'Diary' is soap opera and comedy

Versatility of Kimberly Elise smoothly blends both themes into one solid film.
By CHRIS HEWITT
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Talk about versatility.
In "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," Kimberly Elise is literally in two movies at once. And darned if she isn't good in both of 'em.
Half of "Diary" is a soap opera with cornpone sentiments right out of Hallmark's Mahogany line of greeting cards: "When you smile, my world is all right." "You've got the strength God gave women to survive." The other half is a raucous comedy that features "Big Momma's House"-style drag, with Tyler Perry falsettoing his way through bawdy dialogue along the lines of "Call the po-po, ho!" That these two strands come together is a tribute to Elise's talent.
Having lent her ferocious intelligence to "Beloved," "Woman, Thou Art Loosed" and "John Q," it's refreshing to see Elise in a movie where she's not smoking crack or getting whipped all the time. "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" has its heavy moments -- her character, Helen, is kicked to the curb by her wealthy, lying husband, so she's basically every Toni Braxton breakup song rolled into one.
But it's a pleasure to see Elise giving graceful truth to the role of an ordinary person stuck in lousy situations that are played for laughs. Especially since we also get to see Elise unleash righteous anger on her ex in scenes so thrillingly vital that it made we wish somebody would cast her as Lady Macbeth pronto.
Tyler Perry's role also key
The other key character is Helen's grandmother, Madea, who packs both a pistol and more homespun wisdom than Dr. Phil. Madea is played by actor Tyler Perry (who also wrote the script and appears in two other, male roles), a gimmick that is occasionally off-putting because when there's a laugh to be had, Perry tears into it like a lion munching on a zebra corpse. We're supposed to think of Madea as a woman, not as a man playing a woman, but Perry's early scenes are so shticky that it's hard not to notice the dude under all the makeup.
Perry eventually settles down, though, and it becomes clear that the strength of "Diary" is its refusal to bow to convention. Veering from a vicious Whitney Houston joke to schmaltzy sentiment within a scene and then sending Helen off on a wacko vengeance spree (the "Mad" in the title isn't kidding), "Diary" is as boisterous, confusing and entertaining as Helen's mixed-up life.