The unfortunate paradox of Tyler Perry’s true calling is that his best efforts are theater productions that cater to a very specific Southern Baptist audience with heavily layered themes of family and faith. If you want to segment his target audience further, you could take a serious look at the message of female empowerment that pervades just about everything he’s written for the screen, but the other two always win out. Where his films fail with their hammy writing and actors who can’t help but go overboard, his live theater succeeds as the medium is much more forgiving of those indulgences. The downside, of course, is that live theater is limited to a singular location, thus recording his plays and distributing them via DVD, like he's done here with Laugh to Keep from Crying, might be the best possible solution for Perry-born entertainment.
Laugh to Keep from Crying is by no means a masterpiece with its clichéd, poorly written songs and an incapable cast, but the story runs along smoothly and it’s a lively enough show that you’re willing to overlook the shortcomings. Where it truly excels is the singing with some strong choral vocals, unfortunately the cast is not created equal when it comes to this and the production swings between wildly talented singers and others whose voices are truly grating. With the inner workings of an apartment at the center of its story, Laugh to Keep from Crying takes its name from the optimistic mentality of finding joy in hardship; that titular message along with its emphasis on faith as a cornerstone of one’s daily life makes it uplifting, even if the end experience is like sifting through a ton of sand to find one nugget of copper.
If you’re of Perry’s typical audience and you’re at least mildly satisfied by his cinema efforts, then Laugh to Keep from Crying will be up your alley, but for anyone else it’ll be a drain on your patience unless you’re a big fan of gospel music.
DVD Bonus Features
Interviews with the audience are the only extra on the disc.
"Laugh to Keep from Crying" is on sale August 30, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Drama, Theater. Written and directed by Tyler Perry. Starring Palmer Williams Jr, Cheryl Pepsii Riley, Chandra Currelley Young, Datra Hicks.
