By Glenn Whipp
Film Critic

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In the bipolar world of "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns," which opened Friday, you have Angela Bassett playing a dignified, working-class woman trying to pay the bills co-existing with a 21st-century Charo and a bunch of other characters who are, to quote a phrase from the movie, "acting the damn fool."

In other words, Perry's latest movie adaptation of one of his stage shows, is perfectly of a piece with all his other work, guaranteed to please his hallelujah chorus of faithful followers while leaving everyone else scratching their heads.

Bassett plays Brenda, a single mother living in Chicago, raising three kids from three different fathers. She and her pot-smoking,
"chemically imbalanced" Colombian gal pal (Sofia Vergara, beyond annoying) find themselves out of work when their "plant" moves
overnight to Mexico. (Fast movers, they.)

Then a letter arrives. Brenda's father — a man she has never met — has died. So she gathers the kids and heads to Georgia, where she meets the Browns, a cast of wacky relations that make "Sanford and Son's" Aunt Esther and Grady Wilson look like Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis by comparison.

"Meet the Browns" has one powerful scene where Brenda's teenaged son Michael (Lance Gross), tired of seeing his mother work hard for little money, decides to sell drugs. When Michael returns home, Brenda confronts him and tells him to get out. Bassett powerfully conveys the woman's fear, anger and resolve, potently reminding us that, while her acting opportunities may have waned, her talent most certainly has not.

The rest of "Meet the Browns" will be familiar to anyone who has stepped into Perry's world before — the broad, inane humor; the
mistrustful woman cautiously exploring a new relationship with a dream man (Rick Fox, earnestly pleasing); the requisite and completely unnecessary appearance by Madea (Perry in drag). And, of course, there's the group-hug happy ending with family
members who love and support one another, even when they're going "gospel gangsta" on each other's heads.

Next up for Perry: "Madea Goes to Jail." The man knows his audience.

Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672
glenn.whipp@dailynews.com

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review

TYLER PERRY'S MEET THE BROWNS

PG-13: drug content, language, sexual references, brief violence
Starring: Angela Bassett, Rick Fox.
Director: Tyler Perry.
Running time: 1 hr. 40 min.
Playing: Area wide.
In a nutshell: Latest Perry offering deviates little from past formula.