As others try to make Brenda feel at home, Vera (Jenifer Lewis) poisons the proceedings with her suspicions about Brenda and the motives of Harry (Rick Fox), a former basketball star who wants to take Michael under his wing. His intentions toward Brenda are clearly romantic, but his past gambling addiction gives Brenda pause, and Vera fuels Brenda’s misgivings by suggesting that Harry only wants a piece of Michael’s future salary.

Perry, who has made a name with a series of plays and movies touting Christian values and family bonds among African Americans, makes few missteps in directing Meet the Browns. The shift toward seriousness in the film’s final third slows down the cavalcade of jokes and sucks the air out of the boisterous earlier portion of the film, while thrusting its central characters through too many life changes too quickly. But the seriousness is also a reminder of the struggles presented early in the film, and a way of showing the fulfillment of one character’s promise to Brenda. “God will make a way,” Brenda is told, and she replies, “I sure want to believe that.”

“You must believe it,” the first woman says.

The rush of events packed into the film’s closing minutes delivers the payoff of that promise in such a warm-hearted manner that it’s hard to fault the plot mechanics.

Questions? Comments? Contact me at crosswalkchristian@earthlink.net.

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  God’s name is used several times, usually with reverence, but a few times the use of His name sounds too casual; a couple of profanities; a woman is accused of cussing in Spanish; a mispronunciation leads to a joke about gonorrhea; also, a joke about an accident that led to an “instant vasectomy” and lead poisoning on a man’s “privates”; discussion of prostitution, including multiple references to “whores”; a woman being arrested charges the officers with “giving her a mammogram.”
• Sex/Nudity:  None; a woman says her three children have three different fathers; kissing.
• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs:  A woman makes a joke about her “joints” and is shown smoking one; drug dealing is shown as a lucrative temptation.
• Violence:  Woman throws a brick at a man; an angry woman is advised not to “go Gospel gangsta”; drug dealers brawl; a man is shot; woman slaps a hysterical man; a woman attacks police officers.
• Gambling:  A man says he no longer gambles because he’s been “saved”; a man lives with past regrets over the destruction caused by a gambling addiction.
• Religion:  Multiple references to God and His helpfulness, although a few mentions are played for laughs.