The movie starts when Tiffany, who is Brian's daughter, suddenly announces that she's getting married to a guy named Zavier in just two weeks. Nobody in the family has ever met this Zavier guy before, which already makes everyone suspicious. Brian, who is Tiffany's dad, is especially worried because everything seems so rushed and strange. Tiffany's mom Debrah is super excited about the wedding though, maybe even too excited, which makes things feel weird.
So the whole family – including Madea, her brother Joe, Aunt Bam, Mr. Brown, and Cora – all pack up and fly to the Bahamas to stay at this fancy resort called Atlantis for the wedding. When they get there, we finally meet Zavier, and right away he comes across as rude and disrespectful. He talks to the family in a way that's not very nice, especially to Brian, and you can tell everyone is starting to really dislike him.
While they're all at the resort, Madea accidentally overhears a conversation that reveals something shocking. It turns out that Tiffany is supposed to inherit a million dollars from a trust fund, but only if she gets married. Even worse, Debrah knew about this money the whole time and was pushing for the wedding to happen quickly so they could get the money. When Madea tells Tiffany about this, Tiffany gets really upset and hurt that her own mom was basically using her to get money, so she calls off the wedding completely.
But then things get even more complicated. Brian thinks he catches Zavier cheating on Tiffany with another woman. He sees them together and assumes the worst, which makes him even more angry at Zavier. However, it turns out Brian was completely wrong – the woman Zavier was with is actually his mother, who he hadn't seen in a long time. Zavier explains to Brian that he had a difficult past but that he really does love Tiffany and wants to marry her for the right reasons, not for money.
When Tiffany overhears this conversation between her dad and Zavier, she realizes that maybe she was too quick to judge Zavier. She decides to give him another chance and the wedding is back on. The movie ends with everyone being happy and the family coming together, though we learn that Brian faints at the very end when he sees how much money they spent at the resort.
My Review
Now, let me tell you what I really thought about this movie. First of all, I have to be honest – this was not a good movie at all. I've watched other Madea movies before and usually they make me laugh a lot, but this one just didn't work for me. The biggest problem was the acting, which was really, really bad. The people playing Tiffany and Zavier especially seemed like they had never acted before in their lives. When they were supposed to be sad or emotional, they didn't even look like they were trying. It was so fake that it was actually hard to watch.
The story itself didn't make much sense either. The whole thing about the trust fund was confusing because Debrah is married to a rich man named Dennis who is still alive, so why would she need to rush to get this money? If she's married to him and they don't have a prenup, wouldn't she already have access to his money? It felt like the writers just made up this trust fund thing to create drama but didn't think it through properly.
Another big problem was that the movie felt like one long commercial for the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. There were so many shots of the hotel rooms, the pools, the beach, and all the fancy amenities that it felt more like I was watching a vacation advertisement than an actual movie. Even when characters were getting their room keys, the hotel worker explained everything in detail like she was trying to sell us a vacation package.
The comedy, which is supposed to be the best part of any Madea movie, was also really weak. Usually Madea says and does hilarious things that make you laugh out loud, but in this movie, most of the jokes fell flat. Even Joe, who is usually really funny, didn't have many good moments. The scenes went on way too long with characters just talking and talking without saying anything interesting or funny.
What really bothered me was how disrespectful Zavier was to everyone, especially when he first met the family. He was rude and acted like he was better than them, but then later in the movie we're supposed to feel sorry for him and believe he's actually a good person just because his mom shows up and says so. That doesn't make sense to me – if someone is mean and disrespectful right from the start, why should I suddenly like them?
The movie also had way too many scenes where all the characters just stood around in a circle talking over each other. It became really exhausting to watch because nobody was really listening to anybody else, they were all just shouting at the same time. It felt like Tyler Perry told the actors to just improvise and say whatever came to mind instead of following a real script.
Even the technical stuff about making the movie seemed cheap and rushed. Some scenes looked like they were filmed with a phone camera instead of professional equipment, and the lighting was often really bad. There were moments where you could barely see the characters' faces properly.
The whole plot could have been solved really easily if people just communicated with each other. When Brian thought Zavier was cheating, either Zavier or his mother could have just said "Hey, this is my mom" and the whole problem would have been over. But instead, they let everyone get upset and cause drama for no good reason.
One thing that really confused me was that the movie is called "Destination Wedding" but we never actually see a wedding happen. The whole movie is supposed to be building up to this wedding, but then it just ends without showing us the actual ceremony. That felt like a huge disappointment.
I also missed seeing some of the other characters who are usually in Madea movies, like Hattie, who is always really funny. Instead, we got a lot of new characters who weren't very interesting or well-developed.
Overall, this movie felt like Tyler Perry just wanted to take a vacation in the Bahamas and decided to make a movie while he was there. It didn't feel like he put much effort into the story, the acting, or making it actually funny. Even though I usually enjoy Madea movies, this one was so bad that I almost turned it off halfway through. The only reason I kept watching was because I kept hoping it would get better, but it never did.
If you're thinking about watching this movie, I would honestly recommend watching one of the older Madea movies instead. Those ones have much better stories, funnier jokes, and characters that actually feel real. This movie felt more like a long advertisement than an actual comedy, and I give it only 2 out of 10 stars, and that's being generous. For a better experience with Madea's journey, check out our complete guide to all the Madea movies in chronological order to rediscover what made this character so beloved in the first place.
Watch on Netflix