If there is any indicator of the state of Hollywood right now, Isaiah Mustafa’s addition to Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family is a sure sign that there’s a serious problem. I wrote last week about how I thought the Old Spice commercials and their lead were doing something amazing and revolutionary. It seems my post was met with this unfortunate news. Yes, I said unfortunate. Tyler Perry doesn’t do irreverent, he doesn’t do subversive (well some could actually argue that he does but I don’t thing he’s that brilliant) he doesn’t do witty banter, observational comedy, etc. Tyler Perry does morality plays/ gospels that tend to have very broad humor aimed at older, Christian, southern audiences. There’s nothing wrong with making films for that specific demographic (It took a lot to write that sentence) my problem is that in this that

1) Tyler Perry has cornered the market on Black Cinema, he has. You can say otherwise but there really isn’t an alternative as popular and frequent. Spike Lee puts out a movie every 2 to 3 years unlike Perry who has one or two out every year (not counting straight to DVD’s)

2) The image that Tyler Perry puts forth isn’t a progressive one.  Many Blacks feel his images are an embarrassing step back into degrading stereotypes of old. I’m on the fence about this point but my bone with Tyler Perry is that the man is a mega force in Hollywood. He’s built a huge film studio in Atlanta. He has power to make a variety of films with a variety of different viewpoints. If you continue to do films that rehash things we’ve seen before when you don’t have to…you’re not part of the problem, you’re worse.

I think Isaiah better than a Tyler Perry film but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Tyler Perry is going to change the conversation.  Maybe he can make a movie suitable to Mr. Mustafa’s personality and sense of humor or maybe he’ll ruin his career and snuff out what could have been a bright star. I hope upon hope that doesn’t happen.  I hope Isaiah becomes the charismatic leading man he’s meant to be. I hope his mailbox over flows with smart comedic scripts from Judd Apatow, Tina Fey, Adam Mckay or heck a unknown and undiscovered comedy writer of color who puts him in the next 40 Year Old Virgin. I hope he finds himself in films where he’s the lead, and the parts aren’t race specific but just require great comedic timing and presence.  I hope.  But I fear these may be fantasies.  Both Hollywood and Mr. Perry seem stubbornly determined to not change. It’s a shame that they might do the same to a guy who can change tickets to that thing your girl wants to see to diamonds to riding on a horse … made of awesome.