Diary of a Mad Black Woman

A formidable and underrated screen presence, actor Kimberly Elise follows up the middling 2004 melodrama Woman Thou Art Loosed with, sadly, another trite female-empowerment tale, this one about a scorned Southern woman unceremoniously evicted by her wealthy husband to make room for his mistress. Without any prospects, Helen (Elsie) flees to the other side of town and takes up residence with Madea (author Tyler Perry, in drag), an outrageous, foulmouthed matriarch whose take-no-crap attitude inspires Helen to lose her Stepford hairdo and learn to enjoy life again.