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. 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.
The importance of faith, church, kin, staying off drugs, sharing food, repenting from sin, forgiving sinners, appreciating a good black man, rejecting a bad one, and honoring black matriarchy is enumerated with typical, reassuring Perry broadness.
– Lisa Schwarzbaum,
Entertainment Weekly,
26 Mar 2008
fresh:
Unlike Diary, the drama here is buoyant enough to handle the contrast of its too-silly slapstick.
– Aaron Hillis,
Village Voice,
25 Mar 2008
rotten:
Meet the Browns is packed with raucous dinner-table banter and broad double takes; sometimes the gags are funny, but usually they're just trying too hard.
– Stephanie Zacharek,
Salon.com,
24 Mar 2008
fresh:
To appreciate Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, there's really only one requirement: Loosen up.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
24 Mar 2008
rotten:
There are a few laughs and some touching moments, but nothing you couldn't get by watching episodes of Good Times and Little House on the Prairie back to back.