NEW LOOK. NEW YORK. NEW MADEA.

After finding out that the company where he’s CFO is actually a Ponzi scheme, George Needleman (Eugene Levy) and his family enter a witness protection program… and move in with Madea (Tyler Perry).

The first Madea film not based on a play is a straight farce without Perry’s usually generous helpings of mush. Why this simple story runs for almost two full hours is a mystery.

Very few laughs, and much more should have come out of the clashes between Levy and Perry’s characters.

2012-U.S. 114 min. Color. Written and directed by Tyler Perry. Cast: Tyler Perry (Madea/Joe/Brian), Eugene Levy (George Needleman), Denise Richards (Kate Needleman), Doris Roberts, Romeo Miller, Tom Arnold. Cameo: Charlie Sheen. 

Trivia: Alternative title: Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection. Co-produced by Perry. Madea next appeared in A Madea Christmas (2013).