Note to Tyler Perry: Stop ruining your movies

This would have been a much better movie if Tyler Perry hadn’t inserted himself into it.

And by “himself,” I mean his trash-talking grandma character Madea, whose main plot purpose was to give tough love and ham-handed advice to a group of kids caught breaking into her house.

The kids, whose mother is dead and whose grandmother is missing, are dropped off by Madea at their Aunt April’s (Taraji P. Henson) house.

April, whose main life goals are to keep singing at a nightclub and sleeping with her married boyfriend, has no desire to take care of her sister’s kids and plans to send them to foster care.

The story of April’s journey from selfishness to selflessness was thoughtful, if sometimes melodramatic and predictable – especially when a contrived flash forward at the end takes her and the main love interest Santino (Adam Rodriguez) down the aisle.

An emotional performance by Henson and a couple of lung-busting songs by Gladys Knight and Mary J. Blige add to the movie – but not as much as Perry’s Madea takes away from it.