A single mother living in inner city Chicago, Brenda has been struggling for years to make ends meet and keep her three kids off the street. But when she's laid off with no warning, she starts losing hope for the first time -- until a letter arrives announcing the death of a father she's never met. Desperate for any kind of help, Brenda takes her family to Georgia for the funeral. But nothing could have prepared her for the Browns, her father's fun-loving, crass Southern clan. In a small-town world full of long afternoons and country fairs, Brenda struggles to get to know the family she never knew existed -- and finds a brand new romance that just might change her life. - skip ad - Genres: Comedy and Adaptation Running Time: 1 hr. 40 min. Release Date:March 21st, 2008 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG-13 for drug content, language including sexual references, thematic elements and brief violence. Distributor: Lionsgate Cast And Credits Starring: Tyler Perry, Angela Bassett, Jenifer Lewis, Tamela J. Mann, Chloe Bailey Directed by: Tyler Perry Produced by: Michael Paseornek, Tyler Perry, Reuben Cannon

The latest product in the inexhaustible auteur's seemingly inexhaustible assembly line of black-themed films, Tyler Perry's "Meet the Browns" is a decided step back after his more sophisticated recent efforts.

This comedy drama about a single mother, Brenda, struggling with poverty while trying to raise three children in Chicago, features a fine performance by Angela Bassett, but her work is the sole subtle element.

As usual, Perry works laudable themes into this effort, like the dangerous lure of the drug trade for young people -- in this case, Brenda's high school basketball son, Michael (Lance Gross), a kid so perfect he cooks breakfast for his mama and addresses her as "ma'am." And he again comes down hard on black men who abandon their children, here exemplified by a character so utterly reprehensible that he should be twirling a mustache.

The film's setting switches midway through to rural Georgia, where Brenda has been summoned for the funeral of the father that she's never met.

There she encounters the titular family comprising the usual Perry-brand eccentrics, most notably Leroy (David Mann), a walking sight gag whose high-pitched voice well matches his hideously colored leisure-suit outfits, and the hostile Vera (Jenifer Lewis), who engages in the sort of overly demonstrative mourning that is a staple of cinematic black funerals.

Between hostile encounters with her hostile ex, who resists all her entreaties for financial help, Brenda inexplicably fends off the gently romantic advances of a seemingly perfect basketball coach (played by Rick Fox, formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers) who wants nothing more to help her son enter the big time.

The film demonstrates all too vividly its creator's penchant for soap opera-style melodramatics, absurdly broad comedy and offensively stereotypical characterizations, the latter exemplified by Brenda's best friend, Cheryl (Sofia Vergara), a Latina spitfire who displays her fiery anger and impressive cleavage with equal abandon.

As usual, there are some quietly moving moments woven into the mix that help compensate for the general silliness, including the few scenes between Brenda and a no-nonsense operator of a day-care center (the always terrific Irma P. Hall).

Unfortunately, the film also includes a (thankfully) brief appearance by Perry's drag alter-ego Madea, seen in an inexplicable sequence in which she is pursued, O.J. Simpson-style, by a convoy of police cars. Presumably, it's designed to set the stage for "Madea Goes to Jail," promised to hit theaters in 2010.