Tyler Perry does it all: He wrote the original Family Reunion stage play, directed this sequel to the surprise hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman and even wears a dress as the gun-totin', loud-mouthed Georgia family matriarch Madea. It's too bad he stitches together such an awkward mixed bag of humor and melodrama. The movie's marketing might lure you in with promises of man-in-drag hilarity, but Perry broadsides us with over-the-top, movie-of-the-week drama about spousal abuse, incest and foster care.
Perry's loud-mouthed alter ego is hosting an all-star family reunion, piled high with tough-to-swallow issues and problems, all of which need to be handily rectified. Sporadically we see Madea taking care of a spunky foster child, and it's kinda funny, but so very out of place with the wacky center of downer plots about, like, child rape and abandonment. And by the time she finally gives good advice about dumping hot grits on the bastard who beats you, we're ready for this family to split up and not reunite for a long, long time.