PARALLEL GRANNIES (A MADEA HOMECOMING)

It's not quite 'Batman versus Superman'.

Nor is the pairing of Tyler Perry and Brendan O'Carroll the comedy equivalent of Pacino and de Niro in 'Heat'.

However for Netflix subscribers in the UK and Ireland, the appearance of O'Carroll's Agnes Brown in Tyler Perry's latest Madea movie is a bit of a mindblowing development.

Brendan O'Carroll's best known comic creation, Mrs Brown has been around since the 1990s.

His Dublin mammy alter ego first got an airing on Gareth O'Callaghan's RTE 2FM radio show with five minute sketches.

Those sketches were so successful, they convinced O'Carroll to write comic plays about the character and shoot conmdy DVDs, while a Hollywood movie 'Agnes Browne' was soon made with Anjelica Huston directing and playing a very different version of the Dublin mammy.

While the movie bombed, O'Carroll's novels based on the character, his stage shows and his comedy DVDs thrived, convincing the BBC and RTE in 2011 to create a sitcom.

'Mrs Browns Boys' has helped O'Carroll become a star in the UK and around the world - attracting 7-8 million viewers in Britain at its height and consistently topping the Christmas TV ratings.

A 2014 film 'Mrs Brown Da Movie' made £28 million at the box office and there has also been a chat show spin-off.

All of this has been achieved despite much derision from critics who have seen it as an unwelcome throwback to the politically incorrect humour of Dick Emery.

However there is clearly an appetite in the UK, Ireland and elsewhere for that type of comedy, with the show airing on BBC America and enjoying success in South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Just like O'Carroll's comedy alter ego, Tyler Perry's sassy African American mom Madea made her first appearance in the 1990s and was based on members of his own family.

Madea first featured in Perry's 1999 play in Chicago 'I Can Do Bad All By Myself'  and after five stage outings, hw gave her her first cinematic outing in 2005 in Darren Grant's hit romcom 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' which featured Kimberly Elise and Cicely Tyson.

There have since been six more plays, several TV shows and 10 films that have grossed around $600 million in total in the US.

Having retired Madea with the play 'Madea's Farewell' in 2019, Perry was cajoled by Netflix into resurrecting the character.

Perry had previously been alerted to the existence of Mrs Brown by the director Gerard Barrett while making his 2016 film 'Brain on Fire'.

Mrs Brown's inclusion in 'A Madea Homecoming' is, therefore, the culmination of five years of chats with the Irish comedy star about a possible collaboration.

Perry told Variety while promoting his new film that he was bowled over by the clips he saw of 'Mrs Brown's Boys'.

"Then I looked at Brendan's history and our lives were on parallel tracks in different parts of the world, with him doing live plays and then going into television too," he observed.

'So I thought these two worlds colliding would be amazing."

Written and directed by Perry, 'A Madea Homecoming' finds his popular matriarch preparing to celebrate her great grandson, Brandon Black's Tim Marshall's graduation from college.

As the entire clan gathers excitedly, Madea and her eccentric brother Joe, also played by Perry, shake their heads in disbelief as David Mann's Leroy Brown pours copious amounts of oil on a barbecue and then manages to set himself alight.

Tim's mum and Madea's granddaughter Gabrielle Dennis's Laura arrives, fresh from her divorce from Amani Atkinson's Richard who has got engaged to her best friend, Genva Maccarone's Sylvia.

Candace Maxwell's Elle, Laura's sister, is ripping about Sylvia's betrayal, as is Madea.

However Laura seems remarkably chilled about it.

Tamela Mann's Cora Simmons, Madea's daughter, tries to keep their anger in check along with Cassi Davis-Patton's eccentric Aunt Bam.

Tim is harbouring a secret and brings his college boyfriend, Isha Blaaker's Davi O'Malley with him to the raucous family celebration so he can come out.

And that's where Agnes Brown comes in.

She turns up on Madea's doorstep out of the blue with her daughter Jennifer Gibney's Cathy fresh from Ireland - although Madea thinks she's from Iran - because Davi is her grandson who left the Emerald Isle to pursue his education in the US.

As they knock the door, Agnes farts - starting as she means to continue - and then gives the "Wakanda Forever!" greeting from 'Black Panther' to Cora.

After Joe mistakes her thick Dublin accent and use of the word "knickers" for a racist epithet, they eventually clear up the confusion, calm down and head out for dinner.

Depending on where you stand on Madea and Mrs Brown's crude brand of humour, "hilarity" ensues as Tim prepares to come out and other secrets are revealed.

However Mrs Brown is also rather confusingly intent on bringing Davi back to Ireland to take over the family farm - huh?

This will be a particular shock to devotees of O'Carroll's creation who will be baffled to discover there are apparently working farms in inner city Dublin but, hey, 'A Madea Homecoming' is not really there to be held up to rigorous fact checking.

Fans of Madea and Mrs Brown will no doubt revel in the non stop parade of politically incorrect gags about race, bodily functions, sexuality and drugs.

However even if you loathe Perry and O'Carroll's comic creations, there is something grimly fascinating about this marriage of bawdy African American and Irish humour.

No-one could have imagined Madea and Agnes Brown would have been sitting around a kitchen table trading gags about Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's foul hit rap 'WAP'.

However this is where the world is at in 2022 and it seems oddly appropriate.

The two leads and their supporting cast throw themselves into their roles with gusto as the film sends up gun culture, drug culture, Beyonce, Rosa Parks and Black Lives Matter calls to defund the police.

It also hurtles along at some pace, with Perry generously showcasing O'Carroll's gift for improvised humour and the Irishman enthusiastically grabbing his chance to raise Mrs Brown's profile on an even bigger stage.

It's not hard to work out why O'Carroll has jumped at the chance to enter the Madeaverse.

Score a success here and the possibilities for Mrs Brown on Netflix are endless.

If you're not a fan of toilet gags and other puerile humour, 'A Madea Homecoming' will be a teeth grinding experience.

It's the kind of movie you imagine Tracey Morgan's comedian Tracy Jordan would have made in '30 Rock'.

Sophisticated humour, it ain't but as a brief respite from all the grim news from Ukraine, who can begrudge Perry and O'Carroll fans that right? 

This is one for the fans and not for the critics.

And on a streaming platform that has given us a succession of execrable Adam Sandler comedy movies, Netflix feels somehow well suited as a home for Madea and Mrs Brown.

Having boldly played an away leg, will Mrs Brown get to host Madea in a home tie with a Dublin based movie?

And how is she going to explain the lack of combine harvesters around Moore Street?

('A Madea Homecoming' was released for streaming on Netflix on November 25, 2022)