Salon.com > Russell Scott Smith http://www.salon.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:16:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The new Amos ‘n’ Andy? http://www.salon.com/2006/02/23/perry_7/ http://www.salon.com/2006/02/23/perry_7/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2006 12:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2006/02/23/perry Blacks and whites don't always understand each other. But in Hollywood, everyone's favorite color is green. So movie executives of all races took notice last February when a movie called "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" hit No. 1 at the box office -- despite no bankable stars, scant mainstream press attention and reviews that were almost laughably bad.

"Downright awful," "an absolute mess" and "one of the worst pictures in ages," critics wailed. Salon's Stephanie Zacharek called it "the sort of movie that's so bad, you just wish it would go away." Roger Ebert was offended by the movie's star, a "Big Momma's House"-style granny named Madea, who smokes reefer, keeps a pistol in her purse and slices up furniture with a chain saw. This "Grandma from Hell," as Ebert called her, was played in drag by the film's 6-foot-5 writer-producer-mastermind, Tyler Perry. "All blame returns to Perry," Ebert wrote. "What was he thinking?"

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