A Madea Christmas grossed $53.4 million worldwide.
Plot
Mabel "Madea" Simmons has been talked into getting a job at a local store by her niece Eileen in Atlanta, but gets fired on her first day.
Eileen’s daughter Lacey, a teacher at a small school in Bucktussle, Alabama, is married to a white man named Connor whose plans to grow special corn earn the ire of corn farmer Tanner McCoy, his school bully. The school does not have enough money to fund the town’s Christmas Jubilee, so Lacey asks her ex Oliver for funding through his business. She also tries to convince Tanner of his son Bailey’s excellence in school, though Tanner refuses to listen. Due to this, Lacey is unable to visit Eileen for Christmas, but Eileen takes Madea and Oliver to see her, not knowing that Lacey is married to a white man and hoping she and Oliver can still work as a couple.
Lacey takes Oliver to a town meeting while Madea looks after her class. A girl steals Madea’s purse; when Madea finds out, she loses her temper and ties her to a cross in the classroom. Meanwhile, Connor’s parents, Buddy and Kim, visit for Christmas and are told to keep the marriage a secret. Eileen cuts down Kim’s father’s memory tree; though she did not realize the meaning, Eileen shows no remorse. She becomes convinced that Buddy and Kim are part of the Ku Klux Klan after seeing Buddy with a bedsheet over his head.
Lacey soon discovers that the sponsors, Sheldon Construction, are forcing them to make the Jubilee Holiday-themed rather than Christmas-themed, and that they were the ones to build a nearby dam, cutting off the town’s water supply and putting their residents out of work. Infuriated by these facts, Tanner convinces the mayor to fire Lacey, much to Bailey's dismay. At home, she also reveals to Eileen that she is married to Connor, and Eileen’s true feelings about whites are revealed; her husband left her for a white woman though she told Lacey he was killed by a white man while trying to protect her honor. Eileen storms out and waits for a taxi to pick her up.
Lacey admits to Connor that Tanner got her fired, setting Connor off. Walking to town, Eileen sees Tanner’s overturned truck and saves his life. Connor punches Tanner and demands Eileen to get in his truck. Tanner apologizes to Connor for everything and thanks Eileen, who reluctantly accepts Lacey and Connor’s marriage. Tanner agrees to listen to Connor about his corn and to ask the mayor to rehire Lacey.
At the event, Lacey thanks the sponsors and announces their promises to help the citizens which were not in the original contract, knowing the repercussions they would face if they backed out. She also tells Oliver she is married to Connor as the students led by Bailey start singing.
A Madea Christmas received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 20% rating, based on 35 reviews, with the consensus: "It boasts a few laughs, but overall, Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas ranks among Perry's least entertaining or substantive works."[3] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an A− grade.[5]
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade B− but said that it felt like reruns: "Tyler Perry's movies haven't gotten any worse, but they haven't gotten better either, so they now carry the added disadvantage of overfamiliarity."[6]Variety called it "An exceptionally poor piece of holiday cash-in product, rushed and ungainly even by the low standard set by Perry's seven previous Madea films, yet it should be every bit as profitable."[7]The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Bah humbug to this latest screen outing for Tyler Perry's inexplicably popular character" and criticized the clunky narrative and the hackneyed dialogue.[8]
A Madea Christmas was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 25, 2014.[9] The DVD contains a first look at the opening of the then-upcoming animated feature Madea's Tough Love.
