Reviews

Let's be honest: no one is watching this movie with crazy expectations. If you're expecting a decent thriller under the condition that you suspend all belief, that's exactly what you're going to get with this movie. It's nothing amazing here but it did have potential to get a full 7 stars had it not been for a lazy plot twist involving the character Jason.

All of the characters throughout the movie are revealed to have been sole survivors in freak accidents that killed everyone else involved. Jason, for example, was lost in the middle of the ocean with his roommate. It is revealed in the third act that Jason killed his roommate so that he could have a better chance of surviving. Revealing Jason to be a psychopath works well as a plot twist out of context but in the context of the movie it was lazily done.

Jason wasn't shown the be the greatest guy of the bunch. In fact, he quickly shrugged off a couple deaths before the villainous reveal but he also had moments of consideration. It's assumed that he killed his roommate so that he wouldn't have to share a winter jacket under freezing conditions but during the game he had no qualms with sharing the winter jacket. There was also a room where the movie's lead, Zoey, nearly died had she not been saved by Jason who risked his life for her. I guess the hints to his true character was his ability to shake off the deaths of complete strangers.

And while I'm on the discussion of complete strangers, you have to love a movie that spells out just how dispensable their characters are. The movie starts with introductions to Zoey, Jason, and Ben living their everyday lives before entering the escape room. Then, once they go into the escape room, the movie introduces three other characters who come from nowhere. You know right away that those three are going to die for sure just based on the fact that they appeared from thin air.

During the beginning of the third act, Zoey decides to fight back by destroying all of the cameras in a room that's designed to poison the players. I loved that the lead decided to fight back instead of playing but, again, the execution was lazily done and absolutely depended on belief suspension. Zoey, under the effects of poison gas, faints to the ground, foaming at the mouth while she does so. A few scenes later, it's revealed that she used an oxygen mask from the ceiling to survive the gas attack. However, that scenario alone comes with many questions. Why would the game master even bother putting an oxygen mask in the room if he wants all of the players to die? And am I expected to believe that Zoey got back up after *nearly (I suppose)* choking to death?

And then there's also that big brother element that lacks any realism. Everything in the building that supported the impossible escape rooms disappeared in the matter of a few hours. If I was foolish enough to believe that an enormous crew could dismantle six escape rooms in a few hours then it still wouldn't explain the willingness for everyone involved. It relies on Purge logic in that there are millions of people who are into observing and creating violence.

All of that said, it ended on a great note where Zoey is trying to hunt down the game master. It actually has me very interested in a sequel; assuming we get to see more of Zoey being a vengeful badass.

I'm not one of those people who hates any Tyler Perry production by default. In fact, I usually enjoy his work. But this movie is the bottom of the barrel. The movie can be described simply as a clichéd, preachy mess smothered in misogynistic undertones.

The movie opens with Shirley and Aunt Bam in the hospital. We're supposed to be getting a quick laugh at Aunt Bam's forwardness towards the doctor. She's pretty much grinding on him like they're on a dance floor and I suppose the audience was supposed to find it funny but it only caused for a few awkward laughs of the "is this supposed to be funny...?" variety. Shirley finds out that her cancer has returned and she starts preaching about how God is so amazing. Riiiight... because when cancer survivors find out that their cancer has returned, they thank God for it. Eye rolls are surely to ensue and that opening scene sets the tone for the entire movie.

Shirley wants to get all her children together for a family dinner so she can break the news to them but contrary to the misleading title, they're no Brady Bunch. The two sisters, Kimberly and Tammy, can't even sit in the same room together without insulting each other. Both sisters are convinced that the other sister is a despicable human being, unbeknownst to themselves that they're both unbearable. And the younger brother, Byron, doesn't even interact with the sisters at all. Not being he can't stand them, just because they never gave enough damns to have him share a single word with either sisters. Instead, he's caught up in his baby mama drama.

Byron's storyline is the most ridiculous if only for how unbelievable his girlfriend, Renee, and ex-girlfriend, Sabrina are. Renee doesn't even pretend to give a damn about his well being, his son, or his family. She's pressuring him to sell drugs like it's rehab for a alcoholic. At one point when he loses his integrity and gives into the temptation of quick money, she tells him "I'm proud of you". And somehow, he still manages to stay with her through most of the movie. All the while, his baby mama, Sabrina, finds every way to ruin his life but apparently, it's because she still wants him.

The side plot with Tammy is insulting, to say the least. She's a terrible mother and a disrespectful wife. She finds every opportunity to belittle her husband in front of her children and neither parents makes an attempt to discipline the kids when they call their dad a "punk ass" on separate occasions. Oh, but you want to know how they resolve their problem? Harold, the husband, stands up for himself. And by "stand up for himself", I mean doing exactly to his wife what she does to him by demanding her to shut up and sit down. What is the moral of the story? There's no equality in a relationship: You're either the sandwich-eater or the sandwich-maker. But at least when it's the man in the relationship, it's okay.

Kimberly's side plot is... I don't even know. It's the same thing as Tammy's, except that her husband, Calvin, sometimes TRIES to defend himself. And she's more open about her desire of having nothing to do with her dysfunctional, emotionally abusive family. Somewhere near the ending of the 2nd act, Tammy exposes Kimberly at a family dinner about how she had a baby at 13 and left Shirley to raise him. Lo and behold, it's Byron. And that still wasn't enough to get him to share a single line with his "sisters". Also, we find out that the pregnancy was a result of rape and that's why she's such a terrible person. And voilà! We're left to assume that everyone knowing that she was raped was going to make her a better person.

There's isn't very many funny parts in the movie aside from Sabrina's "Byreeeeeen!" gag. Madea isn't even enough to save this movie from the contradictory life lessons and the overexposed themes of baby mama drama, God-fearing mothers with their preachy speeches, and rape. It's the same thing in every movie and it's passed tired.

I watched and LOVED the 1st film but the sequel was no good at all. This is one of the movies that shouldn't have had a sequel to it at all and would've been better just left alone. Big Momma's House ran on a few good ideas but I would've just preferred if it was a whole new movie franchise instead of making it into a sequel of one of my favorite films. Now, here's where the film failed at being any good.

My biggest issue with this movie was that I noticed how it tried to run away with a PG rating while still making it adult-themed with Malcolm's interest in a female's body and his occasional drug and sex references. Apparently, it didn't work out because not only did the movie do bad as a PG movie but it didn't even make the PG rating. Movies always seem to fail when they can't just make it similar to it's 1st movie (like Scary Movie 3, whomever thought that was funny is obviously 13 years old or younger). I don't know why people would argue that movies aren't funny with the cursing and sex jokes and references. That is exactly what makes the movie funnier. Would you have laughed more is the woman in the Bingo game had called Big Momma a "Ho!" instead of a "Heffer!"? Think about it.

My 2nd problem I had with the film was the weak character development. This story runs along the lines of those like "The Pacifier" and "Bringin' Down Da House", mixing up the most unexpected person with the complete opposite of family. In the end, the family actually likes the person and the person ends up saving the family or their family members, yadda yadda yadda. Not that I don't like these kind of stories, (I LOVE them) but this one was weakly done. What made it even worst is that when the movie was over, they made it seem like the bond was SO special. They didn't even go that far in "Bringin' Down Da House" and the relationship between Queen Latifah's character and the kids actually had development, something this family didn't. I mean, please, it even did the infamous, "I can't go yet. I still have ONE more thing left to do." line.

My 3rd problem was the fact that my favorite characters from the 1st film were used weakly or not at all. Jascha Washington's character Trent was just a waste of a paycheck that could've been used to make this movie a little funnier. Don't get me wrong, Trent was one of my favorite characters and I couldn't picture the franchise without him but if you're going to put him in the movie at all, make his character a bit more useful besides the obvious, "My (step)father embarrasses me!" crap. He was only in 2 scenes and I was REALLY hoping his character was going to be useful eventually. He wasn't.

Nia Long's character, Sherry, was useless too. Nia Long is a very good actress and her character was completely underdeveloped throughout the film. Although, some may argue that being in 3 scenes and being underdeveloped is two completely different things.

Finally, there were characters in the 1st one that made the movie what it was and they weren't even mentioned in this film. Character's like John(the white partner, he wasn't the one killed in the movie), Tichina Arnold's character Ritha(the one who gave birth during the 1st one) and Anthony Anderson's character, Nolan, (the over-sized mall cop who took his job WAY too seriously).

Ultimately, this movie came packed with cheap shot laughs that only someone under the age of 14 would laugh at. Falling out of chairs, catching maniac babies, and watching over-sized woman flaunt as if they're in the cover of vogue went out of style about 5 or 6 years ago. Come on, when was the last time someone laughed at these corny jokes?