I hated "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" when I saw it in 2005 -- yet when the opportunity arose to review it on DVD, I was eager to watch it again.

That's not normally the case, of course. Usually once is enough for a bad movie. But "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" was more than just a bad movie. It became a cultural phenomenon. It opened in first place at the box office and went on to gross $50.6 million despite being of little interest to anyone who wasn't part of the target audience. Critics derided it, but black audiences responded to it passionately.

Quite a few critics, myself included, got e-mails from people who said we just didn't understand the film. As white men, how could we possibly appreciate a movie about the experiences of modern black women?

That's fair up to a point. But bad filmmaking is bad filmmaking, regardless of who the target audience is. Broadly drawn characters, cheap melodrama, and illogical story progression are part of a universal language. I can grant you that some of the parts I called "boring" might be more compelling to someone who's felt something close to what the characters have felt. But the film's many other negative traits don't go away just because the viewer is African-American.

And yet ... people loved this movie. So I was glad to watch it again, to give it a second chance, to try to view it through the eyes of an audience that is all too often treated condescendingly by Hollywood -- when Hollywood bothers to speak to it at all.

My findings? I'm sorry, but this is still a lousy movie.

It's a soap opera, a madcap farce, a melodrama, a crime drama, and a Christian missionary tract, all rolled into one. The frequent and abrupt changes of tone don't necessarily doom a film to failure, but to make it work takes more skilled writing and directing than what Tyler Perry and Darren Grant, respectively, can offer.

The main story is about Helen McCarter (Kimberly Elise), whose big-shot attorney husband (Steve Harris) dumps her on their 18th anniversary and replaces her with his long-time mistress (with whom he even has children!). The dumping scene is where the film first shows signs of going off the rails. Charles is painted as a one-dimensional monster of a man, literally dragging Helen out of their house without warning and dumping her into a U-Haul that he's already had filled with her belongings. The sequence of events, as spelled out in the film, is so ludicrous as to be laughable.

Most of the film's comedy, on the other hand, doesn't make me laugh at all. Wedged into this and other melodramatic storylines (Helen also has a cousin whose wife is a junkie) is Madea. Played by writer Tyler Perry in drag -- what is it with black comedians and old-lady fat suits? -- Madea is a cartoon, a silly, over-the-top character who seems like a refugee from a comedy sketch who has somehow found herself in what is otherwise meant to be a down-to-earth, realistic film. (I don't mean the film is otherwise realistic; it's not. I mean that it's supposed to be realistic, while the Madea parts don't even try.) She doesn't belong in what is otherwise a dramatic comedy built around real emotions and relationships.

But the film has more problems than that. If we were talking about one out-of-place character, that would be one thing. A movie can recover from a problem of that nature. But let's continue. Charles, it turns out, used to be involved in some nefarious deeds with low-lifes, and one of them blackmails him into being his defense attorney in an upcoming case. Then Charles is shot and becomes paralyzed (!), at which point Helen must work through her feelings of hatred for him and consider helping him, since she is still legally his wife.

Watching it a second time, knowing what I do about the way audiences responded to it, I can see why black women in particular would feel a kinship to Helen's "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" character arc. I can see overlooking certain flaws in the story, even significant ones, if the overall flavor of the film is appealing.

But still, this is a bad movie. It's listless and meandering, and it goes on for too long. Its comedy is amateurish and unfunny. It may be an "important" film with regard to what it did for black audiences, but that doesn't make it a good one.


THE DVD

The 2-disc "Special Edition" comes in a very handsome dark-purple case with the look and texture of a book. The "cover" opens up to reveal an inner sleeve that folds out, granting access to the two discs.

The film itself and the two audio commentaries are on Disc 1; all of the extras are on Disc 2.

There is an alternate Spanish-language audio track, as well as optional English and Spanish subtitles.

One very annoying thing: When you pop Disc 1 into your player, you have to sit through a full 85 seconds of Lionsgate logos, copyright warnings, and other disclaimers before the menu arrives. The "chapter skip," "fast-forward" and "menu" buttons all do nothing. You have no choice but to wait for nearly a minute and a half. So I guess if you're planning to watch the film, put the DVD in and go make yourself a sandwich while it's getting ready.

VIDEO: A very nice-looking widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic transfer, presumably the same one they used for the previous DVD release.

AUDIO: There are three English audio options: 2.0 Dolby Digital, 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX, and 6.1 DTS ES. Honestly, a movie like this -- mostly dialogue, some music, not a lot of sound effects or special effects -- doesn't need anything that elaborate, but it sounds excellent.

EXTRAS: Lionsgate has produced a 2-disc "Special Edition" that is indeed very handsome-looking. However, a lot of the extras are recycled from the initial DVD release from 2005.

The repeated extras are these:

* Writer/director/star Tyler Perry's commentary. Perry is, shall we say, confident in his comedic abilities. He goes on quite a bit about how funny he is, actually, even laughing sometimes as he watches himself in the film.

"It was hilarious!" he says at one point. "There are so many outtakes to this thing, because I was ad-libbing left and right. And Kimberly's so strong, she doesn't break. But there was a moment when I said this 'wire hanger' thing that she completely lost it. Completely lost it."

When he shuts up about himself and just shares little anecdotes about the minutiae of filmmaking, he's a great deal more interesting. He even points out the many small continuity errors, which is always fascinating for movie lovers.

* The making-of doc (20:33). It's standard fare. The cast and crew talk about how great the script was and how much they love Tyler Perry. They talk about what an unpredictable and brilliant character Madea is. Also, Perry does interviews -- Lord help us -- "in character" as Madea, Joe, and Brian.

* "Reflections on 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman'" (2:51). This is 3 minutes of Perry talking about the movie's impact from a religious standpoint: "Me thinking about the overall movie ... there is something that is clear in it for me. It is the power of God. And I think that Christian or non-Christian, once you walk out of that theater, the amount of power that you feel, I think it empowers people to want to be better.... It's a universal story that a lot of people have been able to relate to." This is Perry talking about his own movie, mind you. Even if it's true, it sounds awfully boastful coming from Perry's own mouth.

* Four brief outtakes (3:30 total) that mostly depict Perry doin' that ad-libbing thing as Madea and Joe. As embarrassing a character as Madea is in the film, it's amazing to see how much worse she could have been.

* A featurette called "Who Is Tyler Perry?" (12:30), focusing on Perry specifically, in case you didn't learn enough about him from his self-serving commentary, or the ample footage of the cast and crew talking about him.

Those are the repeated extras. Then there are the new features...

* There is a commentary by director Darren Grant and star Kimberly Elise. These two are quiet a lot of the time. When they talk, they don't have much to say that's particularly insightful or interesting. "I really just took the journey with the character," Elise says. Yawn.

* A segment called "ATL" (9:48) talks about how Atlanta is becoming the "Hollywood of the South." You don't have to go to L.A. or New York anymore; there's so much African-American talent right there in Atlanta. Several different people express these thoughts about a hundred times. I wouldn't have thought a 9-minute featurette could be so repetitive, but here we are.

* "The Real Mad Black Women" (16:42) has 11 black women and one white woman watching the film and commenting on it as it relates to their lives. This is a pretty interesting feature, but the sound is bad. In the interview portions, the background music overpowers the women. When they're chatting casually as they watch the film, they sound echoey and hollow. Nonetheless, it's enlightening to see how the movie was received by the women it was intended to speak to.

* A featurette called "Tyler Perry Spotlight" (11:37) is oddly similar in style and tone to "Who Is Tyler Perry?," and even covers a lot of the same territory. Did we really need TWO separate features for this? They both further this 2-disc set's major agenda, which is to worship at the feet of Tyler Perry. It's annoying enough to hear everyone he knows going on and on about what a nutty, nutty genius he is. When it's Perry himself doing it -- either as himself or in the guise of one of his characters -- it's downright embarrassing. It's boastful.

* Five music montages (about 14:30 total) take the film's original songs and set them to a series of still photos and brief video clips from the movie. The primary attraction here is being able to hear the songs separately from the film, which is handy if you're a fan of them.

* There are ten deleted scenes (about 20:30 total) adding a little bit of flavor, especially to Debrah's addiction subplot.

* A gallery of production photos, a one-minute commercial for the new TBS sitcom "House of Payne," and trailers for some other Lionsgate films round out the disc.


IN SUMMARY

You've probably already answered for yourself the question of whether the movie is worth owning. The real question here is whether, if you already have the first DVD release, you need to upgrade to this one. As mentioned, about half of the extras are recycled, and the new stuff doesn't add a whole lot. I suspect the real reason the set was produced was to coincide with the debut of "House of Payne" on TBS. I can't recommend the movie, and I really can't recommend the DVD set.