An abusive father. Bullying. How can a teacher get fired in a school just because a parent says so without going before the school board? And who signs a contract without reading it?