Tyler Perry's latest film, “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” actually started out as a joke in Chris Rock's “Top Five,” as the characters go to a movie theater showing a movie featuring Perry's Madea character fighting off ghosts in a haunted house.

Perry liked the idea so much that he made the joke into a reality, pitting Madea (Perry) against a band of obnoxious frat boys who have eyes for her nephew's daughter, Tiffany (Diamond White).

As is typical with Perry's films, he builds the comedy around a serious family drama. Madea's nephew, Brian (Perry again), is having trouble communicating with his rebellious teenage daughter, who plans to sneak out on Halloween night to attend a frat party at a local college. Unable to put his foot down and stop her, he calls in Madea to keep an eye on her (and knock some sense into her if necessary).

Madea brings along her usual cast of characters to help, including her brother Joe (Perry yet again), Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis), and Joe's girlfriend Hattie (Patrice Lovely), making her transition to the big screen from Perry's TV shows "The Haves and the Have Nots" and "Love Thy Neighbor." But when Tiffany convinces them that the house is haunted, she sneaks out with the pastor's daughter, Aday (Liza Koshy), and heads straight to the party. Once Madea figures out what's going on, she head straight for the party, leading to a series of Halloween hijinx and spooky pranks, not to mention plenty of tough love, dished out Madea-style.

Audience reaction to Perry's brand of family values will likely depend on one's view of spanking children, which makes up the backbone of Madea's philosophy, but it's hard to argue with his outlook on parenting, and the importance of a strong familial ties. His films, even over-the-top comedies like this one, always come with a neatly wrapped moral that can occasionally come off as heavy-handed, but Perry is incredibly skilled at blending sincerity, humor, and faith-based worldviews. His biggest downfall is not knowing when to let a joke go, and “Boo! A Madea Halloween” falls into this trap frequently, dragging out jokes without delivering punchlines, to the point that they become more awkward than funny.

Still, fans of Perry will find lots to appreciate in “A Madea Halloween.” At this point, most audiences already know whether they find Perry's Madea character to be funny or grating. I belong to the former camp, for the most part. I think Perry is an often unheralded talent with a strong, autuer's voice.

He doesn't pretend to make high art (although his 2010 film, “For Colored Girls,” comes as close as anything he has ever done), instead focusing on making films for an often underserved African-American audience, that delivers laughs and old fashioned family values with a distinct flair. It might overstay its welcome by the end, but “A Madea Halloween” is still loads of fun, delivering plenty of the things fans love about these films the most. For a film that started off as a joke at Perry’s expense, that’s a pretty impressive feat.
