Tyler Perry back with first non-Madea film sequel

Mable "Madea" Simmons, the wisecracking, no nonsense matriarch who has appeared in five of Tyler Perry's nine films, may be the filmmaker's most enduring creation, but on Friday, Perry brings back another cast of characters in his first non-Madea film sequel, "Why Did I Get Married Too?"

The movie, starring Perry, Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Malik Yoba, Tasha Smith, and others (including appearances from Louis Gossett, Jr., and Cicely Tyson) picks up where 2007's "Why Did I Get Married?" left off. This time, the four couples head to the Bahamas for their annual weeklong retreat, but are met with a surprise when an unexpected visitor shows up to wreak havoc on one couple's relationship. Each couple soon realizes they have their own marital challenges that need to be addressed ranging from lack of trust to boredom.

"The first film deals with the problems in the relationships and the second film gives the opportunity to try to solve them. We know marriage is not about a quick fix," said Roger Bobb, executive producer of Tyler Perry Studios and co-producer of the film. It made sense to make a sequel, said Bobb, noting that the first "Why Did I Get Married?" which opened at number one in the box office and went on to earn more than $50 million total, appealed to a different audience than some of Perry's other films. "Some of my friends that don't see other Tyler movies saw ‘Why Did I Get Married?' And ‘Why Did I Get Married,' is my personal favorite," Bobb said.

Perry does not screen his films for critics.

A lot has changed since Perry's first screen film, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," appeared in 2005, and some of those changes are apparent in this newest movie. "Before we would have to shoot films on location, this film, aside from shooting in the Bahamas, 90 percent of it was shot in studio," Bobb said.

In addition, he said, Perry has progressed as a director, writer and actor. "Any filmmaker who is blessed enough to do two films a year in the last four years can't help but grow," Bobb said. "Tyler has become more creative, with more camera movements and time he spends with actors." Perry is currently touring the country with a new Madea stage play (see box), but later this year, expect to see another Perry film, an adaptation of the Obie Award-winning play by Ntozake Shange, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf."

Perry went all out to promote "Why Did I Get Married Too?" offering an online sweepstakes in which anyone who told why they got married earned the chance to win a trip to the Caribbean. On Sunday, in five cities nationwide including Atlanta, couples who attended special ceremonies to renew their wedding vows could win a second honeymoon to the Bahamas. On Monday, Perry himself appeared at a red carpet premiere of the film in Nassau, Bahamas with several cast members.

Actress, Tasha Smith, who was hailed as the breakout star of the first "Why Did I Get Married?", reprises her role of Angela -- the sassy spouse who suspects her husband is cheating. Working at Perry's breakneck speed is tough, she said, but she feels she was still able to deliver a strong performance. "Angela is in rare form," Smith said. "If you thought she was in rare form the first film, she has taken the bull by the horns in the second."

Though Smith concedes she can be boisterous and loud like her scene-stealing character, that is where the similarities end. "Some of the decisions Angela makes are far from me. I wouldn't do half the things she has done in relationships."

Still, Smith said there is plenty to be learned about life and love from a character such as Angela as well as all the other characters in the movie. "People are going to see themselves. I think [the movie] is going to make people feel they can fight through things. They are going to feel their goals in their marriage are greater than their obstacles."

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