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Show:		3.0
Picture:		5.0
Sound:		5.0
Extras:		3.0
Score:		4.0

Director(s):	Tyler Perry • Kim Fields
Writer(s):	Tyler Perry, Kellie Griffin, Steve Coulter
Starring:	Allen Payne • Cassi Davis • China Anne McClain • Lance Gross • Larramie Doc Shaw • LaVan Davis
Genre:	Comedy
Website:	http://www.tbs.com/shows/houseofpayne/
Release Date:	January 12, 2010

List Price:	DVD - $18.99
Amazon:

Dear Tyler Perry Fans,

I understand you find the characters Mr. Perry has created in his films and television programs relatable, that’s fine, and to that quality of Mr. Perry’s work, I do agree. He has indeed written a world full of familiar archetypes that fit squarely into the culture at which they’re aimed. Unfortunately, that quality alone cannot excuse the major failings of his creative work. He stacks his films with incapable actors. He employs subpar writers to craft the comical turns of his features. He directs any comedy present in the poor writing into the ground, depriving the situations of any comedy through poor editing and ill-timed delivery. House of Payne is no exception. Perry’s insistence on using some of the worst talent in the primary roles makes the show worthy of disdain, no matter how relatable.

Happening in Perry’s favorite locale, Georgia, House of Payne spies on the daily ins and outs of the Payne family. The big man of the house Curtis (LaVan Davis) and soulful matriarch Ella (Cassi Davis) attempt to levy some degree of order over all the unwanted tenants living in their house. Curtis and Ella moan on and on about having their younger kin move out and on with their lives, but circumstance always seems to drag them back to their family room. C.J. (Allen Payne) and his two kids, Malik (Larramie Doc Shaw) and Jazmine (China Anne McClain), have long been stranded in the house of C.J.’s parents by the events of last season (he spent all his money to send his drug-addict wife to rehab, but she left) and keep things more hectic than the grandparents would like. At the other end of the spectrum is Calvin (Lace Gross) whom, unlike C.J. seems to have no intention of ever leaving and mooches off everyone around him even as he attempts to spend money beyond his fortunes. This is where the relatable aspect of Perry’s universe comes into play, we all know people like this, people who can’t move on, don’t want to move on, or desperately wish someone in their life would.

Major events of Volume 5 of the series include Curtis’s heart attack, Calvin’s intentions to marry his thieving girlfriend, Calvin’s new partnership in the local barber shop, and other life-changing events. Yet, for all the change, no one seems to go anywhere in this season. The previous volume included a significant amount of emotional heft courtesy of C.J.’s wife’s drug problem, but there’s no such conflict this time around. There’s little separating one episode from the next and if it weren’t for the division of the season across three discs you’d never know where one episode ends and the next begins. You can take that one of two ways. Either House of Payne is incredibly consistent and knows its own brand or there’s precious little in terms of substance to be found in the series. Depending on how you think the Tyler Perry Kool-Aid tastes, your answer will differ.

Production-wise House of Payne ends up with a 1 out of 5. It keeps a consistent look to its proceedings, which is where the single point comes from. However, it loses the rest for sloppy comedy writing that rarely delivers, direction which squanders any well-written jokes, acting which isn’t worthy of ever being committed to film, and an overall lack of anything meaningful happening. None of the comedy feels organic with most of the jokes being forced by awkwardly worded situations which could have no other reason than to frame that joke. The direction of every episode fails to make the audience laugh, which explains the necessity of the laugh-track. Why Perry cast LaVan Davis is confusing enough, but why anyone would cast anyone playing a character at the barber shop can only be explained by a total lack of knowledge of what counts as good acting. House of Payne: Volume 5 is devoid of substance and comedy, the only redeemable quality at this point is that you recognize the caricatures as coming from a real place. Beyond that, there’s nothing here at all.

DVD Bonus Features

A blooper reel and “profile” for the character Calvin are all that you’ll find in the extras section. Don’t bother with either one.

Normally I'm proud of a show for reaching its 100 episode marker, in this case, it's like marking the 100th day of an awful plague.