The latest product in the inexhaustible auteur's seemingly inexhaustible assembly line of black-themed films, Tyler Perry's "Meet the Browns" is a decided step back after his more sophisticated recent efforts.

This comedy drama about a single mother, Brenda, struggling with poverty while trying to raise three children in Chicago, features a fine performance by Angela Bassett, but her work is the sole subtle element.

As usual, Perry works laudable themes into this effort, like the dangerous lure of the drug trade for young people -- in this case, Brenda's high school basketball son, Michael (Lance Gross), a kid so perfect he cooks breakfast for his mama and addresses her as "ma'am." And he again comes down hard on black men who abandon their children, here exemplified by a character so utterly reprehensible that he should be twirling a mustache.

The film's setting switches midway through to rural Georgia, where Brenda has been summoned for the funeral of the father that she's never met. There she encounters the titular family comprising the usual Perry-brand eccentrics, most notably Leroy (David Mann), a walking sight gag whose high-pitched voice well matches his hideously colored leisure-suit outfits, and the hostile Vera (Jenifer Lewis), who engages in the sort of overly demonstrative mourning that is a staple of cinematic black funerals.

Between hostile encounters with her hostile ex, who resists all her entreaties for financial help, Brenda inexplicably fends off the gently romantic advances of a seemingly perfect basketball coach (played by Rick Fox, formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers) who wants nothing more to help her son enter the big time.

The film demonstrates all too vividly its creator's penchant for soap opera-style melodramatics, absurdly broad comedy and offensively stereotypical characterizations, the latter exemplified by Brenda's best friend, Cheryl (Sofia Vergara), a Latina spitfire who displays her fiery anger and impressive cleavage with equal abandon.

As usual, there are some quietly moving moments woven into the mix that help compensate for the general silliness, including the few scenes between Brenda and a no-nonsense operator of a day-care center (the always terrific Irma P. Hall).

Unfortunately, the film also includes a (thankfully) brief appearance by Perry's drag alter-ego Madea, seen in an inexplicable sequence in which she is pursued, O.J. Simpson-style, by a convoy of police cars. Presumably, it's designed to set the stage for "Madea Goes to Jail," promised to hit theaters in 2010.

MEET THE BROWNS
Lionsgate
Tyler Perry Studios
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Tyler Perry
Producers: Tyler Perry, Reuben Cannon
Executive producer: Michael Paseornek
Director of photography: Sandi Sissel
Production designer: Ina Mayhew
Music: Aaron Zigman
Co-producers: Roger M. Bobb, Joseph P. Genier
Costume designer: Keith G. Lewis
Editor: Maysie Hoy
Cast:
Brenda: Angela Bassett
Harry: Rick Fox: Sarah: Margaret Avery
L.B.: Frankie Faison
Vera: Jenifer Lewis
Michael: Lance Gross
Cheryl: Sofia Vergara
Will: Lamman Rucker
Cora Brown: Tamela Mann
Joe/Madea: Tyler Perry
Leroy: David Mann
Running time -- 100 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13