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26th Feb '13 8:33:51 PM erforce

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/diary_of_a_mad_black_woman_ver3_1655.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Would you believe that this was based on a christian-themed play?]]

A 2005 movie directed Darren Grant and starring TylerPerry.

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).
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!!Tropes:
* ActingForTwo: Tyler Perry portrays Madea, Joe, and Brian, Madea's attorney nephew.
* AdaptationDistillation
* AmoralAttorney: [[spoiler: Near the end of the movie, it is revealed that Charles got a lot of his money from defending rich criminals.]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: When the Bailiff announces Madea and Helen's case:
-->'''Bailiff''':... Criminal trespassing, Reckless endangerment, Criminal possession of a handgun, Assault with a deadly weapon, Suspended license, Expired registration, Reckless driving, and a broken taillight.
* BaldOfEvil: Charles.
* BerserkButton: Lay a hand on Madea or her family and she will not hesitate to shoot. Not even for a second.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
* BigFancyHouse: Charles has one. Helen ''had'' one.
* BreakTheCutie
* BreakTheHaughty
* BrokenBird: Helen starts to become this after her BreakTheCutie moment.
* ChainsawGood: Well, not good for the poor couch.
* DeadpanSnarker: Madea, in spades. 
* {{Diary}}: Helen's diary is used a narration device for the movie.
* DirtyOldMan: Joe, who ogles both his niece-in-law (who is in her 60s) and his great-niece.
* DomesticAbuser: Guess.
* DrugsAreBad: 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. [[spoiler: Don't worry, she got better.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Madea uses this verbatim on Brian about still being in love with his drug abusing wife Debra.
* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest
* FoodSlap: 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.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: After being shot and paralyzed by his drug dealer client, cleaned out finacially by his mistress before leaving him, tortured by his scorned wife for the wrong he has done to her, Charles [[HeelRealization realizes the error of his ways]] and apologizes to Helen. Afterwards, he begins to rehabilitate, along with Helen's help, in [[RecoverySequence a montage]]. At church, he even confesses his sins and [[Literature/TheBible turns to god]].]]
** But of course, [[spoiler:that doesn't stop Helen from handing Charles signed divorce papers and leaving to find her own [[HappilyEverAfter happy ending]].]]
* HeroicComedicSociopath: Madea, so much.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Brian and Debra. Then again, Tyler Perry is this with everyone being 6'4'' and all.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog: When Brian introduces Helen and Orlando, not realizing they'd already met, which leads to the following exchange.
-->'''Orlando''': Hey, I was just trying to help you out the other night.
-->'''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''.)
* IKnowKarate: From this exchange.
-->'''Brenda:''' I know Tae Kwan Doe
-->'''Madea:''' And i know whoop yo ass!
* InterruptedSuicide - Sort of. [[spoiler: After he's crippled, Charles, when thrown into a bathtub while being on the receiving end of yet ''another'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by Helen, attempts to drown himself in shame. Helen, however, [[{{Revenge}} had other plans for him.]]]]
* ItsAllAboutMe
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: You'll hurt yourself trying to decide how much "gold" is in Madea's heart.
* KarmaHoudini: Brenda. Although it was Charles getting his just desserts, but still....
* LaserGuidedKarma: The second half of the movie is pretty much every rotten thing Charles has done coming back to bite him in the ass. [[spoiler: His dealings with criminal clients leads to him getting paralyzed, his mistress Brenda leaves him to die and takes both his money and their kids without telling him, and when he has the nerve to still treat Helen like trash even after she tries to help him, Helen finally decides to get even. She delivers a massive TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how being married to him was no picnic on her end but she at least tried to make it work, whereas he stopped caring. The stress he gave Helen caused her, among other things, two miscarriages.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Helen ''wanted'' children with Charles, but had two miscarriages. Meanwhile, he had two kids with his mistress.
** They do make a quick attempt to explain it (which is more than most movies do.) Charles put Helen through so much emotional turmoil, she couldn't eat, her weight yo-yo'ed and her hair even fell out. Probably not helpful to carrying a baby to term.
* TheMistress: 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 [[spoiler: after he was shot and paralyzed. She also took the kids with her.]]
* {{Montages}}: Quite a few.
** FallingInLoveMontage: With Helen and Orlando
** RecoverySequence
* {{Melodrama}}
* MrFanservice: Orlando.
* {{Narrator}}: Helen who narrates as she's writing in her diary. Hence the title.
* NeverMessWithGranny: Never ever mess with Mabel '''Madea''' Simmons... [[MamaBear or with her granddaughter]].
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The film does a short but blatant riff on Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston after Judge Mablean Ephriam rules Helen and Madea's case: 
-->'''Judge Ephriam''': Bailiff, call the next 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. 
* NoRespectGuy: Orlando, at first.
* RapidFireTyping: Done for comedic effect when Madea is tallying how much money Charles owes Helen.
* {{Revenge}}- [[spoiler: after Charles is shot by the gangster he was defending and is paralyzed, Helen gets revenge while taking care of him.]]
** [[spoiler:Of course, she then realized that it wasn't really that fulfilling...]]
* RevisedEnding - [[spoiler: In the original play, Helen gets back together with Charles after his HeelFaceTurn. Though at the same time, Charles was ''considerably'' less of a {{Jerkass}} in the play.]]
** Well it is understandable,[[spoiler: seeing how the original ending might have set a [[UnfortunateImplications bad precedence]] on [[DomesticAbuse abusive relationships]].]]
* SassyBlackWoman: Madea
* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: Cicely Tyson and Kimberly Elyse have more than just a casual resemblance to each other.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
* SlapSlapKiss: Helen and Orlando.
* TakeThat: A rather amusing one against Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. See NoCelebritiesWereHarmed above. 
* TeamMom / TeamDad: It's up to you to decide which one Madea counts as.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Dealt out a number of times by Helen [[spoiler: to a crippled Charles, while she's taking revenge on him.]]
* TitleDrop: Later in the movie when Helen writes an entry in her diary:
-->'''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'''.
* TooDumbToLive: 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.
* TrailersAlwaysLie: As you can see from the picture, most of this movie's promotional material made it look like a slapstick comedy about Madea, when in reality she's a supporting character and her antics take up a fairly small part of the film.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Guess.
* UngratefulBastard: Charles.
** [[UngratefulBastard Ungrateful Bitch]]: Brenda. [[spoiler: After Charles is paralyzed she almost immediately opts to have them terminate his life support if need arise, but since Helen was still technically Charles' wife that decision was turned down. Brenda also fired the staff of Charles' house, cleaned out his bank account, and abandoned him.]]
* VagueAge: 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.
* WomanScorned: Helen, of course. She even states this herself: 
-->'''Helen''': I'm not bitter. I'm mad as hell.
* YourCheatingHeart: 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. 
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20th Feb '13 12:00:40 AM eviltwin531

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30th Nov '12 4:26:31 AM IsaacG

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30th Nov '12 4:23:23 AM IsaacG

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