“The Ultimate Tyler Perry Movie Marathon: From Madea Laughs to Heartfelt Dramas”

Tyler Per­ry is one of the most stacked film­mak­ers of his gen­er­a­tion — and one of the most dis­tinct, with his meld­ing of com­e­dy and melo­dra­ma.

Across a few dozen films, most of which he direct­ed, Per­ry has explored such seri­ous themes as assault, abuse, addic­tion, prison reform, vio­lence, revenge, and just about every emo­tion life has to offer. (That’s not even count­ing his myr­i­ad TV shows, which mer­it a whole oth­er list.)

Per­ry is some­times derid­ed for his work, but his bil­lion-dol­lar empire speaks for itself. Based pri­mar­i­ly out of Atlanta, the film­mak­er cen­tral­izes com­mu­ni­ties which, pri­or to his 2005 break­out Diary of a Mad Black Woman, were not often show­cased on main­stream mul­ti­plex screens.

Here’s a com­plete guide to watch­ing Tyler Perry’s movies in order, from his debut fea­ture to his most recent hits.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman(2005)

Perry’s sig­na­ture char­ac­ter, Madea, made her big-screen debut in this movie based on his play. Though Per­ry went on to direct most of his sub­se­quent films, Diary was helmed by Dar­ren Grant. After Helen’s (Kim­ber­ly Elise) heart­less hus­band (Steve Har­ris) kicks her out, she seeks refuge with Madea, who helps Helen get her life back on track and let out her anger.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman, swing­ing between melo­dra­ma and farce, estab­lished Per­ry as a sin­gu­lar voice. It was an imme­di­ate hit, set­ting the per­former on his path to main­stream star­dom.

Madea’s Fam­i­ly Reunion (2006)

The con­gre­ga­tion of Madea’s extend­ed rel­a­tives, all of whom are deal­ing with per­son­al issues of vary­ing degrees of seri­ous­ness, means it’s time for the matri­arch to dish out some much-need­ed tough love.

One of the things you learn quick­ly in the Madea uni­verse is that this woman has a larg­er brood than many roy­al fam­i­lies — and few of the fam­i­ly mem­bers car­ry over from film to film. Here, Keke Palmer steals the show as Nik­ki, a girl that Madea brings into the fam­i­ly’s fold.

Daddy’s Lit­tle Girls (2007) 

In this more seri­ous-mind­ed (and Madea-free) movie from Per­ry, Idris Elba plays Mon­ty, a hard-work­ing father who los­es cus­tody of his daugh­ters to his drug-addled wife (Tasha Smith). As he fights to regain cus­tody, Mon­ty begins a romance with a lawyer, Julia (Gabrielle Union).

This is a sweet, redemp­tive film that pares back some of the more extreme dra­mat­ic ele­ments of Perry’s ear­li­er work to tell a straight­for­ward, sec­ond-chance-at-love sto­ry.

Why Did I Get Mar­ried? (2007

This ensem­ble dram­e­dy fol­lows a group of cou­ples (among them, Per­ry, Janet Jack­son, and Jill Scott) who adjourn to a coun­try estate for what’s sup­posed to be a care­free week­end but instead devolves into a truth-telling free-for-all. It is, after all, a Tyler Per­ry movie.

Fea­tur­ing pow­er­house per­for­mances from the entire cast, this is among Perry’s more thought­ful come­dies.

Meet the Browns (2008) 

Angela Bas­sett stars as Bren­da Brown, a strug­gling sin­gle moth­er who, while deal­ing with some incred­i­bly com­pli­cat­ed busi­ness mat­ters, is wooed by a bas­ket­ball coach (Rick Fox) who sees poten­tial in her son.

Madea appears, along with the extend­ed Brown fam­i­ly that would lat­er head­line the long-run­ning TBS sit­com that shares the film’s title.

The Fam­i­ly That Preys (2008)

Madea Goes to Jail (2009)

I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009)

For Col­ored Girls (2010)

Madea’s Big Hap­py Fam­i­ly (2011)

Madea’s Wit­ness Pro­tec­tion(2012)