Meet the Browns
Tags: melodrama

Plot synopsis:
In Chicago, Brenda Brown-Davis (Angela Bassett) is a struggling single mother of three (Mike Jr, Lena, and Tosha). One day she receives a letter stating that her father, whom she has never met, has died. On the same day, the plant where she and her friend Sheryl (Sofia Vergara) work closes so she loses her job which adds to her existing financial difficulties. As they discuss how they will get by, Brenda is approached by Miss Mildred, the woman who watches Brenda's youngest child in her home daycare center. Miss Mildred is upset that Brenda has not been paying for daycare and states that she will no longer watch Tosha.
Later, they all go to Mike Jr's school basketball game where he is a star. A scout, Harry (Rick Fox), takes notice of Mike Jr and comes to his house to speak to him about his future and ends up asking Brenda out. Brenda has no interest in hearing about the possibility of going pro and walks away. She takes her daughter to Miss Mildred and begs for her to watch the girl so she can go get money from her ex and pay the woman back. Miss Mildred relents and Brenda and Sheryl go to the construction site where Mike Sr works. It is revelaed that Brenda has never received any assistance from her ex and he again refuses to provide any financial support.
Brenda decides to take her children to Georgia to attend her father's funeral. She is met by his other children who were unaware of her existence. As she gets to know her newfound relatives, she is surprised to run into Harry but learns that he lives in the same town and is on good terms with her father's family. At dinner, it is revealed that the eldest son of "Pop" Brown, LB, was the only one who knew about Brenda. On his deathbed, their father confessed to LB that he had been a pimp in Chicago and that Brenda's mother, his mother, and a number of other friends of their father's that they had known were all his working girls. The family now recognize Brenda as one of their own and offer their support and encouragement.
Brenda and her children return to Chicago. Mike Sr has considered Brenda's words and attempts to take an interest in his son's life but is still not willing to provide much assistance. Mike Jr rejects him and leaves. In an attempt to make money to help his mother's situation, he turns to his friend Calvin who is a drug dealer. Harry sees Mike Jr selling drugs and counsels him. While Harry and Brenda go on a date, Mike Jr tells his friend that he no longer wants to take part in illegal activities and he is shot. This leads to a further breakdown in the relationship between Brenda and her ex.
Harry reaches out to the Browns to ask for help in getting her father's old place for her and her kids. They renovate the home and surprise Brenda. Despite this gesture, Brenda's insecurities and family gossip lead to her having doubts about Harry's motives and they split up.
A league representative comes to visit Brenda and Mike Jr and offers him a million dollar contract. She finds out that it was Harry who referred Mike Jr to the league. On signing day, Mike Sr shows up to be photographed with his ex and son but Mike Jr announces to the press that he doesn't know his father and that his mother had raised him without support. Upon leaving, he tells his mother that Harry is a good man and more of a father figure than his actual father had been. Brenda goes to see Harry and they reconcile, ultimately leading to marriage.

Review: My theater that I work at got Meet the Browns, I have never ever seen a Tyler Perry movie, so this would be my first.
I just don't understand why people are being so harsh with this movie, I felt like it was just a decent and uplifting film.
Angela Bassett, who must of made a deal with the devil to look that good at 50, pulls in a great and heart felt performance as a mom who is just trying to do right by her kids despite the hard times she's facing.Brenda is a single mom in Chicago who is just struggling like crazy to take care of her three kids, trying to do the right thing, she looses her job, her electricity has been shut off, she's being judged by everyone, and the dad of her son just refuses to pay any child support what so ever.
But when she finds out that her dad(who she never met) died, she and the kids go down to Georgia for the funeral, and she finds out that he gave her a house, which her family and a handsome family friend pull together to put her dreams back into place and to give her star basketball son a great future.Meet the Browns is just generally a good film, there are things that are a little off key, but it's all good.
I would recommend Meet the Browns, it's a fun film that I'm sure will make you feel good, please ignore the harsh rating, this is a totally misjudged film.6/10.
I always give his films the benefit of the doubt, and I really enjoyed "Why Did I Get Married?" This movie though, "Meet The Browns," could have been an ABC Television Network After School Special.
The characters were CARICATURES of real people.I laughed here and there in this movie, but overall, I was vastly disappointed in this effort.
It's like Mr. Perry just "threw this movie together" without much thought..
After seeing last year's excellent Daddy's Little Girls and Why Did I Get Married I thought Tyler Perry had finally come into his own as a film maker.
Sadly even an A-list actress couldn't save Meet The Browns from being a trite affair that may hugely disappoint Perry's fans.
Maysie Hoy who edited Perry's two previous films comes of as a first timer here which is ironic because she's been doing movies since 1992 and has worked with talented directors such as Robert Altman (The Player)and Theodore Witcher (Love Jones).
Tyler Perry has the potential to be one of the strongest black filmmaker in Hollywood, he knows a good story, has a knack for finding talent hence Lammon Rucker and Lance Goss who will both go on to do great things.
Unfortunately, my first Tyler Perry movie.
Sadly, she spent the whole rest of the evening over coffee and cannoli reflecting on how great Tyler Perry's OTHER movies were.
I forgive her - we're friends.This movie was OK - it had its funny moments and good Lord don't we ALL have those family members?
I don't care if you're black, Italian, Jewish or white-bread American - we've ALL got that same cast of characters sitting around our family table.And OK, i understand that unless i saw the other movies i would not have a clue who Madea is or why she's being chased by the police.
But that's OK - i can let an inside joke slide, especially considering the huge hoot and roar that accompanied her appearance.Overall, i understand that this was not Tyler Perry's finest hour.
Angela Basset was terrific as well as Rick Fox. The Leroy Brown character was funny at first and then he just got annoying.
I don't want to go in to the movie that much because I don't want to spoil it, but Brenda is a single mother that is struggling with money and finds out that her father that she never knew had died.
Frankie Faison, Margaret Avery, Jenifer Lewis and Angela Bassett are all well seasoned actors but their acting roles in this movie was that of an amateur.
I was SO upset when I saw this movie because it's like Tyler took three of his plays (Meet the Browns, What's Done in the Dark, and Madea Goes to Jail) and used the SAME LINES in most cases.
I was expecting more from a Tyler Perry movie..
I have seen all of Tyler Perry's movies (that I know about) and have enjoyed them all...until now.
Angela Bassett was very good in her role and I enjoyed the young man who played her son, but the rest of the relatives were WAY too over the top!
One of the things I like about Mr. Perry's movies is the likable, believable characters...but Leroy and Vera?
this is the worst tyler perry movie yet!
-- i'll still support it, but i feel like i wasted my money going to see this one..:( ...my favorite movies have definitely been diary of a mad black woman followed by family reunion.
Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns was such a wonderful movie.
I thought the acting was played pretty well and loved the idea of having Rick Fox star in this movie.
I am not sure why Tyler Perry keeps making movies.
People obviously see things in Meet the Browns and its comedic/dramatic leverage that I have yet to find; wouldn't be the first time..
Meet the Browns is a tolerable albeit thoroughly bland effort by Tyler Perry, that manages to touch on sensitive, vital issues in the black community but also shortchange a great deal of those involved in the community into broad forgettable caricatures.
Concerning the Brown family, as the title suggests, the film follows single-mother Brenda (Angela Bassett) living in Chicago with her oldest son Michael (Lance Gross) in high school and her two young daughters.One day, Brenda receives a death notice that states the father she has never met has died.
Brenda is welcomed with open arms to meet a good-natured clan known as the Brown family, which also provide her with a release from Chicago's hectic environment and introduce her to the slower ways of Georgia.Meet the Browns is sufficient for both basic cable entertainment in addition to Tyler Perry's filmography, which always seems to find ways to incorporate more and more questionable film entries in there.
Perry paints in broadstrokes here when he should be refining detail.Having said that, Meet the Browns does a nice job at telling us (or maybe reminding some) that there is a vicious cycle in the black community that is sad but true.
However, with Meet the Browns, he hit a goldmine in terms of popularity, eventually incorporating the film's premise and characters into Perry's second sitcom, which went on to do solid numbers on Television.
People obviously see things in Meet the Browns and its comedic/dramatic leverage that I have yet to find; wouldn't be the first time.Starring: Angela Bassett and Lance Gross.
Brenda, who is played by Angela Bassett, is a single parent with 3 kids and with no help from dads she has to work.
That all I'm going to tell you, overall it's a great movie for any family, it shows the ups and downs, Friendship and trust with people you barley know.
"Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns" starts off well enough with Angela Bassett playing a strong-willed single mother struggling to raise her three children amidst poverty and unemployment on the South Side of Chicago.
And that simply doesn't make for very compelling drama.Of the actors, Bassett is nicely restrained and understated as always, and Lance Gross exhibits some genuine talent as Brenda's principled teenage son, but David Mann, Jenifer Lewis, Sofia Vergara, and even Perry himself, in a pointless cameo appearance as both Medea and Uncle Joe, are allowed to spin so out of control in their various shticks that they turn whole sections of the movie into little more than a circus freak show.Noble intentions notwithstanding, "Meet the Browns" is a true "drag" of a romantic comedy - in the most negative sense of that term..
She thought it would cheer her up after losing her pet Pomeranian to a pack of wild coyotes.This movie is about what you would expect from a light hearted romantic comedy, with one exception - it stars Tyler Perry!!!
let's just cut to the chase, knowing that Tyler Perry was playing the part of "Medina" was disturbing to say the least.
Apparently Tyler Perry enjoys dressing like and old woman and running around in support hose tossing out one-lines and acting like a fool...
Don't waste your time on this movie, You'll want to sue Tyler perry for your money and time back.
I remember being leery of this movie via the previews that started out as a good story but then turned to the quirky characters.
I just happened to catch it on TNT, and I was so taken by the story that I had to write.This movie plugs into Tyler Perry's "Madea" franchise, but only on the very edges.
Based on the quality of this story, which comes from Perry's original play of the same name, I now feel I will have to watch some more of his work.The story has several sections...I was happy that just as I felt the story might be winding down that yet another story segment shows up.
Now, I watched it on YOUTUBE but the fact is that I've already seen this material so it's really like 'Great, you put a compilation of what you've already done just established more in the film' I feel that the family could have been highlighted a little more because of the fact of the Title Meet The Browns.
I do feel as if this is not the worst that he's ever done, but it is one of the ones I would put down there with Diary Of A Mad Black Woman the Play.As far as Brown, I don't think that he should be in movies.
I am not in film but I do know that in a play there is a certain suspension of reality that is expected but in a movie, it is expected to be as real as possible while being fictional enough to entertain you.
This movie kinda flirts between the two, Any of the playgoers you may see some of the interplay between the plays Meet The Browns and What's Done In The Dark.
This is really not what I expected, also Angela Basset does a great job that I almost believe that she's a young woman though I think they should have cast a younger actress, I think that Kimberly Elise could have played this part very convincingly The film opens up with Brenda getting her 3 kids off to work and her sidekick Cheryl making sure the bus doesn't leave without her.
She comes to her son's basketball game and he shows some promise (Michael) so much so that a recruiter tries to get Brenda to sign him up, she flat out refuses.She tries to bounce back when her lights get cut off and at one point a daycare woman played by the great Irma P Hall says 'I'm not gonna take your child in if you don't pay' but she makes a change of heart when she realizes what kind of woman she is.Needless to say she gets down to GA and gets a house.
I mean, I wondered about this but Michael did say that he is going to take care of his Mom and Sisters I just thought that Brenda would get herself a good job in GA.This was my perspective on the movie.
Overall it was nice but Tyler Perry needs to stop using the old material from his plays as he did with WHY DID I GET MARRIED AND DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN AS WELL AS MADEA'S FAMILY REUNION.
a good movie typical tyler.
Look it doesn't matter what they did,for someone who didn't watched any of the movies listed in the previous comment,this movie is awesome...It's good,everything is good,the acting,the story,the whole movie,most of the movie you will end up,first in a tears but latter,laughing and having a nice time...The actors are great including Rick Fox.....What else you want?If you feeling kinda low and want some good movie to cheer you up,this is the perfect match!!!
Yes folks, Tyler Perry is back, with all the wifebeating, moralizing, home cookin' and inappropriate jokes about drugs and assault that his target audience (y'know, churchgoin' black folk) has come to expect and cherish (albeit with diminishing returns) from his films.Surprisingly here, he had a solid cast and a decent enough script that it could have been just as touching and funny as Madea's Family Reunion unexpectedly was, if he could just avoid the maudlin twists of melodrama, the manufactured strife that continually frustrated the film's otherwise successful attempts at ingratiation.
Just when everything is going good, when you're touched even as the manipulation shows its seams, the find finds something to bring you down, be it a dredging of past, a miscommunication or even a preposterously-timed shooting, there's just something that makes you go, "Why?" Leave it be, it's working." The acting is not impeccable (that there's not a lot of subtlety or nuance involved in the proceedings goes without saying), but it has a charming down-home vibe to it; these characters feel lived in, even if they're obvious constructs.
Just something to think about.The film, like all of Perry's, is easy to watch and never becomes a chore, but where Diary of a Mad Black Woman was an ungainly monster that gave you whiplash in its genre shifts, and where Madea's Family Reunion managed to put it all together, Meet the Browns is situated right in the middle, with enough success to be pleasant, but enough mistakes to make you wish it was better.{Grade: 6.25/10 (high C+) / #19 (of 57) of 2008}.
You cannot give any movie with great actresses like Jenifer Lewis and Angela Bassett a bad rating.
The Brown family was crazy throughout the movie.
And this movie is more like the plays than the others.
I love Tyler Perry's plays.
Although I will always support Tyler since I find that his message is good, I wish he would spend more time making the movie really funny and instead of over the top with things we can not relate to.
********Spoiler Ahead********* I am a big Tyler Perry fan, and have supported all his work.
I don't understand the inconsistency of Tyler Perry's movies..
His DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN and WHY DID I GET MARRIED are well written; they are also good looking movies.
I gave it a five in respect for the talented cast that includes the always wonderful Angela Bassett.The dialogue was poor, the character of Brown did not translate from the stage to film.
And the outtakes were the worst I had ever seen, ever.Tyler's other movies are in between DIARY/MARRIED and BROWN.
"Meet the Browns: The Movie" was released, exposing the world to the character Mr. Brown, hilariously played by David A.
Well...I have to be honest, of all of the Tyler Perry movies at the time, this one felt like the weakest.Now, that's not to say this movie is bad at all!
What about the people coming to this movie who don't know who Brown is?
The audience for Tyler Perry's productions began when he was touring his theatrical plays, but they grew when he began making movies.
In the movie, we can't laugh at that because we don't know who Brown is.
In the play, it's funny thinking a man like Brown comes from this type of family.
Something else that I've heard people talk about is that this movie is not spent enough on Brown or his family, it's about Brenda.
Rather than meeting the Browns, we're looking at Brenda's story.
I always thought of it as Brenda being as low as she can go until she finds faith and hope by meeting the family she never knew about, the Browns.
In Brown's first movie, I really would have liked to see a lot of him!
For the most part, we're looking at Brenda and her family; it's a great dramatic story, but where's Brown?
Or if Brenda is going to be here, even the dramatic scenes out with some comedy provided by Brown; I think this comedy-drama is more dramatic than comedic.I do have to say that what makes this film good is the realness of it.
I know, I keep saying Tyler Perry's stories and characters are so very realistic, but that's because it's true!
Only now, we see them on the big screen.Like I said, the movie is good.
I'd highly recommend it, but only after you see Tyler Perry's other plays; productions like "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," "Madea's Family Reunion," "Madea's Class Reunion," "Meet the Browns," and "What's Done in the Dark." After you've seen those, take a look at this movie.
Despite a shameless plug to promote Tyler Perry's next Madea film (Madea goes to Jail) with a chase sequence which spoofs O.J Simpson, and that it veers towards major melodrama in the second half (especially with Michael the son) I really enjoyed this movie.
Meet the Browns is all about family values, and being a good Mother.
Angela Bassett is remarkably good as a struggling Mother, just looking to barely make it by every month, and make ends meet.
If you're looking for a good Tyler Perry film, this is a great selection.
In the first 15 minutes of MEET THE BROWNS, Angela's character is in a heartbreaking situation.
MEET THE BROWNS remains a jarring uneven mess until the end.The thing that is most sad about this film failing to deliver is that it contains such a mega-talented cast.The other thing to note is that Angela Bassett's character is an upstanding honorable person.