Meet The Browns (Blu-ray)

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The romantic interest between Brenda and the basketball recruiter makes a lot more sense. Brenda is vulnerable, and here comes a nice guy who treats her kids the way their fathers won't. And he does things for her. It all gets pretty cheesy, but there's decent chemistry between Bassett and Fox, though his "soul patch" looks silly.

It all comes down to the disjunctive nature of this PG-13 film: the uncomfortable blending of drama with broad, slapstick humor. Some people are able to mix comedy and drama effectively. So far, I have yet to see it from Tyler Perry.

Video:
My Samsung doesn't register the codec and Lionsgate hasn't shared that information, so the transfer method is a mystery. I can tell you that the disc is a BD50, and that the 1080 picture looks bright and clear, with natural looking skintones and a pleasing level of contrasts. Black levels are strong, and edges are cleanly defined. I saw no noticeable artifacts, though I thought at one point, where are the artifacts when you need them? It seems like the disappointing films have the better pictures. "Meet the Browns" is presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

Audio:
The audio is a very solid English DTS HD 7.1 Master Audio, which fills the room with sound in a surprisingly dynamic way for a film that's more dialogue than music or FX. The front-speaker spread is nice and wide, and all the channels are active in a way that seems natural. The bass is full-bodied but mellow, and the treble notes are bright without seeming shrill or harsh. There's also a Spanish 2.0 Dolby Stereo option, with subtitles in English and Spanish.

Extras:
The extras are a bundle of short-short features that spotlight different members of the cast. To Perry's credit, he doesn't give himself a focus feature. "Meet the Manns" is an under 10-minute get-to-know feature on David and Tamela Mann, in which we see them in their home and learn about how they met, how deeply religious they are, and how they finish each others stories like old married. "Mr. Brown's Fashion Breakdown" is quick peek (just under 3 minutes) into the garish wardrobe closet, while "Angela and Rick: Meet the Lovebirds" splices together spotlights on Bassett and Fox, with no great surprises except Perry saying he's never worked with somebody as intense as Bassett, and Bassett revealing the respect she has for Fox's acting ability. That feature is just over 7 minutes, as is "Jennifer Lewis: Unleashed," who sits in front of the camera and ad libs half in-character and half out.

"Bakin' It and Shakin' It with Mr. Brown" is an under 7-minute cooking segment with Mann demonstrating a donut recipe, "The Music of Meet the Browns" is an under 6-minute blip about how Aaron Zigman uses instruments to reinforce the comedy and characters, and what you'd think would be the longest feature--"The Browns are Born: The Story of Meet the Browns"--is also just a blip on your screen at a little over 7 minutes. In it, Perry tells briefly how he decided he'd make the film. None of the features bowls you over, and collectively they feel like someone throwing them together so that there would be bonus features.

Disc 2 features a downloadable (PC, iPod, etc.) Digital Copy of the film in standard definition.

Bottom Line:
Tyler Perry fans will appreciate this, because it's probably the most accomplished of his films. But that's unfortunately not saying much for the king of direct-to-video. Some of the actors make this tolerable, but Perry's script and one-man supervision ultimately limits "Meet the Browns" to a strange combination of melodrama and dinner theater antics.

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