I would rather watch the directors cut of Norbit with Eddie Murphy than sit through this garbage again...

Now while I don't consider myself a Tyler Perry fan especially when he portrays Medea, I found myself enjoying most of this, his last time (so he says) portraying this character. He portrays her as well as her brother and now also someone named Heathrow. There's yet another family drama with the kinds of problems one could probably predict from these kinds of movies. But when the screen is on Medea and her friends, there's quite a few earned laughs. So on that note, A Medea Family Funeral is quite entertaining.

No, the grand dame of disaster herself Mabel Simmons doesn't die in writer & director Tyler Perry's "A Madea Family Funeral," a standard-issue, morality tale that Madea enlivens with her slapstick shenanigans. Although this marks his final appearance as the unforgettable matriarch who misquotes the Bible, Perry filmed "A Madea Family Funeral" over the course of a week back in 2017. He withheld its release until his two horror comedies "Boo! Madea Halloween" and its sequel came out. Statistically speaking, Madea has appeared in eleven movies, since Perry made his cross-dressing debut in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" (2005). Sadly, "A Madea Family Funeral" is a wan swan song. Most of its scenes are confined to comfortably furnished rooms in a two-story suburban house, with the cast babbling as if they were in a TV sit-com. The only scene outside the house features a small-town, white, Georgia policeman who stops Brian for a minor traffic infraction. Earlier, Brian had swerved his SUV recklessly in a residential neighborhood when Madea goosed him to speed up. A similar scene in "The Hate U Give" ended tragically with the accidental shooting death of a teen obsessed with his curls. Taking a totally different tack, Brian preaches "compliance" and plans to comply with the cop to defuse a potentially explosive situation. Initially, the uniformed officer is abusive. Once he runs Brian's license and registration, he brightens and behaves congenially before driving away. Happily, nobody gets shot. Nevertheless, Brian feels like the officer has somehow taken unfair advantage of him. Ironically, despite his efforts to comply, Brian changes his attitude and now wants to argue. Madea, Joe, Hattie, and Aunt Bam, who all are riding with him, warn Brian not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not only does Perry play Madea, Brian, and Joe, but he has also created a new character, Heathrow, an obnoxious, double-amputee, Vietnam veteran who speaks with an electrolarynx, and cruises around in a motorized wheelchair.

In "A Madea Family Funeral," a couple is poised to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with family and friends is the conflict. As it turns out, the apparently virtuous husband, Anthony (Derrick Morgan of "Never Been Kissed"),has been cheating on his churchgoing wife, Vianne (Jen Harper of "Claudine's Return"),since their marriage. No matter how many times she left Anthony, Vianne returned strictly for the material welfare of her three children. Not long afterward, Madea, when Brian, Joe, Hattie, and Aunt Bam arrive for the anniversary celebration, Anthony dies in the arms of a younger woman, Renee (Quin Walters of "Barbershop 2: Back in Business"),at the same motel where Brian booked rooms for Madea and company. Later, a report indicates that an overabundance of Viagra may have caused Anthony's death! Recognizing Anthony's oldest son, A.J. (Courtney Burrell of "Blackhats"),in the hall outside the room, Brian, Madea, Joe, Hattie and Aunt Bam enter and spot Anthony sprawled in bed, decked out sexual bondage gear, with a distraught Renee hovering nearby half-dressed. Not surprisingly, A.J. has inherited his father's lying, cheating ways because he is having an extramarital fling with Gia (Aeriel Miranda of "Straight Outta Compton"),and she is his younger brother's fiancée. After Anthony dies in the hospital, Vianne places Madea in charge of her dysfunctional family quandary. No way is Vianne prepared to let her contentious children conduct Anthony's last rites. Furthermore, Vianne gives Madea permission to supervise the funeral ceremony. During the memorial service, more than half of the ladies attending are none other than Anthony's former lovers. Before the funeral service commences, Madea learns about a bizarre problem looming over Anthony's funeral. The Undertaker (Aryeh-Or of "J. Edgar") explains that he could not permanently secure the casket lid over Anthony's lower half, because the Viagra had lost none of its potency. When the Undertaker tried to slam the lower lid shut, Anthony's invigorated remains rammed against it, and the lower lid flew open. Writer & director Tyler Perry milks this audacious comic gag for laughs galore.

Predictably, the funeral is the highlight of this frivolous Madea escapade. Our histrionic heroine shows up, dressed from head to toe in black, with a preposterously tall hat that makes her resemble a Quaker. Madea imposes a rigid, two-minute time limit on everybody who steps up to the podium. Nevertheless, she struggles desperately without success to cut down on the length of time while the funeral continues with no end in sight. Everybody either talks or sings for far more than two minutes, and director Tyler Perry spins the hands on a clock comically to show that the funeral last eight hours! Afterward, when Madea isn't counseling the family, she discourages Brian, Joe, Hattie, and Aunt Bam from divulging any sordid details about Anthony's demise. By far, the funeral qualifies as the funniest scene, with lots of songs, dances, prayers, and the thumping casket lid.

The chief problem with "A Madea Family Funeral" is the scenes about Anthony's family are humdrum compared to the sidesplitting scenes with Madea and her scatter-brained posse. Aunt Bam and Hattie are as goofy as ever. Hattie (Patrice Lovely of "Boo! A Madea Halloween") is particularly facetious when she leaps on Anthony's body in the motel room. Madea ridicules Bam (Cassi Davis of "School Daze") about her bladder control issues after they hit the road for a 3-hour trip to Anthony & Vianne's anniversary. When Madea isn't amusing us with her witticisms, "A Madea Family Funeral" resembles a straightforward "Lifetime" soap opera. Perry is once again a laugh riot in drag as well as out when he plays Madea's straight-arrow son Brian and her two woebegone brothers, lewd Joe and rude Heathrow. Perry's gallery of characters provides "A Madea Family Funeral" with its best laughs. Clocking in at 110 minutes, "A Madea Family Funeral" delivers more than enough laughs to justify the experience of watching the final installment of the "Madea" franchise on the big-screen.