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Diary of a Mad Black Woman
EMAILPRINTLions Gate Films Inc.

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 91 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama
Written by: Tyler Perry (also play)
Directed by: Darren Grant
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 25, 2005
DVD: June 28, 2005
Running Time: 116 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for drug content, thematic elements, crude sexual references and some violence
Starring Kimberly Elise, Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, Tamara Taylor, Lisa Marcos, Tiffany Evans, Cicely Tyson, and Tyler Perry
Filled with a mix of comedy and drama, Diary of a Mad Black Woman is based on the immensely popular play of the same name written by Tyler Perry. (Lions Gate Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Daddy's Little Girls Madea's Family Reunion Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
A very curious and very entertaining mix, the Labradoodle of inspirational romantic-comedy-melodramas.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A bad movie so over-the-top that at moments it's almost good - or, at least, more arresting than it has any right to be.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
While the jokes are obvious and the romance formulaic, a good-natured sensibility saves the film from being too hokey. The individual parts may not work, but the sum remains entertaining.
Read Full Review >Premiere Kevin Allison
As preposterously awkward, naïve and contrived as this movie is, it's still a curious sort of pleasure to witness-especially the gospel singing scenes.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Harris and particularly Elise give over-the-top performances that bring Diary to the edge of soap opera.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
This is a movie that falls short only because it insists on grabbing for so much.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Blows to the head are delivered with more subtlety than the message of Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
As lousy as it is, Diary of a Mad Black Woman is weirdly fascinating.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
An ungainly hodgepodge of vaudeville-style comedy, turgid soap-operatics, and joyful epiphanies of gospel-flavored uplift.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Diary rather sloppily blends melodrama and spiritual uplift with crass comedy, sometimes in the same scene.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
In an awkward split-personality way, it works some of the time.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
The movie has a soul, and its good-natured charm may well win over the most cynical heart.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The stylistic discontinuities and pile-driver excesses can be off-putting for an outsider like me, but for fans this may well be part of the appeal.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
By the film's end, you feel like you've spent two hours rapidly changing channels between a WB sitcom, the gospel-choir segments of the "Ladykillers" remake, an episode of "Law & Order" and a Mexican soap opera.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
These characters, which Perry worked into the narrative from other stage performances, may have been entertaining in those venues, but they undermine the film.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
So oblivious to genre that it occupies its own special stylistic niche, if you can imagine such a thing as a romantic revenge farce.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The film may be bad-and mad-but it's not predictable.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
An absolute mess with no coherent tone, story or point of view.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Part female revenge flick, part Saturday Night Live skit, part courtroom drama, and part religious tent revival, this movie never congeals into anything worth watching.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Sure, I laughed. Yes, I cried. But mostly I just wanted to throw up.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Cruelty, church redemption, miraculous healings of limbs and junkie relatives – all have their moments onscreen.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Veers back and forth between indigestibly syrupy romance and vulgar "ethnic" comedy, with healthy doses of Christian proselytizing thrown in for good measure.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Plenty of mad moviegoers will put this in their diaries as one of the worst pictures in ages.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Plays like an unwieldy mishmash of "Big Momma's House," "An Unmarried Woman" and "The Burning Bed," with lots of gospel music thrown in.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The Grandma is not merely wrong for the movie, but fatal to it -- a writing and casting disaster... I've been reviewing movies for a long time, and I can't think of one that more dramatically shoots itself in the foot.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The whole three-ring circus winds up in a church for a redemptive finale, but by then, Diary has committed too many sins for even the most generous soul to offer salvation.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 91 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
melisha m gave it a10:
i cried during the sad parts and laughed during the funny parts. things like this do happen to people in reality, and its sad. but this shows ways to deal with it and its also a wonderful family movie, we all loved it and watched it 3 times in a row and have watched it frequently since then.
Linda R gave it a10:
I love this movie it make me realize how you could easy forgive a person no matter how they treat you in the long run especially you trying to save your marriage it take two to make it work. Neither spouse have any reason to cheat on each other, that they suppose to follow their wedding vow.
Erica gave it a9:
This movie was the best it could have more funny parts though cant wait for the next one.
Mark A gave it a0:
This had to be down right the worst movie i ever seen.
Nina gave it a9:
Diary Of a Mad Black woman was a movie that I enjoyed it has a powerful message behind it it isn't just a comedy movie to make you laugh it can touch you in many more ways.
Maryanne A gave it a10:
This movie had me laughing and crying. We loved it very much.
Mark R. gave it a3:
A horrific and distasteful film. Yes, distasteful i.e. blatant humiliation and physical cruelty to a paraplegic by the protagonist.
