“Tyler Perry’s Joe’s College Road Trip” is an unwieldy title. Given, however, where this dramatic comedy movie goes and how it gets there, it’s apt. If you’re not well-versed in the MCU — that’s “Madea Cinematic Universe” — take heed that its creator, writer-director-actor-producer Tyler Perry here portrays not just the fearsome matriarch, Madea, but also her outrageous brother Joe, and Joe’s respectable, bourgeois son Brian.
In this picture, Brian’s son, B.J., spurns the notion of attending Morehouse, the historically Black college, in his home state of Georgia, wanting to check out Pepperdine, all the way across the country.
For reasons that seem unfathomable, Brian entrusts his father to drive young B.J. to California. A preface to the film announces that both a racist epithet and a more vivid Anglo Saxonism will be repeated throughout the film. Indeed, it’s possible that Perry’s Joe drops more expletives here than Pacino did in “Scarface.” Even viewers who know the character’s penchant for profanity might be taken aback.
And there’s a lot more that you might not expect in a Tyler Perry movie. Like a visit to a brothel and a performance from raunch-funk pioneer Millie Jackson. The naïve B.J., superbly embodied by Jermaine Harris, gets an education not only from Destiny (a winning Amber Reign Smith as a rogue prostitute), but from seemingly deranged grandpa Joe, who’s crazy like a fox. One doesn’t want to spoil its ultimate surprise, but attentive viewers will catch on to it early — the spot where Joe asks B.J. to pose for a photo by the Mississippi isn’t scenic, it’s significant. There’s a reason that “Road Trip” is premiering in the middle of Black History Month. While expansively anarchic to a fault, the movie’s anger, and its pride, is convincing.
Tyler Perry’s Joe’s College Road Trip Rated R for themes and language, language, language. Running time 1 hour 49 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
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