Diary of a Mad Black Woman review (DVD) ★★★

Turning his attention to writing plays at the age of eighteen after being inspired by the mention of literary catharsis on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Tyler Perry has put many a story on paper that have been given life on stage before eager audiences. So successful were these productions that he was regularly touring the USA coast-to-coast and selling out 15,000-seater venues. It was estimated that he had audiences of 35,000 each week for 300 shows inside a year and sold millions upon millions of dollars worth of merchandise and tickets. Now by anyone's account, for plays, that's impressive, very impressive. There was such a demand for his live tales of comedy, drama and romance that he later had his performances recorded and sold on DVD. But where do you go from there when you receive yet more fanfare for your work? The answer is film.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman, based on his play of the same name, was Perry's first venture into film-making and it planted the seeds for a fast and furious Hollywood career that was soon to be that of an auteur's, and one of the highest paid in tinsel town. It's quite something, for a Hollywood film-maker, to have made more than five films in five years, so he is to be commended for his work ethic and dedication, but far from without major criticism, are Perry's movies actually any good? With Lionsgate's decision to release his first three in the UK, I've had a chance to see where it all began.

Although the only Tyler Perry movie to not be directed by Tyler Perry, Diary of a Black Woman was written and produced by him. He also stars as three separate characters and co-composed the score, so even though he wasn't calling the shots, quite literally, on set, his voice is inescapable throughout the film, which is an endearing romantic comedy; a story of morality with underlying themes of forgiveness, redemption and Christianity. The latter is not one that I'm at all fond of in films, especially when it's shoved down your throat, which at times it is in this one, but thankfully the humour is fairly adult and unchained to compensate for its religiousness.

When Helen's (Elise) eighteen-year marriage crumbles under her multimillionaire attorney husband's (Harris) announcement that he wants a divorce, she goes to stay with her aunt Madea, trading life in a gargantuan mansion for a small house in the ghetto. Her husband's reason for the split is simply that he no longer cares for her, and he's got a new woman. Oh, and he's been seeing her for a few years and had children all without Helen's knowledge. He treats her like dirt and doesn't give a damn, but Helen cannot get him out of her heart and it cripples her emotionally. This marital devastation all takes place in the opening twenty minutes and it's a touching, sad set-up for the rest of the film, but it suddenly takes quite a bizarre direction, and that's when Tyler Perry himself makes his first appearance.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman, with a title that can be interpreted as referring to Helen's anger, subsequent loopiness, a line of dialogue or Madea's general behaviour, is an easygoing, pleasant film, despite the derived core plot, with a bizarre sense of humour and a good pace for its drama to unfold. It's a strange one, but I enjoyed it.

EXTRAS ★★★ Audio commentary with writer and star Tyler Perry; Reflections on Diary: a short featurette looking back on the film; two outtakes; a 20-minute making of feature; Who is Tyler Perry?: a look at the characters Perry portrays; You Can Do It... It's Electric!: a rather pointless and not very helpful guide on how to do a dance routine from a sequence in the film.