Boo 2! A Madea Halloween
“Boo 2! plays up Hattie Mae’s speech impediment for shallow laughs, demonstrating just how out of touch Tyler Perry Studios is.”
Title: Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017)
Director: Tyler Perry 👨🏾🇺🇸
Writer: Tyler Perry 👨🏾🇺🇸
Reviewed by Niesha Davis 👩🏾🇺🇸
Technical: 1/5
When it comes to Tyler Perry, members of the Black American community often either love him or hate him. Perry undoubtedly gives jobs to Black creatives, but his critics believe his work is one-dimensional, preachy, and stereotypical. Some have even questioned if Perry has a grudge against Black women.
Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, the sequel to 2016’s Boo! A Madea Halloween, picks up on the 18th birthday of Tiffany (Diamond White). Her father Brian (played by Perry, in addition to his performance as Madea) is having a hard time processing his daughter’s transition into adulthood, showing up to her school outfitted in a twee children’s party hat. Meanwhile, Tiffany’s mother Debrah (Taja V. Simpson) gets Tiffany the gift she was hoping to get from her father—a new car.
Brian doesn’t trust his daughter with driving, believing she’s too young for so much responsibility. But viewers are given no background or explanation about why Brian doesn’t trust his daughter. Instead, Perry’s script simply has Brian repeating multiple variations of “She’s just not responsible enough.” Eager to do things a typical 18-year-old would want to do, Tiffany naturally hatches a plan to attend a frat party at Lake Derrick, an abandoned campsite where four teenagers were murdered years earlier.
In a series of artistic choices that make little sense and fail to build the suspense that horror movies are known for, Brian finds out about the party before they even leave the house. Boo 2! just doesn’t excel on any level. It’s not funny, it’s not scary, the plot is flimsy, and there is little to no character development. Instead, the film feels like a cheap money-grab that relies on the ceaseless support of his core audience.
Gender: 2/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES
Multiple scenes feature conversations centered around Tiffany’s well-being, including one between Aunt Bam (Cassie Davis), Hattie Mae (Patrice Lovely), and Madea. Unfortunately, they fail to take into account who Tiffany really is and instead project their expectations of young womanhood onto her, pitting them against her instead of being supportive.
Furthermore, during a party scene, the father (Tito Ortiz) of Tiffany’s best friend Gabriella (Inanna Sarkis) leers at his daughter's friends and with the insinuation that he is physically attracted to them. It’s frustrating that the movie depicts 18-year-old girls as not old or mature enough to drive or go to a college party alone, but feels comfortable having an adult male view them in a sexual manner. Perry can definitely do better.
Race: 3.5/5
Perry does a good job casting Black people with a variety of skin tones in the film. Both Tiffany and her mother are darker-complected, while Hattie Mae and Calvin (Akende Munalula), Debra’s boyfriend, are light-skinned. In addition, non-Black characters of color are written into prominent roles. Tiffany’s best friend Gabriella is played by Sarkis, who is Canadian with Assyrian and Bulgarian heritage. And members of the fraternity hosting the Halloween party are cast diversely, including students like Jonathan who is played by Palestinian American actor Yousef Erakat.
But although Boo 2! boasts multiculturalism, Perry does next to nothing with the characters. There’s no chemistry between anyone, nor are their backgrounds used to inform their narratives whatsoever. The “color blind” writing feels incredibly superficial.
Deduction for Disability: -0.75
The character of Hattie Mae, a family friend, speaks with a lisp—and Perry never lets the audience forget it. He plays up her speech impediment for shallow laughs, demonstrating just how out of touch Tyler Perry Studios is.
Deduction for LGBTQ: -0.25
Transphobia arrives through the character of Joe (Perry), Madea’s younger brother and the elder male figure in the movie, when Joe makes an unfunny joke about Madea having balls.
Mediaversity Grade: F 1.83/5
Through the Madea franchise and his other works, Perry is known for creating films that uphold old-school Christian family values that feature lessons in morality. He clearly means well, but it’s so hard to overlook the flat production values and poorly written dialogue steeped in misogyny and homophobia. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween may not be actively causing harm, given its underlying moral message about deceitfulness and respecting one’s elders. But it simply fails on so many technical and social fronts. Perry once boasted online that he single-handedly writes all of his own scripts. We can tell, man—and that’s not a good thing.