Now playing in a theater near you, “Tyler Perry‘s A Madea Christmas” follows Perry’s titular character, Mabel “Madea” Simmons, as she accompanies her niece, Eileen (Anna Maria Horsford), to pay a surprise visit to Eileen’s daughter, Lacey, who has mysteriously informed her she’s not coming home for the holidays. In reality, Lacey followed Connor (Eric Lively), the man she loves and secretly married, from the big city to a small Alabama town as he fights to save his family farm from bankruptcy.
Portraying Lacey is Tika Sumpter (Candace Young, “The Haves and the Have Nots”; ex-Layla Williamson, “One Life to Live”), who says of her character, “She’s from the city so she knows how to hustle a bit. She’s a kind-hearted, good person – she wants good for all – but in her trying to do good sometimes she says the wrong things and spreads a few small lies that plant the seeds of disaster.”
When Eileen and Madea decide to go ahead with their surprise visit, Lacey panics and claims Connor is just a farmhand, a lie that only gets more difficult to contain when Connor’s Southern hillbilly parents, Kim and Buddy (Kathy Najimy and Larry the Cable Guy), arrive for a holiday visit of their own. “There’s no Silent Night for this family,” laughs Perry, who also wrote, produced and directed the film. He adds, “I’ve always wanted to do a holiday movie! I love Christmas and the spirit of the holidays. I love the family gatherings. And I think Madea paired with the holidays spells just the right kind of trouble. Cause there’s nothing holy about Madea.”
The film also stars “One Tree Hill’s” Chad Michael Murray, Anna Maria Horsford, JR Lemon, Alicia Witt and Lisa Whelchel.
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