Story by Grant Dillard, Staff writer

“A Madea Family Funeral” is the eleventh and final film in the very popular “Madea” series. Based on a series of plays written by and starring Tyler Perry as a variety of characters, the series has been around since 2005 with the release of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” As the final film in an ongoing franchise, does “A Madea Family Funeral” end the series on a high note? Or does it go out with a whimper?

After a family anniversary event takes a tragic turn, Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Tyler Perry) and the gang are tasked with putting together a funeral while secrets revolving around the family are slowly revealed.

Coming off of two Halloween-themed films, it’s nice to see the series finally move on to a different kind of story, and the setting of Madea putting together a funeral sounds like a good idea with plenty of comedic potential. Thankfully, there are quite a few examples of that potential, with the highlight being the funeral itself; as the service takes a ridiculous amount of time, even with everyone being given a limit of two minutes to speak.

It is disappointing, however, that for what’s supposed to be the last installment of an ongoing film series, there’s not really any sense of finality or looking back on the events of previous films.

Much like the Madea Halloween films, “A Madea Family Funeral” unfortunately suffers from problematic pacing, mainly due to scenes either feeling unneeded or dragging on for too long. One big example of this is a scene where Madea and the gang are driving to the gathering, only to be stopped by a one-dimensional angry white police officer in what appears to be Tyler Perry giving social commentary on police brutality. Not only does this scene come out of nowhere and contribute nothing to the overall plot, but it ultimately feels more like a childish jab at police officers instead of cleverly conveying a message.

While there is still a fair share of legitimately funny moments present, “A Madea Family Funeral” is hit-or-miss when it comes to its humor. Pretty much any joke coming from Hattie (Patrice Lovely) falls flat. Almost all the dialogue from Joe (Perry) has to do with either marijuana references or constantly hitting on women. The same can be said for Uncle Heathrow, a new character played by Perry who is a paraplegic Vietnam veteran. Heathrow, while having a few decent lines every now and then, is basically a carbon copy of Joe when it comes to his dialogue and style of humor, except he talks through a voice box due to smoking.

Worst of all in terms of comedy has to be the overabundance of sexual innuendos and references sprinkled throughout the film. Whether it’s Joe talking about his life as a pimp or the scenario that caused the death in the family, to begin with, these types of “jokes” and situations are more awkward than funny. There’s a high chance that audiences will be sitting in uncomfortable silence during these moments, rather than erupting in laughter.

The film’s biggest problem has to be a subplot involving one of the other family members, A.J. (Courtney Burrell) cheating on his girlfriend with his brother’s fiancé, and all the family drama that comes with it. The family is already uninteresting to begin with, as there’s nothing about any of the members that makes them interesting. But this subplot doesn’t do them any favors and grinds the film’s pacing to a screeching halt every time it shows up. Previous “Madea” films have had dramatic storylines alongside the comedy too, but it at least felt like those plots had more effort and sincerity put into the storytelling and writing.

There’s certainly enjoyment to be had in “A Madea Family Funeral,” as there are still very funny moments sprinkled in every now and then. But viewers would still have to get through several scenes of tedious melodrama and awkward humor to get to them. For hardcore “Madea” fans that may be possible, but it’s unlikely the majority of mainstream audiences will be able to stomach everything in this film. Hopefully, Perry will be able to move on to much better projects in the future, because “A Madea Family Funeral” is a clear indicator that this series has moved past its prime and is better off ending here and now.