New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Way to Prep #4: any Madea movie other than Boo! (every year or two)

This is a good time to remind my loyal readers (or those just joining 5 Ways to Prep for the first time) that I have one rule when making my five recommendations: you can only have one of the five movies be from the related franchise. If I don’t do this then you’ll find me recommending Star Wars Episodes 3 through 7 before you see Episode 8 this December. Usually, you can get away with seeing just one movie from a franchise, either the first (as it establishes the tone/rules for the franchise) or the last (how we most recently left things off). With the release of Boo 2, I’m going to do the opposite. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that the Boo franchise (the first sequel Perry’s Madea has put us through) won’t exactly be mythology heavy. In other words, you probably don’t need to see Boo 1 to understand Boo 2.

With that being said, you also don’t need too many hits of Madea before experiencing an overdose. She’s kind of a “less is more” type of character. Sure, you’ll laugh and cry watching one of her movies but gimmicks are only good for an hour or two. If that’s the case, then I imagine you’ll also burn out on Madea’s Halloween routine before the first film is over, so it would likely be counter-productive to watch Boo 1 before Boo 2. As such, if you want to watch a Madea movie before seeing Boo 2 to learn of the character then you can watch any number of other nonsensical situations that curvy mama has found herself in. She’s gone to jail, went to a family reunion, did Christmas stuff, was in the witness protection and so on. She’s been through a lot and has lots to teach. Her Halloween has already been done so I’d dodge that bullet before Boo 2 and dip your toes into her massive chocolate pond with a different feature.

Way to Prep #5: Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)

Like I said earlier, before Scary Movie started a never-ending barrage of low-budget, barely-funny, mock-movie copycats, there were individual actors that starred in movies that made fun of different genres. I mentioned Leslie Nielsen as one of those stars, not just because he was one of the most famous but because he is the one my father raised me on. He made fun of spies, action heroes and even classic horror creatures like Dracula. However, that’s not the same as making fun of Halloween itself. That distinction goes to another one of my childhood entertainers, Ernest. He was a goofy, bumbling redneck that was funny and extreme and exactly what a young boy might find hilarious. Jim Varney stars as the titular Ernest, a man who has been to jail, who saved Christmas, who… wait a sec, is this Ernest or Madea?

Madea owes her career to the likes of Ernest and Nielsen, while Perry might owe them royalties for “borrowing” their ideas… and by ideas, I mean identical film release patterns. Ernest only stumbled his way through Halloween once, so Madea takes the cake there, but it was Ernest who lit the path of pumpkins. Madea turned those pumpkins into sweet pie, as even the $30 million adjusted-for-inflation earnings of Scared Stupid doesn’t compare to Boo’s $73 million total. The movie industry needs all the help it can get right now so I hope Boo 2 does well, but even if Madea’s franchise is killed with this sequel she’ll be sure to resurrect again soon enough.

Continued:       1       2       3