February 21, 2006

By GARY COGILL / WFAA-TV

Gary Cogill is an award-winning film critic for WFAA-TV in Dallas. Gary has been interviewing actors, writers and directors since the mid-1980s and is a nationally recognized film critic.

What began with Tyler Perry's megahit film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, has evolved into a seven-picture deal, and the first to arrive is Madea's Family Reunion.

The movie concerns planning for a family reunion by Madea, the outspoken, pistol-packing grandmother, played by the film's creator, Tyler Perry, who is forced to contend with all sorts of family drama, some of it quite serious.

We talked to two of the stars, Blair Underwood and Boris Kodjoe, about the film.

Underwood said his character is an abusive fiance in the film, which juxtaposes intense emotions with some high comedy.

Kodjoe says his character is a bus driver who falls in love with a single mother and has to deal with those types of issues — the walls we build after we're hurt — and how to fight those obstacles and learn to trust again.