Diary of a Mad Black Woman



A 2005 movie directed Darren Grant and starring Tyler Perry.

Helen (Kimberly Elise) and Charles McCarter (Steve Harris) had everything: fine home, beautiful clothes and success. In public, they were the perfect match. But behind the scenes was another matter. On what should have been the end of the happiest day of their lives, Charles evicts Helen, his wife of 18 years, from their house in the presence of his mistress. She moves in with her grandmother, Madea (Tyler Perry). Helen then goes from meek and mild to mad, starts a diary and a new life, and meets a new man, Orlando (Shemar Moore).

Tropes:
"Baliff:... Criminal trespassing, Reckless endangerment, Criminal possession of a handgun, Assault with a deadly weapon, Suspended license, Expired registration, Reckless driving, and a broken taillight."
 * Acting for Two: Tyler Perry potrays Madea, Joe, and Brian, Madea's attorney nephew.
 * Adaptation Distillation
 * Amoral Attorney:
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When the Baliff announces Madea and Helen's case:

"Orlando: Hey, I was just trying to help you out the other night.
 * Bald of Evil: Charles.
 * Berserk Button: Lay a hand on Madea or her family and she will not hesitate to shoot. Not even for a second.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Big Fancy House: Charles has one. Helen had one.
 * Break the Cutie
 * Break the Haughty
 * Broken Bird: Helen starts to become this after her Break the Cutie moment.
 * Chainsaw Good: Well, not good for the poor couch.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Madea, in spades.
 * Diary: Helen's diary is used a narration device for the movie.
 * Dirty Old Man: Joe, who ogles both his niece-in-law (who is in her 60s) and his great-niece.
 * Domestic Abuser: Guess.
 * Drugs Are Bad: There is a plotline with Brian and his wife, Debrah, whose drug addiction has caused them some marital problems. Her drug habits and addictions had gotten so bad that Brian kicked her out of the house at the last straw.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: Orlando.
 * Everyone Can See It: Madea uses this verbatim on Brian about still being in love with his drug abusing wife Debra.
 * The First Cut Is the Deepest
 * Food Slap: Helen eats a salad in front of Charles, knowing he can't get food for himself, and when she is almost done throws the plate at him.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * But of course,
 * Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Madea, so much.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!!: Steve Harris, most notably from The Practice, Judge Mablean Ephriam, the former judge of Divorce Court, and famed black actress Cecily Tyson.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Gary Sturgis, who plays a drug dealer, is known for voicing Ebon from Static Shock.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Brian and Debra. Then again, Tyler Perry is this with everyone being 6'4'' and all.
 * I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When Brian introduces Helen and Orlando, not realizing they'd already met, which leads to the following exchange.

Helen: Oh, yeah right. You're no good Samaritan. He paid you. It's not like you're some savior or something.

Brian: I...I'm gonna go...check the...do something. (Scurries away.)"

"Brenda: I know Tae Kwan Doe
 * I Know Karate: From this exchange.

Madea: And i know whoop yo ass!"

"Judge Ephriam: Bailiff, call the next case.
 * Interrupted Suicide - Sort of.
 * It's All About Me
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: You'll hurt yourself trying to decide how much "gold" is in Madea's heart.
 * Laser-Guided Karma: The second half of the movie is pretty much every rotten thing Charles has done coming back to bite him in the ass.
 * Law of Inverse Fertility: Helen wanted children with Charles, but had two miscarriages. Meanwhile, he had two kids with his mistress.
 * The Mistress: She also had two kids for Charles and had no qualms about cleaning him out financially, letting him die in surgery rather then live as a cripple, and leaving him
 * Montages: Quite a few.
 * "Falling in Love" Montage: With Helen and Orlando
 * Recovery Sequence
 * Melodrama
 * Narrator: Helen who narrates as she's writing in her diary. Hence the title.
 * Never Mess With Granny: Never ever mess with Mabel Madea Simmons... or with her granddaughter.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: The film does a short but blatant riff on Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston after Judge Mablean Ephriam rules Helen and Madea's case:

Bailiff: The State of Georgia versus Bobby Brown.

Judge Ephriam: What is this? Repeat offender day?

Voice of Whitney Houston: Bobby! Bobby, I love you!

Judge Ephriam: Sit down, Miss Houston."

"Helen:September 19th. Dear Diary, as I sit here thinking about picking up the pieces of what used to be my life, I realized something. Every room in this house holds a painful memory for me. Even though he's suffering, something somewhere in me wants him to suffer more. A few months and a divorce can take you through just as many emotions as 18 years in a marriage. And I'm starting to feel all of them at once. But the one that is clear is rage. Signed, a Mad Black Woman."
 * Rapid-Fire Typing: Done for comedic effect when Madea is tallying how much money Charles owes Helen.
 * Revenge-
 * Revised Ending -
 * Well it is understandable,
 * Sassy Black Woman: Madea
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Helen and Orlando.
 * Take That: A rather amusing one against Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. See No Celebrities Were Harmed above.
 * Team Mom / Team Dad: It's up to you to decide which one Madea counts as.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dealt out a number of times by Helen
 * Title Drop: Later in the movie when Helen writes an entry in her diary:
 * Title Drop: Later in the movie when Helen writes an entry in her diary:

"Helen: I'm not bitter. I'm mad as hell."
 * Too Dumb to Live: Charles apparently thought it was a good idea to continue treating Helen like trash after she attempted to help get his affairs in order right after A: He was paralyzed and B: She's the reason he's still alive.
 * Trailers Always Lie: As you can see from the picture, most of this movie's promotional material made it look like a slapstick comedy about Medea, when in reality she's a supporting character and her antics take up a fairly small part of the film.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: Charles.
 * Ungrateful Bitch: Brenda.
 * Vague Age: Madea. Helen was married for 18 years, making her most likely around 36. Helen's mother says she was 39 when she had her, which would make her around 75. Being conservative, Madea has to be somewhere upwards of 90, which means she gets around awfully well for her age.
 * It's possible Medea is Helen's paternal grandmother, and that Helen's father was somewhat younger than her mom. None of this is explained in the movie, however. Tyler Perry was just determined to get Cicely Tyson in his first feature film.
 * It's mentioned that Helen is the daughter of Madea's son, if not in this movie, then in the play I believe.
 * Woman Scorned: Helen, of course. She even states this herself:


 * Your Cheating Heart: Charles, who not only cheated with a mistress(and possible other women), but had children with said mistress.
 * It's even his motive for kicking Helen out "I can't keep doing this to my kids."
 * To be fair to Helen, she tried to get pregnant multiple times but has stated she had at least two miscarriages as a result of the stress Charles has caused her.