What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this film includes several scenes of violence, some dramatic and some comic. A man abuses his fiancée repeatedly, slapping, walloping, and shaking her, threatening to throw her out a window and throwing her to the floor. Madea threatens violence as punishment (she will "tear that ass up," for example), and in some scenes acts on her warning: She slaps a boy in the head and hits her foster child with a belt for skipping school; she advises her niece on revenge for her abuse, and eventually the niece throws hot grits on her abuser and then beats him with a frying pan. At the reunion, the family matriarchs chastise the younger generation for playing craps, arguing, and dancing provocatively (we see examples of all these bad behaviors). Characters refer to sexual activity and use slang ("get some"), including prostitution (one character says her mother was a "whore"). Characters drink beer, wine, and champagne, and refer to "weed," "the chronic," and "a fix."
- Families can talk about the strong ties among family members, and the power of forgiveness (why is it important that Vanessa forgives her mother, even though Victoria allowed her husband to abuse Vanessa sexually as a child?). How does Lisa feel trapped in her relationship with Carlos? How is Victoria's determination to have her daughter marry a wealthy man explained, so she remains "sympathetic"? How does Madea promote traditional values with practical/comic solutions (hitting an abuser with a frying pan)?